Brunswick’s Illerstraße is located in the south-west of the former Hanseatic city on the Oker river. Deutsche Wohnen refurbished a 1960s apartment block comprising four floors and 48 apartments here last year – from the ground floor all the way up to the roof and with the full support of the tenants.
Refurbishment and maintenance work involves noise, dust and other inconveniences. Then there is modernisation cost allocation, which can potentially push rents up. These circumstances sometimes result in criticism of and resistance to measures that are prudent and necessary. This is the case in particular with extensive projects such as the one realised in Illerstraße in 2019. The apartments’ tenants nonetheless unanimously agreed to the measures. Ivo Bönicke, Commercial Project Management team leader at Deutsche Wohnen Management GmbH, explains where this high level of approval comes from: “I think the tenants understand that they will benefit from a wise combination of energy efficiency enhancement and the aesthetic upgrading of their building. In addition to our comprehensive advance notification in writing of the measures, we also set up on-site tenant support that could be visited with any questions during the consultation hours as well as being available over the phone.”
For energy efficiency refurbishment, the previous owner’s polystyrene insulation, which was inadequate in accordance with the latest German Energy Saving Ordinance (Energieeinsparverordnung – EnEV), was removed. Nothing but mineral wool was used to newly insulate the facade, the basement ceiling and the ceiling of the top floor. “We could have put the new insulation in on top of the old insulation, but for fire safety reasons alone it is better to opt solely for mineral wool,” explains René Liegner, Technical Project Manager at Deutsche Wohnen Construction and Facilities GmbH. In addition, the roof was redone and the windows were replaced. These tasks in particular are a burden for the tenants, but here too no criticism came from the residents. On the contrary – a number of the tenants thanked the window fitters for their good and clean work and were sometimes surprised at how few “side effects” this building work caused.