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New British Architecture in Germany
New Finance Model for the new British Embassy
The Fatchett Oak
Former British Embassy in Berlin
Photographs of the Royal Visit
New
British Architecture in Germany
In an exceptional volume New British Architecture in Germany, published by Prestel, which documents twenty-four of the best known British buildings in Germany, Michael Jenner explores the little known story of the success of British architects in Germany. The book also offers fascinating insights into the architectural interaction between Britain and Germany that goes back much further than most people would imagine. Already in 1872 British architects were prominent entries to the original Reichstag competition and one even took second prize.
More recently Norman Foster`s high-profile work on the Reichstag in Berlin may have stolen many of the headlines, but it also serves as a symbol of a remarkable phenomenon that is not so widely appreciated. For over the past few decades Britains leading architects have designed more prominent buildings in Germany than virtually anyone else from outside the country. The British have left their mark not just in Berlin, where Nicholas Grimshaw has built the sensational Ludwig Erhard House and Richard Rogers has designed three buildings as part of the Potsdamer Platz redevelopment, but also in major cities such as Hamburg, Leipzig, Frankfurt and Stuttgart plus many smaller places all the way from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.
James Stirlings mould-breaking post-modern design in the late 1970s for the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart appears to have ushered in this era of unprecedented success for British architects in Germany. Since then Alsop & Störmer, David Chipperfield, Norman Foster, Nicholas Grimshaw, Zaha Hadid, Sauerbruch Hutton, Ian Ritchie and Michael Wilford among others have created an impressive architectural opus that embraces government buildings, commercial offices, factories, trade fairs, private houses, apartment blocks, museums and galleries.
History has now come full circle with the building of the new British Embassy in Berlin, opened by HM The Queen on 18 July 2000, on the exact site in the Wilhelmstrasse where its predecessor stood. The exciting design by Michael Wilford respects the urban values of Berlins past while taking a bold leap into the future. It also takes the business of diplomacy onto a more public stage.
New
Finance Model for the new British Embassy
With its striking and innovative design, the new British Embassy in Berlin is a prominent feature of Wilhelmstrasse. But the design is not the only interesting feature of the building. The project is the first embassy to be constructed under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and is the first ever PFI accommodation project outside the UK.
The PFI was launched by the British Government in 1992 to promote partnership between the public and private sectors on a commercial basis. The public sector specifies the service or infrastructure needed and private sector companies compete to provide these requirements.
Following an EU tender bid for the new British Embassy Berlin, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office signed a contract with the German consortium Arteos, who will finance, construct and then manage the building for 30 years. The British Government chose Arteos as the contender who offered the best and most economic bid.
The site of the new building belongs to the British Government and will be leased to the PFI Operator for a period of 60 years from the date of occupation. Arteos will own the building and the lease on the site. If, at the end of the initial 30-year service contract, they pull out or fail to win the re-tender process, the building and remaining 30-year lease will be transferred to the winning bidder at the prevailing market value. Residual Value risk has been transferred.
Through the use of the PFI, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office - in a single contract - entered into the equivalent of a fixed price construction contract, coupled with an index-linked operating cost regime where most of the traditional risks have been transferred to the Operator of the facility for a 30-year period.
Arteos as provider of the service accepted a large degree of responsibility in respect of both the construction and operating phases of the project. The main risks transferred during the construction phase related to cost and time.
The contract is paid for by an annual Unitary Payment which relates to fully serviced accommodation including all energy, utility, running, maintenance and life-cycle replacement costs over 30 years. 80% of the payment will be fixed for the whole of the 30-year term, based on Arteos long-term financing arrangements, and reflects their assumption of this risk. 20% will be indexed to reflect the best VFM balance between transferring as much risk as possible to Arteos while maintaining an economic cost to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The costs of such services as cleaning and other similar labour intensive activities will be market tested every three years.
The whole of the payment will be subject to an innovative Performance Payment System (PPS) which will offer credits to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office if service and accommodation requirements are not met. The PPS enables the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to put the whole of the Unitary Payment at risk if services are not provided in an adequate manner. The arrangements are supported by comprehensive service-level standards forming part of the contract.
Provision is made for relatively streamlined procedures for expert assessment and disputes resolution aimed at making the contract structure as self-contained as possible, minimising the potential complications of having to have recourse to the courts of either jurisdiction.
British Embassy, Berlin
July 2000
The English Oak (Quercus robur), planted in the courtyard of the new British Embassy on 16 March 2000, was grown at the Lorenz von Ehren nursery in Hamburg and is around 45 years old. It is dedicated to the memory of Derek Fatchett, the Foreign Office Minister who broke the ground on 29 June 1998 to signal the start of building work. Sadly, he died less than a year later.
The splendid new Embassy is of course on the site of the old embassy, first occupied by Britains diplomats in 1875. So while the building is new, the link with Wilhelmstraße was forged many years ago. The oak provides a symbol of continuity, a merging of the old and the new and a striking contrast between the natural and the man-made.
The architect of the building, Michael Wilford, has compared the beauty of the irregular and unique shape of the tree under the Berlin sky in the embassys open courtyard to the sharp, straight lines of the steel tree holding up the transparent roof of the Wintergarden.
The tree was selected in accordance with Michael Wilfords precise specifications. It is some 12 m high and at its broadest about 8 m wide. Its trunk at a metre from the ground has a circumference of about 90 cm. During its life at the nursery the tree was transplanted every 5 years or so, rotated and cropped to create the present shape and to ensure it had the compact roots that would allow it to be planted at its permanent location.
Ben Wargin, Berlins own tree campaigner, helped at the planting of the tree in March by sprinkling Berlin soil over the roots and splashing Sekt on the trunk. Clearly this has worked since the tree is now thriving in its new surroundigs.
British Embassy
July 2000
Former
British Embassy in Berlin
The Embassy was the grand home of a German entrepreneur built in the early 1870s and acquired by the British Government in 1884. It had a prime location on Wilhelmstrasse, Berlins Whitehall, just round the corner from the Brandenburg Gate. But it was badly overshadowed by the famous Adlon Hotel, built later in the Embassy gardens. Cramped, dirty and dark was how Sir Nevile Henderson, Sir Paul Levers predecessor as Ambassador in Berlin, described the result in a memorable impression. The building served as a residence and Chancery combined until the end. But the Embassy had long outgrown its original premises and, on the outbreak of war in 1939, a new site - large enough to accommodate all Embassy functions - was being sought in exchange for the existing building.
The Embassy survived an extensive fire in revolution-torn Berlin after the First World War. But World War II left it in ruins. A visiting British official in 1945 found nothing intact except the front gate "with the British coat of arms" and the "remains of my old Vauxhall in the garage." The gate has been made a feature of the new building in the wintergarden overlooking the main staircase,. In the 1960s, the GDR government cleared the site and the adjacent area in front of the Brandenburg Gate (Pariser Platz), where the old French and US embassies had been located.
The new Embassy is on the original site, which remained the possession of the British Government and an adjoining plot, acquired when the decision to build a new embassy was taken. When Her Majesty The Queen opens the Embassy on 18 July the British Embassy in Berlin will have finally returned home.
Photographs
of the Royal Visit
Waving to the crowd on Wilhelmstrasse.
Her Majesty greeted by embassy children.
Her Majesty about to enter the courtyard.
The Fatchett Oak inside the courtyard.
Michael Wilford the architect about to meet
Her Majesty by the Tony Cragg sculpture.
The Queen's speech.
The plaque unveiled with President Rau, Mayor Diepgen
and Sir Paul Lever.
Reception in the Wintergarden following the opening.(All photos Mike Minehan)
