Rehabilitation Centre now a part of Climate-Adapted Recreational Park in Aarhus

About the project

New synergies have emerged in climate change adaptation efforts in Aarhus. The surroundings of the Danish centre of rehabilitation, research and development, MarselisborgCentret, integrate health, urban nature, rehabilitation and climate change adaptation in a single project.

The project is called SPARK - in Danish, an acronym for health, park, activities, rehabilitation and climate change adaptation. The project is part of local water company Aarhus Vand's strategy to couple health and climate change adaptation efforts.

SPARK is the first concrete result of the strategy. In this project, MarselisborgCentret, the Central Denmark Region and the City of Aarhus have collaborated to establish a 7.3-hectare area in the city, able to contain and retain almost all the rainwater that falls on the centre site.

As a side-effect of the project, the many users of the centre and the thousands of local residents in the area now have fantastic new recreational opportunities. The SPARK park has been financed with funds from various foundations. The park is designed to withstand a 35-40-year rainfall event.

Thousands of people enjoy the park on a weekly basis

The SPARK park was inaugurated in summer 2021 and has been ten years in the making.

The centre's 25 organisations, employing a total of 450 employees and serving 5,000 weekly users, and thousands of local residents have access to the new, climate-adapted park and its facilities.

MarselisborgCentret is situated in downtown Aarhus between busy streets and multi-storey buildings. Previously, a broad street with parking on either side ran between the buildings of the centre and a municipal park.

Now the park and the centre have been merged into a 7.3-hectare climate-adapted area that is open for use by users of the centre and local residents.

The park was inaugurated in summer 2021 following a two-year construction phase. The project has been approximately ten years in the making.

Realdania, a private association that supports projects in architecture and planning, urged the project partners to think innovatively and to include many different considerations in the renovation.

Several, equally important considerations in one project

Climate change adaptation should always provide added benefits to the wider urban area. The local water company, Aarhus Vand, wanted to use SPARK as a pilot project to discover new forms of added value. In SPARK, the added value is in the form of increased health.

Aarhus Vand aims to develop new forms of added value in its climate change adaptation efforts. According to Chief Engineer Anne Laustsen from Aarhus Vand, it was therefore obvious for Aarhus Vand to join the SPARK project.

The project supported the Aarhus Vand 2025 Strategy to create health through clean water - for the population and for the planet

At the same time, the SPARK project will be a platform for collaboration between rehabilitation and climate-adapted urban nature.

When the buildings went from serving as a hospital to serving as a rehabilitation centre in 2000, MarselisborgCentret and its owners, the Central Denmark Region and the City of Aarhus, wanted to use the opportunity to rethink how the area was used.

Hills, hollows, a lake and a meandering watercourse

The area used to be two separate areas: a traditional urban park and a hospital treatment facility surrounded by old vegetation, lawns and parked cars.

Today, the areas have been joined into a cohesive whole that retains almost all the rain that falls on it.

The SPARK park encompasses 7.3 hectares. A road used to pass through the area, cutting it in two.

On one side of the road was a municipal park with grassy lawns and trees. On the other side was the former Marselisborg Hospital, now the rehabilitation centre MarselisborgCentret, with paved areas and parking lots. The two areas were more or less the same size.

Today the road has been removed and the area has been merged into a single, large green area with a new road snaking its way along the periphery, drawing a crooked U.

The MarselisborgCentret consists of 15 multi-storey buildings totalling 15,000 square metres. Two of the buildings used to have separate sewer systems. Now, however, the entire rehabilitation centre is able to retain almost all of the rain that falls within the property borders.

The project area was divided into 14 smaller catchment areas so that it was easier to dimension the park to withstand the estimated water volumes.

A 480-square-metre lake was established, as well as 30 small or large hollows that serve as infiltration beds for the water. The hollows have been filled with 30 centimetres of topsoil. In periods with little or no rain, several or all of the hollows will be dry.

In some of the catchment areas, it was not possible to establish infiltration beds. The hollows in these areas have been fitted with drains that retain and direct the water onwards into the stormwater system.

The excess soil from digging the hollows has been used to establish two hills, 3-5 meters high. It was decided from the beginning, that all soil dug from the area should remain in the area.

An open, meandering water conduit was also established. Furthermore, pipework was dug into the ground to lead rainwater from some of the buildings into the newly established small lake.

In addition to this, an emergency flood channel was established and several conduits designed to lead the water around buildings in cloudburst events. During a cloudburst, the water will therefore be directed onto a sports pitch with permeable asphalt.

Each of the catchment areas can manage a 10-year event Together the hollows and the lake can hold around 2,500 cubic metres of water, corresponding to a 35-40-year rainfall event.

In the original plan, the total area was to be able to manage a 100-year event.

However, the engineering consultants on the project, NIRAS, advised that this would require even larger hollows. This meant that a large amount of excess soil had to be removed from the area, and this was not in the contracting authority's interest.

The first priority for the contracting authority in terms of climate change adaptation was for the area to be able to retain all of its own rainwater. And the project has achieved this goal, says Peter Schäfer from NIRAS.

The SPARK project is the first in the world to integrate urban nature, climate change adaptation and rehabilitation.

The park's chief value is that it can do all three things at once. Even in dry periods, when hollows and the watercourse are without water, the park benefits its users.

Today, the SPARK park serves many different functions. There is a petanque court, as well as vegetable plots, areas for contemplation, talking, reading, resting, etc., a community and coffee house, training and activity furbishing, and much more.

Many thousand people going through physical, psychological and social rehabilitation use the climate-adapted park and its open water conduit, its lake, weaving system of pathways and small groves with various and varying vegetation.

The users of MarselisborgCentret enjoy the new park. And Aarhus Vand can boast of a pilot project that successfully couples health and climate change adaptation.

The park has a ‘three-fold value’ if you ask Realdania.

The park is used for many projects by external stakeholders as well. In 2021, for example, the park was the venue for 50 pop-up concerts and more than 20 public events that have helped to bring the SPARK park and the local area even closer together.

DKK 45 million divided among several partners

Realdania, the A.P. Møller Foundation, the City of Aarhus, the Central Denmark Region, MarselisborgCentret and Aarhus Vand have all contributed to the SPARK park.

MarselisborgCentret is sole responsible for the operation of the park.

Together, the partners have invested DKK 45 million in the project.

Realdania and the A.P. Møller Foundation have together contributed DKK 25 million.

MarselisborgCentret has chipped in DKK 8.5 million, the Central Denmark Region DKK 2.5 million, and two municipal authorities and a welfare-technology development pool in the City of Aarhus have provided a total of DKK 7.5 million.

Finally, Aarhus Vand has contributed DKK 1.5 million. Part of this amount is repayment of the connection fee, as the SPARK park can now retain almost all of the rain that falls on the property.

Classical project, but with the mark of a philanthropic association

MarselisborgCentret wanted to update and renovate its surroundings and give the public access to them. The centre's owners at local-government and regional-government level agreed. Urged by Realdania, a private association working to improve the built environment, the project ended up by also including other considerations to benefit the greater common good.

MarselisborgCentret is owned by the Central Denmark Region and the City of Aarhus. The park with which the centre has been merged was a municipal park.

It was the centre’s own idea to integrate the entire area and thus create even greater recreational value. When the parties asked for financial support from Realdania,
Realdania encouraged them to broaden their perspective and use the opportunity to address several important societal challenges in one project. This led to the inclusion of climate change adaptation in the project.

The SPARK project process was run as a classical project with a steering group and a working group, as well as with extensive stakeholder and neighbourhood involvement.

The process fell into the three classical phases, from preliminary investigations to construction. Only a few permits had to be obtained.

While some users of the park are enjoying and thus benefitting from the water in the park, for others the water is a challenge. Everyone needs to feel that the transformed park has been designed for them, says MarselisborgCentret.

The former Marselisborg Hospital is today a rehabilitation centre with many different user groups with vastly different physical, psychological and social challenges and needs.
All of them have to be able to see themselves using the SPARK park, and it has therefore been important to ensure optimal accessibility, according to Ole Mygind, who is MarselisborgCentret's project manager in the project. "It hasn't been an actual problem, but it has been a challenge to get all interests to meet", he said.

Several of the partners in the project have also said that the project had to balance traditional clashes of interest between functionality and aesthetics. "The project did present us with lots of bumps on the road in this regard" said Ole Mygind.