Demolish to make room for greenery - Municipality of Milan

Ponte Lambro after the eco-monster

The construction of the Monluè hotel was planned taking advantage of an exemption legislation promulgated on the occasion of the 1990 football world championship. The structure, however, was never completed; a direct consequence of the non-compliance was the absence of the conditions to take advantage of the regulatory exemption.

With a view to redeveloping the landscape of the south-eastern outskirts of the Municipality of Milan, it was decided to proceed with the demolition of the structure.

Demolition: the reasons

Characteristics of the reference area:

green river bend, with significant landscape potential, exposed to hydrogeological risk and still largely used for agricultural activity;
area currently protected at a regional level and included in the perimeter of the "South Milan Agricultural Park" as an agricultural and naturalistic area.

Strategy:

containment of land consumption and reuse of existing structures, systematized with the Territorial Government Plan (PGT May 2012);
valorisation and recovery of the typical characteristics of the fringe territories, with consequent valorisation of the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Elements of innovation in the procedure

The intervention is innovative in terms of its implementation methods:

agreement with the owner of the structure to whom the demolition costs will be paid in exchange for the concession, by the Municipality of Milan, of the change of use from public offices to tertiary use of the Garibaldi Towers;
for the profitable use of the derogating provisions of the Development Decree.

Typical elements of the intervention:

definition of the intervention criteria, aimed both at supporting and enhancing the areas already characterized and qualified on an environmental-landscape level, and at the construction of new landscapes integrated with the degraded areas of the pre-existing context;
redevelopment of both degraded urban areas and non-residential buildings that have been decommissioned or are in the process of being decommissioned.

The stages of demolition

This is the timeline of the demolition activity that involved the hotel:

November 2011: resolution for change of use and demolition;
June 2012: start of demolition works;
November 2012: completion of demolition works;
January-December 2013: works to remove materials and backfill with farmland;
December 2013: inauguration of the new equipped green area in via Vittorini;
April 2014: signing by the Municipality of the agricultural leasing contract - lasting 15 years - of the land previously occupied by the Monluè Hotel.

In 2017 the Municipality of Milan, in agreement with the WWF, started the redevelopment of the Fontanile dei Certosini with regional funds from the Lambro River Contract.

Some summary data of the intervention

265.000 m38.000. of areas subjected to redevelopment, XNUMX mXNUMX. of which coming from the grounds of the former hotel
one part of the area is intended for agricultural activity, another for naturalistic purposes (river banks). Furthermore, the area of via Vittorini - which has an extension of approximately 14.000 mXNUMX. - it was designed by actively involving the citizens of Ponte Lambro in the redefinition of the physiognomy of the area and in the identification of new environmental services and to support the neighborhood
850 tonnes of ferrous material deriving from the demolition of the building was recovered for reuse.

After the demolition - The listening journey

Periodic meetings with the citizens of Ponte Lambro, aimed at receiving contributions to support both the redefinition of the "design" of the area and the identification of new environmental services and to support the neighborhood, through the Zone 4 Council and the "Laboratory of Ponte Lambro neighborhood”;
drafting a questionnaire, under the guidance of the Zone 4 Council, aimed at acknowledging citizens' requests;
involvement of a working group, already sponsored by the Municipality, on the Lambro ecological network, as well as of the WWF South Milan to define the environmental characteristics of the area to be strengthened.

Attention to the environment and management of savings

The demolition process pays particular attention to the environment and the management of savings: the costs of demolition and backfilling are estimated at approximately 4.110.000 euros.

The savings made during implementation allow some of the proposals that emerged from the citizen listening activity to be integrated into the project, such as:

creation of an equipped area on via Vittorini;
water house;
renovation of portions of the park via Serrati;
redevelopment of portions of via Vittorini (gateway to the park).

The redevelopment of the Fontanile dei Certosini is carried out thanks to regional funds from the Lambro River Contract

The network

These are the steps for creating the network:

drafting of a feasibility study of an ecological network on the Lambro river, proposed by ERSAF - Regional Agency for Agriculture and Forestry Services, DIAP - Department of Architecture and Planning of the Polytechnic of Milan, Legambiente, PLIS - local parks of supra-municipal interest “Media Valle del Lambro" and co-financed (in 2012) by the Cariplo Foundation;
valorisation and strengthening of the Lambro river corridor, with the aim of creating an ecological and park system in the eastern Milan area, from Monza to Melegnano;
allocation of 130.000 euros by the Lombardy Region for the redevelopment of the Fontanile dei Certosini;
entrusting the intervention to a team of farmers operating in the sector, starting from the restoration of hydraulic functionality.

The works subject to intervention