Industrial urban area development in Ogre town

Transcription

1 USEAct Thematic NetworkI Urban sustainable environmental actions USEAct CASE STUDIES Catalogue Industrial urban area development in Ogre town USEACT CASE STUDY USEACT Theme 2. Intervations to "reuse" urban areas Riga Planning Region (Latvia) Ogre municipality USEACT Subtheme 2.2 Improving public administration ability on controlling and managing high quality and sustainable reuse interventions Summary abstract Riga region has large-scale production facilities that were designed for large amount productions in Soviet Union era and today many of them are not used and there condition is poor. Many former manufacturing facilities in Riga have been converted into commercial facilities or housing, but in other cities of the region like Ogre situation is more complex. Ogre is town in Riga region and in 1969 there was built one of the largest knitwear factories in Europe, but after fall of Soviet Union it hasn t been used fully. The main building and the rest of the unused building space dimensions are too large for today's technological requirements, energy efficiency is low and owners are now not willing to invest funds for reconstruction of buildings. Knitwear production plant development has been disappointing, because owner and investor expectations and opportunities are different. In overall there are interests to invest in this territory and buildings, but implementation of it isn t easy. Municipality has an interest in this area to use it for economic development and encouraging the reintegration of spatial structure. Municipalities according to the laws and regulations cannot directly invest their funds in private ownership and municipality budget is limited, but there can be tools to help develop brownfield sites by tax discounts or forming Public and private partnership projects. In this case study we need to find best tools to develop knitwear production plant area giving a new look and opportunities for Ogre.

2 Setting and Key questions/challenges Soviet legacy in Latvia and Riga region is large-scale production facilities that was designed for large amount production of the Soviet planned economy, but today they are often too big for successful production of a market economy and its condition is poor, so that they could be easily converted into another use or non- use of the transformation of new industrial development. Many former manufacturing facilities in Riga have been converted into commercial facilities or housing (examples: Spīķeri, "Dream Factory ", etc.), but in other cities of the region once again use this object / restructuring of the market economy is more complex. This situation is also Ogre town. Ogre is town in Riga region, 35 km from Riga - Latvian capital, where are located international airport, railway junction and one of the largest ports in Baltic sea. Ogre and Riga city bound with motorway and railway line. Urban population is 26 thousand and it is slowly decreasing. Unemployment constitutes 4.6 %, which is less than the regional average 5.1 % and 7.9 % in the country. Major companies in the food producer "Fazer Latvia" Ltd., metalworking company "TMMetal Baltic" Ltd. and "Prometal" Ltd. Electronic manufacturer SIA "Hanza Electronics Ltd. as well as knitwear manufacturer "Ogre knitwear" Ltd. In 1969 in Ogre was built one of the largest knitwear factories in Europe, the main building has an area of 8 hectares, while the total production and the associated object area is 33ha. The company employed about five thousand employees. Following independence, the companies have been privatized, but the ownership of the land restored to their former owners, thus often creating a double -estate- land belongs to the same owner, but the building and its communication to another owner. The company's land and buildings currently owned by several owners. Smaller buildings and the land on which they have been sold to businesses who have arranged their own business, but the problem is use of the main building and the adjacent land with the number of the existing buildings. The main part of the building have several production sites, but the whole building complex are difficult to use because it is designed for a single technological cycle and cannot be autonomous access to its individual parts. Both the main house and the rest of the unused building space dimensions are too large for today's technological requirements, building energy efficiency is low and building owners are now not willing to invest funds for reconstruction of buildings. In industrial territory there is available water and sanitation, electricity and natural gas, it is located along the road to / from Riga and the railway line. The municipality has an interest in this area to use its complex production and employment development in Ogre, encouraging the reintegration of the territory of the town s spatial structure. Main challenges are: 1. Return full economic movement in unused areas; 2. Create new jobs in the production sector in Ogre, with emphasis on smart technologies ; 3. Improvement of design of the industrial and brownfield area.

3 Procedures and actions Since the economic crisis in 2008, the state has declared that the development of production is critical for the long-term national development goal installed in raid - economic objectives. Ogre municipality s Sustainable Development Strategy (approved on August 29 of 2013) guidelines states that re- use of the brownfield sites is more preferable than the use of greenfield sites. In cooperation with Ogre business and innovation center and public investment attraction institutions there has been set up Investors card that provides information on the business premises accessibility and territories. Unfortunately knitwear production plant case results have been disappointing, because owner and investor expectations and opportunities are different. Investors want - suitable rooms, relatively small manufacturing plant territories, but the owners hope to sell the object for a large single investor who will use it fully. According to Ogre business and innovation center data in the last 2 years there have been 5 investor proposals for the development of the former knitwear factory main building, unfortunately none of them materialized. Other concern is about the potential of knitwear factories moving abroad, thereby increasing the proportion of unused space. In overall there are continuing interest to invest in this territory and buildings, but implementation of it has been difficult. The case study shows the need for reconstruction of existing buildings to bring them more flexible use and improve their energy efficiency, but without interference of the leading stakeholder or partner it can t be done because the owner s financial options are limited. Whereas the municipality, according to the laws and regulations can t directly invest their funds in private ownership and municipality budget is limited, but there are tools to help develop brownfield sites by tax discounts or forming Public and private partnership projects. It should be noted that there is also competition between owners, municipalities and state institutions to attract investment. Ogre has the negative attitude of people towards construction of new plants, so the existing production facilities use would be a good example, but also taking into account the limiting factors - the site is located close to the residential buildings and protected natural park Natura Ogre Blue Hills.

4 Lessons learned and utility The current municipalities and business common experience to attract investors only by advertising shows that interest in the industrial development of under-used manufacturing areas exist, but further developing these areas need to invest a lot of money which private sector without municipalities and / or state aid is not ready to do. Ogre municipality is interested in new job creation in the manufacturing sector, so it should take the lead in organizing the co-operation between municipality, business, land / building owners and public institutions. Although the government has implemented public and private partnership projects but they concern the municipality property management and municipal staff currently do not have such experience and the structure of such a large scale collaborative project organization and management. Working in this project can improve local laws in local land use and in the tax and finance area. This experience should be used for other re-use area development district (other brownfield industrial sites location, Soviet-era high-rise residential district of panel buildings renovation or reconstruction) and present the experience in other municipalities and governments. Bibliographic and further sources a) Bibliographic sources /web-sites: b) Contacts/interviews: - Uģis Amons, Director of Ogre business and innovation center, - Maksims Redkins, Director of Ltd. Rodex Pro. Nome/Surname: Uldis Apinis, Role in the USEAct Project: member of Urban Local Support Group from Riga planning region, uldis.apinis@ogresnovads.lv tel. /mob. :

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