Commercial use and solar energy: development of the Papieri site is progressing
The site owner HIAG is upgrading a further 6000 square metres of the Papieri site for temporary commercial use by the end of the year. Padelta AG will be operating padel courts in a paper machine hall from 2025. A Jump Factory site is also planned. Librec will prepare the recycling of car batteries in the industrial section.
Property developer HIAG is expanding the transitional use of the Papieri site in Biberist. By the end of the year, around 6,000 square metres of space in the western section will be prepared for commercial use, as HIAG project developer Dominik Ulrich explained at an event organised by the Standort Schweiz network. Padelta AG is one of the users of the additional space. The company plans to operate eight modern courts there for the sport of padel, the Mexican version of tennis. The leisure facilities will be complemented by the Jump Factory trampoline park. Speed-E GmbH moved into the site in February with its workshop and showroom for electric bikes.
In the industrial eastern part of the site, HIAG Solar AG, a joint venture between HIAG and aventron, installed a solar power system with a capacity of 620 kilowatt peak on the roof of a new building due for completion at the end of 2023 in mid-April. The electricity generated there will be used on site by the start-up Librec, which intends to recycle lithium-ion batteries here on an industrial scale. The second photovoltaic system on the site is already being planned.
The approximately 270,000 square metre site on the River Aare was used as a paper mill from 1862 to 2011. HIAG took over the site in 2012 and the 2015 master plan envisages mixed use with a residential component in the western part of the site and commercial/industrial use in the eastern part. The property developer is currently working on the partial zoning plan, which covers the entire perimeter of the site. Temporary uses already occupy around 30 per cent of the site. The major users include Sieber Transport and Vigier.