30 students from universities in Portugal, The Netherlands, Finland, Denmark and Germany will have the chance to participate in this international project called the ’Alexanderheide – Giving back to Human and Nature’, about a former German militairy airfield.

The Date
The project will run from Friday 9 till Saturday 17 November 2007.

Global course of the project
Prior to the project, all participants will do a preliminary assignment at the home institutions, together with their fellow students.

On Friday 9 November all parties will arrive in Oldenburg (Oldb), where the project starts with an introduction weekend with team building activities, a field trip and the first discussions of the project teams.

On Monday the project will officially be opened. During the week, when all project information is available and keynote lectures have taken place, the student teams will elaborate their plans.

Every participant will be placed into a student team that consist of one student from each country. This way, each team is mixed by nationality as well as by discipline. In total there will six teams of students. Each team will have a supervisor assigned to it.

On Friday 16 November all teams will present their ideas and plans in front of a jury of experts. The winning group will be chosen and each participant will receive a certificate for completion of the project.

After a fare-well party, all parties will depart for home on Saturday morning.

Subject of the project
The Fliegerhorst Oldenburg on Alexanderheide, where this project focuses on, is a military airfield that is no longer used. The ground has an area of 309 hectares. Part of its area lies in the city of Oldenburg and the other part lies in the district of Ammerland. The Fliegerhorst is within the responsibility of the Haaren-Wasseracht - Verband für Wasser-, Boden und Landschaftspflege (Assocation for Water, Soil and Landscape Management).

Two little brooks flow through the airfield. One of them is piped over a distance of 700 m. There are also rainwater retaining basins and a wastewater collection system from the airfield buildings. An obsolete heating power plant was shut down at the end of June 2007. Pollution of the soil is possible. In autumn 2007 the results of the soil analysis will be present.

In 2005 the municipal planning organised a landscape and urban planning contest with participants invited all over Europe. Based on the outcomes of this contest, the winning agencies (Bürogemeinschaft Hanke+Partner and KSV Krüger Schuberth Vandreike, both Berlin) have developed a master plan. On the 9th of July 2007 the council of the city Oldenburg voted for this master plan. At present, detailed planning is underway to fill in it. This master plan will form the scope of this NEPTUNE project.

Aim of the project
In international teams participating students will develop plans and find solutions for a new use of the area with a focus on water management. This will include considerations regarding renaturation of the brooks, a plan for a new heating system and for future rainwater management under consideration of climatic change. Consequences for the economy, the people and the environment are to be taken into account as well.

Participants
The project group will comprise 30 final year BSc. students from the following partners:

• University College Vitus Bering Horsens(DK)
  Faculty of Building Technology and Construction Management
• Fachhochshule OOW (DE)
  University of Applied Sciences
• Mikkeli Polytechnic(FI)
  Department of Built Environment
• Instituto Superior de Engenharia Lisboa (PT)
  Department of Civil Engineering
• NHL University of Applied Sciences Leeuwarden (NL)
  Department of the Built Environment

More information
The project makes part of an international course. Please contact your NEPTUNE contact person at your home institution for more information.

Students that have been selected for participation will receive authorisation to login to our Intranet. This will be open for students about four weeks prior to the start of the project.

The project is organised by the Fachhochschule Ostfriesland, Oldenburg, Wilhelmshaven, Department of Structural Engineering and Geoinformation, in cooperation with the Haaren Wasseracht – Verband für Wasser-, Boden und Landschaftspflege (Assocation for Water, Soil and Landscape Management) and the Municipality of Oldenburg.