Team selected for VERKET

How can Ulricehamn’s wastewater treatment plant and the surrounding area be transformed for future needs? Team VERK-SAM has been selected to explore this within the project VERKET, focusing on how innovative design and management can improve the use of seemingly outdated resources. 

Many of Sweden’s municipalities face challenges regarding technical infrastructure. Increased risk of torrential rain and flooding stresses under dimensioned and outdated systems. New facilities for water and sewerage, for example, require large municipal investments, while the old structures need to be taken care of and given new roles in urban development. 

The geography of the project is the Fiskebacken and more specifically the Ulricehamns wastewater treatment plant, built in 1955. The facility has been upgraded over the years but increasing population and increased requirements for treatment make it unsustainable to continue developing the facility. With the municipality’s plans for a new location, conditions are created for a change of the use of the current wastewater treatment plant and the surrounding area.

Between June 25 and August 30, 2024, ArkDes and Ulricehamn Municipality sought interdisciplinary teams through a call for applications. Team VERK-SAM has been selected to make an inventory, analyze, and develop a management plan containing strategy, method, and design proposals through practical research. The assignment aims to show how the wastewater treatment plant’s structures and the surrounding area can be taken care of and managed to become a resource when the area opens up to a public space. 

Team members:
Katarina Grundsell, Architect SAR/MSA, Founding Partner, CEO Marge Architects
Lone-Pia Bach, Architect SAR/MSA, Professor Cultural Heritage Restaureringskonst KKH 
Tore Banke, Architect PhD and Head of Impact Tredje Natur
David Watson, Structural Engineer CEng MIStructE, Technical Director AKTII Tyréns 

Rationale:
With a common focus on preservation and transformation and with competence and solid experience in urban planning, cultural environment, landscape, construction, and design, the composition of the team is considered to be of high relevance for exploring new values in seemingly outdated resources through the Ulricehamn’s wastewater treatment plant.  
 
The application shows a strong belief in the ability of well-designed living environments to influence the transformation of society. With starting points in minimizing environmental impact, further developing methodology from restoration art, and brave and location-adapted architecture, the team is considered to have the ability to respond to the complexity of the call. Proposed methods, which range from measurements and sampling of materials to scenario development and dialogue with people affected by the site, have a high potential for implementing a long-term and phased maintenance plan that ensures both robustness and flexibility over time. 

The team is also considered to have a good ability to document and communicate project results in a powerful and inspiring way. The team’s grounding in practice-based research, teaching, and ethics demonstrates a pedagogical ability to transfer ownership of societal challenges to the city’s residents. 

Overall, the team is considered to have great potential to give Ulricehamn, as well as other municipalities, tools, and knowledge for long-term sustainable planning and management of existing resources.