Doyen,
Members of the Consular Corps,
Mr. Margedant,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I’m very pleased to welcome you today, here at Carls at the Elbphilharmonie. The excursions for the Consular Corps are a fairly new tradition, but one we enjoy: in recent years we have visited the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the Container Terminal in Altenwerder and the DESY Research Centre. And now we are visiting a place that is still a construction site but has already become a landmark of our city.

The Consular Corps excursions are always little voyages of discovery for me too. There is always something new to discover in Hamburg, because change is part of its nature. What we perceive as the feel” of our city has a lot to do with the dynamism of enterprise and perhaps the wish to create something new. That wish is especially understandable in Hamburg after many years of inactivity in the building sector. What it means in concrete terms can be seen most impressively from this place at the Elbphilharmonie, because new and historic buildings are so close to each other.

The Hafencity, Europe’s most ambitious urban development project, is emerging on an area of 157 hectares. Whereas the buildings on the edge of the Hafencity are still under construction, numerous homes, offices, restaurants, public spaces and even the new university are now occupied and filled with life. A century ago the Speicherstadt complex was a similarly ambitious project. Since the volume of freight handled in the port of Hamburg was virtually exploding, 15 huge warehouses were erected on oak piles, together with the necessary access roads and bridges. Even the local residents had to be moved and re-housed. At that time the neo-gothic architecture of the new district was considered just as spectacular as the Hafencity today.

Since this summer the Speicherstadt, together with the adjacent Kontorhaus” office district, has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Hafencity and the Speicherstadt illustrate the interaction between business, port activity and urban planning then as now. When the basins and quays of the port became too small for container vessels, new terminals were built in Altenwerder, for example. That opened up space where the old port had been, and the Hafencity was built. And with it, the population returned to the port. In the Hafencity, over 6,000 homes are being built for more than 12,000 residents, and besides that, room for 45,000 jobs, for educational facilities, restaurants, shops and culture. In the summer months, parks, public squares and promenades attract a host of visitors.

Hamburg is growing. In the foreseeable future the population will reach the two million mark. For cities like Istanbul, Sao Paolo and Nairobi, growth goes without saying, and its speed is often a challenge. But in Europe the population is shrinking, as you know. Many cities are no longer expanding automatically they only grow if they want to. If we create modern jobs; if prosperity is increasing and there is enough for all; if there are good schools and universities and the quality of life is acceptable. Growing because we want to, not because we have to: that is a great opportunity for town planners. It enables them to plan purposefully, and at a speed that takes the human factor into account.

But we haven’t much time to lose, nevertheless. That is clear from current developments. Since we urgently need more affordable living accommodation, we are building at least 6,000 homes every year a third of them as local-authority housing. And this summer we have come to realize that even this extensive housing programme will not be enough to meet our needs, and we shall have increase the numbers even further. That has to do with the many people moving in from the region and the whole of Germany, and also with migration within Europe and worldwide. And of course the refugees coming to us at the moment need nothing more urgently than suitable accommodation. Those who are allowed to stay must also be integrated.

So we are not only building in the choice central areas of the city; we are creating whole new neighbourhoods upstream on the Elbe and Bille rivers. We are giving long-neglected districts like Wilhelmsburg and Horn a facelift. It’s our belief that working, learning and living belong together. Where we are building homes we are also creating jobs, child nurseries and schools; we are integrating urban production facilities and planning the transport systems of the future.

If you want to grow, you have to plan well and act prudently. But you need self-confidence, too. In Hamburg we manage even major projects like the Elbphilharmonie and the construction of the Hafencity reliably. And our candidature for the Olympic Games is on a solid footing, too. Germany’s bid to hold the Olympic and Paralympic games of 2024 in Hamburg is coming along well. Our candidature will be presented officially at the cruise terminal in Altona at 5 p.m. on 9th October. We are expecting guests from the realms of politics, industry and sport, and many interested citizens. We intend to give a signal across and beyond the boundaries of Hamburg and Germany that we are in the running. And we are in top form!

I already invite you to attend this event. It would be a great honour to Hamburg and to me personally to welcome you there, to present our enthusiastic work for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2024 in so many different fields and involve you in it again. You will be sent a written invitation when the planning for the event is finished.

The boost from our candidature for the Olympic Games will go far beyond the planned new Olympic district on the Kleiner Grasbrook island. Low-emission mobility, new and refurbished sports facilities, more green areas and central housing will benefit all the people of Hamburg. What we want is a sporting event that reflects our open and receptive civil society. Transparency is one of our highest priorities. The Olympic and Paralympic Games in Hamburg will be more sustainable and flexible, but also more modest and cost-effective.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
The dynamism we are currently experiencing in our city would be unthinkable without the role Hamburg plays in world trade and in the world in general. It’s true that here at the Elbphilharmonie we are on a kind of island, but life in Hamburg is anything but insular. You can see that from the size and significance of our Consular Corps. To our mind you are important bridge builders. I thank you all most warmly for this commitment.

And now I wish you pleasant and stimulating ours. Carls, where we are guests today, specializes in North German and French cuisine. That is a great pleasure to me, of course: as the delegate for Franco-German cooperation I have especially close links with this important neighbour. And I imagine word has already got around that I’m very North German, too.

I now ask Mr. Margedant, the project manager for the Elbphilharmonie at the Ministry of Culture, to take the floor. I’m looking forward to hearing what you have to tell us, Mr. Margedant.

Thank you!

Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.