VERKET

How can Ulricehamn’s wastewater treatment plant and the surrounding area be transformed for future needs? The project VERKET, a collaboration with Ulricehamn municipality, explores how innovative design and management can improve the use of seemingly outdated resources. 

Many municipalities in Sweden face major challenges regarding technical infrastructure and systems. Underdimensioned and outdated facilities are increasingly strained by the growing risks of heavy rainfall and flooding. New infrastructure, such as water and sewage facilities, requires significant municipal investments, while existing structures must be maintained and integrated into urban and community development. Often, these sites have been closed to the public but, following decommissioning, could become part of public spaces and everyday environments.

The project focuses on the Fiskebacken area and, more specifically, the Ulricehamn wastewater treatment plant, built in 1955. While the facility has been upgraded over time, population growth and increasing purification demands make it unsustainable to continue expanding on the existing site. With the municipality’s plans for a new wastewater treatment plant, opportunities arise to repurpose the current facility and its surrounding area.

Through an open call, team VERK-SAM was selected to conduct a site inventory, analysis, and develop a management plan, including strategies, methods, and design proposals. The project aims to demonstrate how the wastewater treatment plant’s structures and surrounding environment can be cared for and managed as a resource when the area transitions from a closed industrial site to a public space.

VERKET also aims to provide Ulricehamn, along with other municipalities facing increased infrastructure demands, with tools and knowledge for the long-term sustainable planning and management of existing resources.