Visualisation of centralised car park; Credit: TetraKayser Associés SA

Work began earlier this week, on Monday 16 July, on the new Elmen district, located in the Kehlen municipality in Olm.

Following the beginning of works on Monday this week, Luxembourg Housing Minister Marc Hansen and Kehlen MPP Felix Felix Eischen, together with Guy Entringer, Director of the National Low-Cost Housing Corporation, today presented the details of the new neighbourhood project, which will eventually accommodate between 800 and 850 households. 

The Elmen district is spread over an area of ​​approximately 27 ha to be subdivided into three villages, organised around a central square, and will comprise between 800 and 850 dwellings. Since 2014, all land belongs to the National Low-Cost Housing Corporation. Before the project was developed, preparatory interviews were held with the stakeholders with the aim of establishing a catalogue of quality criteria that takes into account the needs and demands of all the actors involved. Thus, the urbanistic concept entails a reasonable use of cars, so that individual and public parking will be grouped in several parking floors. A bus stop in the heart of the central village, within a radius of up to 300m from the majority of housing, completes this approach.

Similarly, public spaces have been designed so that they constitute an extension of private spaces in order to promote the "living together" of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. To this end, there will be many uses of public spaces and the specific needs of all age groups will be considered. In addition, the project aims to focus on the diversity of households by offereing a maximum of 50% of collective dwellings and, at the same time, a balanced distribution of different types of housing. Finally, the project involves the construction of a community centre, including a brewery, a reception hall and meeting rooms, as well as a primary school that can accommodate up to 200 children.

The homes will be built during Autumn 2018 so that marketing can begin in Spring 2019.