New flats with greened roofs: ‚Lotte + Kleist Estate‘ in Potsdam-Babelsberg celebrates topping out ceremony

Henrik Thomsen, CDO of Deutsche Wohnen: “Potsdam is one of Germany’s favourite and most attractive cities. The growth that comes from this is good for the town and the region. With our new-build projects, we want to contribute to meeting the housing needs associated with this growth. And we want to do this in a way that is sustainable and ecologically responsible. The city of Potsdam is supporting us in this, for which I would like to express my heartfelt thanks.”

The new estate will consist of a total of 138 flats – all of them for rent – of which 13 will be in the form of townhouses. The flats range in size from 28 m2 to 114 m2 and all of them have a balcony. Space is also being created for up to 26 commercial units on a total area of 4,000 m2. There will also be 150 parking spaces, around two thirds of which will be in a basement garage. In the external grounds, there will be four playgrounds for children of different ages.

All the roofs of the buildings are so-called retention roofs and will be comprehensively greened. Retention roofs can collect rainwater and then release it into the green areas of the estate gradually over a period of time. This makes it unnecessary to water these areas artificially. This also takes the pressure off the land on the site, where the water table is high. Furthermore, the water, some of which evaporates, that is retained on these roofs contributes to cooling the atmosphere. A similar principle is being used with the basement garage. Here, drainage channels ensure that rainwater is retained and only gradually released into the soil.

On the roofs, solar cell panels will be installed to provide tenants’ electricity on the estate. The roof greening has been selected to ensure that it can remain active underneath the solar panels as well. It is planned to use the electricity generated by the panels mainly for electromobility on the estate, primarily for electric cars but also for e-bikes. To help achieve this, around a third of the 150 parking spaces will be equipped with charging stations.

The ‘Lotte + Kleist Estate’ abuts the Railway Workers’ Estate, where Deutsche Wohnen added a new building back in 2015. The name of the estate is a reference to this because it is a combination of the name of the street (Lotte-Laserstein-Straße) where it is located and the name of the street (Heinrich-von-Kleist-Straße) where the existing estate is located.
With its management of new builds in cities, Deutsche Wohnen is responding to the high demand for housing. Together with its strategic partner QUARTERBACK Immobilien AG, it will build approximately 18,000 flats in the coming years, particularly in the metropolitan regions of Berlin, Dresden/Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart. Around two thirds of these flats are earmarked for Deutsche Wohnen’s own holdings and involve a total investment of EUR 5.8 billion.

Deutsche Wohnen manages approximately 2,000 flats in Potsdam.