Wächtersbach – Wächtersbach, Germany

Overview

We have carried out two projects in cooperation with the town of Wächtersbach as part of the Spessart vacation region: An evaluation of the annual consumer fair and a feasibility study for the buildings in the Schlossquartier on the edge of Wächtersbach’s old town, which is being redeveloped as part of a sustainable urban development program.

Solution

The annual consumer exhibition “”Messe Wächtersbach”” on the exhibition grounds (42,000 m2) created in the 1980s with space for around 400 exhibitors and a visitor capacity of 60,000 people is a center of attraction for the entire region. Similar to all trade fairs, declining numbers have been reported over the last few years. In cooperation with Prof. Dr. Christian Buer, measures and actions have been developed to create new attractiveness and change.

Since October 2016, the town of Wächtersbach has been part of the “”Stadtumbau in Hessen”” (Urban Redevelopment) program with its “”Historischer Stadtkern”” (Historic Town Center) development area, which focuses on sustainable urban development and four key aspects:
§ the support in overcoming economic structural challenges,
§ compensating for social disadvantages and demographic change,
§ climate protection
§ the preservation of the architectural and cultural heritage of Hessian municipalities.
With this in mind, it is planned to establish the (historic) buildings Rentkammer and Marstall partly as accommodation facilities and thus to lead them to a more extensive tourist use. The hotel product is planned as an apart-hotel with a total of 50 units (30 short-stay rooms and 20 long-stay serviced apartments) in the three-star superior to four-star category (DEHOGA classification).”

Implementation

The fair management had worked out many new ideas and actions for implementation. Due to the Corona pandemic, the fairs 2020 and 2021 are unfortunately cancelled.

Due to the Corona Pandemic, no further construction work has yet been carried out for the Castle Quarter.