Garbe and Jebens lay the foundation stone for future technology at Victoria Park Hamburg

News 26/04/2023

Hamburg, 26 April 2023 – With the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony, construction work began today at Victoria Park Hamburg on a future-oriented property where components for hydrogen production will be manufactured, tested and stored. The property with a total area of around 18,000 square metres is being built in a joint venture by Garbe Industrial Real Estate GmbH and the Jebens Group. Even before the official start of construction, the building was already leased to H-TEC SYSTEMS GmbH on a long-term basis. The company, which belongs to MAN Energy Solutions, specialises in the development and production of PEM electrolysers for the generation of green hydrogen.

“Hydrogen is a central building block for the future energy supply,” Adrian Zellner, Member of the Executive Board at Garbe Industrial Real Estate, emphasised at the groundbreaking ceremony. “As a Hamburg-based company, we are particularly proud to be playing our part in the development of this future technology in the metropolitan region by building the property.” The tenant H-TEC SYSTEMS plans to develop, produce and test PEM stacks in the new building in the future. They are at the heart of the electrolysers used to produce green hydrogen. “Green hydrogen is becoming the key technology of the energy transition,” explained Michael Meister, COO of H-TEC SYSTEMS. “The demand for green hydrogen is continuously increasing and the market is developing dynamically. By building a state-of-the-art development and production site in Hamburg, H-TEC SYSTEMS will play a decisive role in shaping the global hydrogen ramp-up. With today’s ground-breaking ceremony, the first step has been taken.” Completion of the property is planned for the end of May 2024. However, early access in order to be able to fit internal fixtures is already planned for the end of December 2023. Several hundred new jobs are to be created.

“It is thanks to the constructive cooperation with the responsible authorities and the trusting and professional relationship with our joint venture partner Jebens that we are able to realise this forward-looking project together so quickly,” Adrian Zellner emphasised during the ground-breaking ceremony. The property is being built on a total of 61,000 square metres of land in Victoria Park Hamburg. The industrial estate is located in the north-east of the Hanseatic city on the border with Schleswig-Holstein. Garbe Industrial Real Estate and the Jebens Group are developing a multi-user campus there with two new buildings initially. The larger unit, leased to H-TEC SYSTEMS, has a hall area of 11,400 square metres. In addition, there are 6,200 square metres for offices and social rooms as well as a 300-square-metre roof terrace.

Located directly next to it, another property will be built with a hall area of 9,200 square metres, ten dock levellers and a ground-level sectional door. In addition, there will be at least 600 square metres for offices and social rooms as well as 500 square metres of usable space on the mezzanine. This unit will be built with an eye to the future without a fixed tenant commitment. “We are already holding intensive talks and are confident that we will be able to find a user for this property soon,” says Adrian Zellner. The investment volume for both units totals 65 million euros. The planned completion date is in the second quarter of 2024.

An expansion option was agreed as part of the successful joint venture. If there is sufficient demand, there is the possibility of building on a further 22,700-square-metre plot of land in order to develop around 10,000 square metres of hall space with corresponding ancillary areas.

Victoria Park Hamburg is characterised by a combination of nature and commerce and pursues an architecturally appealing overall concept. The focus is on sustainability. “We are also developing the two commercial properties in a correspondingly high-quality and sustainable manner,” said Adrian Zellner. Photovoltaic systems with an output of up to 2.2 megawatts will be installed on both buildings and on the adjacent multi-storey car park to generate renewable energy. The roofs and the façade of the multi-storey car park will be greened. The buildings are heated with district heating. Rainwater cisterns will provide irrigation for the green spaces. The parking spaces for cars and bicycles will be pre-equipped with e-charging points.

For both properties, Garbe Industrial Real Estate and the Jebens Group are striving for certification according to the Platinum Standard, the highest quality award to be granted by the German Sustainable Building Council. A bouldering wall is planned for the staff in the outdoor area. Natural break areas and a 300-square-metre roof terrace round off the sophisticated design concept.

The location is as convenient as the surroundings are attractive: Victoria Park is close to A 1 motorway, which connects the location with Lübeck to the north and Bremen and the Ruhr region to the south. The Stapelfeld junction is about 3.5 kilometres away and can be reached in three minutes without driving through the town. From there it is eight kilometres to the A 24 motorway in the direction of Hamburg and Berlin. It is a 200-metre walk to the nearest bus stop. The Hamburg-Rahlstedt S-Bahn station with connections to Hamburg city centre and the surrounding area is three kilometres away.

The Hamburg-based real estate consultancy Grossmann & Berger, a member of German Property Partners (GPP), acted as an intermediary in the establishment of the joint venture between Garbe Industrial Real Estate and the Jebens Group.