Location
City and district profiles
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Mülheim an der Ruhr
city on the river
Mülheim an der Ruhr links Düsseldorf with the Ruhr district. It has a population of about 171,000, and is one of the "smaller" cities in the Ruhr district. In national town rankings Mülheim an der Ruhr is rated as the most successful town in the Ruhr district for business and investment. With regard to per capita income, the “city on the river” occupies 3rd place in North Rhine-Westphalia, behind Düsseldorf and Münster. Unemployment is also favourable, lying clearly below the level for the state of NRW and Germany as a whole in recent years. Mülheim has long enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate in regional comparisons. Furthermore, the city on the river has a good reputation as an attractive place to live. Over 50% of the city area consists of parks and woodland.Working in Mülheim an der Ruhr
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Mülheim an der Ruhr has a fine tradition as a trading town (Aldi-Süd, the Tengelmann business group) and is characterised by a broad, multifaceted economic structure untypical of the Ruhr district. Alongside successful global industrial companies (Mannesmannröhren Werke, Siemens Power Generation, Friedrich-Wilhelms-Hütte), the business features of the town are primarily dominated by service industries. In addition, two Max Planck Institutes, the Centre for Innovation and Technology in NRW (Zenit), the IWW Rheinland-Westphalian Institute for Water and a start-up centre make up an innovative infrastructure in the city.
Room for innovative developments
Turning to science: no less than two Max Planck Institutes are located in Mülheim an der Ruhr (coal research and bioinorganic chemistry); directors such as the Nobel prize-winner Prof. Dr. Karl Ziegler have become famous throughout the world. Thanks to the Theodor Fliedner Foundation, the Institute for Interdisciplinary and Applied Social Work Studies of the University of Bonn has its headquarters in Mülheim. ZENIT, the Centre for Innovation and Technology in North Rhine-Westphalia is also situated near the banks of the Ruhr.
Commercial sites on the increase
The property market in Mülheim is able to look back on a successful year in 2007. Already in 2006 the economic development body was able to record a 45 percent rise in the marketing of commercial sites for the various commercial sub-markets - commercial space, office space, warehouse space and trading premises. According to the calculations of Mülheim & Business GmbH, this result is set to be exceeded by a further 40 percent by the figures for 2007. Where in 2006 a total of 166,000 square metres of space were let or sold, in the financial year 2007 the figure rose to a total of 233,000 square metres of commercial, office, warehouse and trading space.
Four key projects for the future
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1. Ruhrbania
Living, working and relaxing by the river - this is what Ruhrbania, the decentralised investment project in Mülheim an der Ruhr, wishes to promote. Over the next few years five attractive sub-projects are being created along the banks of the Ruhr. For investors this presents an interesting and profitable opportunity to commit their energies. The maritime Ruhr promenade and harbour basin offers plenty of space for restaurants and bars, and lucrative office and residential real estate directly adjacent to the waterside. Several generously arranged investment locations and a start-up centre create a large playing field for investors and entrepreneurs on which to relocate their projects. A Congress Centre containing a hotel is being built directly next to the municipal hall. The Museum Mile networks existing museums and cultural facilities and will be further extended by a Media Museum, as well as a Start-up and Entrepreneurs Museum.
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2. The joint local authority office and trading estate at Essen / Mülheim airport
The planned office and trading estate at the airport is the first joint local authority trading estate run by two major towns in Germany. The 6.5 hectare development area is located next to the A52 autobahn and offers users the opportunity of taking off from the airport to meet their customers directly. The location has optimal traffic connections to the A52 autobahn linking Düsseldorf to the Ruhr district, and is therefore very close to Düsseldorf airport. On the basis of the urban planning outlines put forward by the Stuttgart architecture office Harris und Kurrle, planning rights are being applied for at the moment. The convincing concept features clear open structures, a modular construction of the various building sites which allows for a step-by-step implementation, and a large amount of flexibility in splitting up the various areas.
The location is being marketed jointly by the Mülheim & Business GmbH and the Essen Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft business development agency.
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3. ‘The Westspitze’ in the Rhine-Ruhr harbour
The Mülheim Rhine-Ruhr harbour has a total area of around 220 hectares (132 ha private, 18 ha in the hands of the local authority) and is the largest trading area in the "city on the river". The approximately 360 businesses on the site employ around 6,500 persons. On the basis of an urban planning concept put forward by ASTOC architects & planners, Cologne/Rotterdam, the Westspitze on Ruhrorter Straße (between the sluice and Umschlag Straße) will be developed and marketed for new users over the next few years, together with the private owners on the site.
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4. Siemens Technopark
The Siemens Technopark in Mülheim was created in the year 2000 on a site of approximately 245,000 sq. metres on Mellinghofer Straße. The aim of Siemens Technopark is to create an open trading estate for innovative and technology-orientated business companies. Siemens Technopark markets around 30 buildings and construction areas in co-ordinated individual part projects. Alongside attractive office, trading and warehouse areas, it also offers its tenants a choice of comprehensive services. The approximately 24 ha trading area is already the top address for companies such as Allcad GmbH, Casa Flora, GWU mbh, Degussabank, Turbinencasino GmbH, GNS - Gesellschaft für Nuklear Service mbh, Siempelkamp Nukleartechnik GmbH, Hochtief Facility Management GmbH and K&S Schweisstechnik.
Growth sector tourism
Visitors to Mülheim an der Ruhr can get a good idea of the ‘new Ruhr district’ here. This is far removed from the old image of coal, waste tips and smoke-filled air. More and more tourists are coming to the Ruhr to enjoy the industrial heritage attractions. Tourism is a growth area. It is now the second largest employer in North Rhine-Westphalia and is gathering speed all the time. In Mülheim an der Ruhr the main tourist hub for visitors from home and abroad is the MST, the Mülheim City Marketing and Tourist Agency. The city has parking facilities for motorhomes, a new information headquarters in the city centre, a hotel route, special facilities for cyclists and plenty of attractions on the water, including a Viking ship and dragon boat festival. The Aquarius Water Museum and the Camera Obscura Museum of Pre-Film History are also attractive tourist venues.
Mülheim an der Ruhr is a theatre city
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Mülheim an der Ruhr enjoys the epithet ‘theatre city’ - and rightly so. Because the Theater an der Ruhr, Mülheimer Theatertage and Impulse theatre festival are among the most important elements of the German-speaking theatre world. The Theater an der Ruhr owes its popularity not only to its impressively visual stagings, but also to its international commitment - the stage model is sent around the world, courtesy of the Goethe Institute. With the ‘Theaterlandschaften’ theatre groups from a range of different countries are brought to Mülheim an der Ruhr each year. This enables the audience to discover new worlds and transcultural dialogue to be established. A prize for dramatists has been awarded in the scope of the Mülheim Theatre Days for the past 30 years.
Living in the city on the water
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The inhabitants of Mülheim an der Ruhr enjoy an above average standard of life. More than 50% of the urban area is green. Parks, woodland, meadows and fields are the city’s main characteristic feature. As far as sport is concerned, the city boasts 145 clubs comprising 40,000 members. The Uhlenhorst hockey club is the most successful in Europe. The river that gives its name to the region winds its way through the middle of Mülheim, scarcely a stone's throw away from the city centre. The municipal hall – built-in 1926 in the style of an Italian palazzo, is the venue used for concerts presented by the Ruhr Piano Festival, sponsored by the Initiativkreis Ruhr initiative. It is not the only building lining the river bank: here you can also find the RWW building belonging to the Rhineland Westphalian Waterworks Company RWW, known affectionately by the locals as the "water fortress". The RWW undertakes a variety of work to raise people's consciousness about water. Visitors can experience this in a playful way in the prize-winning Aquarius Water Museum nearby – where else? – on the Ruhr.