Location Wittlich
Location and function, transport links and development:
Wittlich with more than 19,000 inhabitants is located at the star-shaped centre of an extensive economic region in the middle of Europe. Wittlich, an intermediate centre for an area in the Eifel and Moselle region with 90,000 - 100,000 inhabitants, has always been a town noted for trade, crafts and industry. In the last four decades, however, the town has experienced an exemplary economic development which makes the designation business location or business centre readily comprehensible.The basis for this development has been and still is the excellent access to nationwide transport links by road and rail and the proximitiy to various airports.
Thus the Wittlich motorway interchange links the motorway A1, as an important North-South route with the motorway A 60, thus providing the link to Belgium and the Netherlands, to the North Sea ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam and through France and the Channel Tunnel to Great Britain. The planned new B 50 as an extension of the A 60 will considerably improve the link to the Rhine-Main region in the foreseeable future. The expanding airport Frankfurt-Hahn will then be accessible within just a few minutes from Wittlich. Already today the economic core regions Rhine-Main, Cologne Bay and Lorraine, as well as Luxembourg as an important European financial centre, but also the airports of Frankfurt, Cologne, Saarbrücken and Luxembourg will be accessible within just an hour.
Workplaces, work locations, Factories:
If only those employees subject to social insurance contributions are considered, Wittlich provides jobs for 14,500 people. If civil servants and the self-employed are included the number rises to 17,000. Thus the concentration of jobs amounts to 900 per 1,000 inhabitants, putting Wittlich in the absolute top group of towns in Rhineland-Palatinate.
More than 250 hectares in industrial and commercial areas have been developed since the end of the nineteen-sixties; more than 900 places of work are based in Wittlich. Companies well-known and active throughout the world are located here, such as, e.g. Dunlop (tyres for lorries), Ideal Standard (sanitary fittings), Dr. Oetker (deep-frozen pizzas) Franklin Electric (immersion pumps), Benninghofen (road construction equipment) and Zieman (steel construction) as the largest employers.
The location is, however, also characterised by a large number of medium-sized companies from commerce, trades and services. Some of these companies, which are often still family-owned, are well-known even beyond the bounds of the town such as the forwarding company Elsen, the Bungert shopping centre, the EU-slaughterhouse Simon and the sanitary and heating construction companies Assmann and Lütticken.
Wengerohr-South Industrial area:
With the new “Industrial area Wengerohr-South” further areas for establishing businesses have been provided recently. The site located to the southeast of the Wengerohr district, is about 90 hectares in size. About another 70 hectares are available in plots of various sizes, depending on potential buyer's requirements.
The Dr-Oetker-Strasse links the industrial areas Wengerohr and Wengerohr-South across a newly constructed bridge over the Trier-Koblenz railway line, thus making the Wengerohr district better accessible and reducing the heavy traffic which had previously badly affected the area. The nearly 1,200 persons working in the Wengerohr Industrial area, who often come from villages located nearby in the Hunsrück Mountains and along the Moselle, also benefit from this link.
The town of Wittlich sells plots in this area at a price of €19.00/m2 including development costs.
Conversion area:
Another focus of development of the business location Wittlich is the conversion area bordering on the south of the town centre. The site, which was used by the French Armed Forces as barracks until mid-1999 covering an area of about 18 hectares was bought by the town of Wittlich. After the demolition of the existing buildings and redevelopment of the polluted areas, the site is now to be put to new purposes. The direct proximity to the centre of Wittlich requires a thorough review of options for use and their suitability for the town centre.Near the former barracks site, the former French housing area with a size of approximately six hectares will also change. Here, an attractive new housing scheme with single family houses is to be developed. The marketing of these areas is provided by the federal finance agency in Trier for the Federal Republic of Germany in close cooperation with the town of Wittlich.
Location factors:
A commercial centre or a trade and industrial location does not only live from business, but also for business and for the people who initially create business through their labour and energy. Those working in Wittlich, in most cases also want to live in Wittlich. They want to feel at home, to have social, cultural and sport events available, to be able to shop and improve their education, and to find plenty of leisure amenities and a high life quality. Wittlich takes account of all these requirements.With more than 120 specialist shops in the town centre, which presents itself like a large shopping precinct, people find everything they need for everyday life, but also for up-market to discerning shopping options.
The approximately 58,000 square metres business area in the town centre are complemented by a further roughly 37,000 square metres in the industrial and trade area located, so to speak, “in the countryside”, so that the town provides a disproportionate range in comparison with its size. For “shopping as an experience” in Wittlich, there are some 1,800 parking spaces available in the town centre which, with the exception of some short-stay spaces, can be used free of charge.
Floral decorations, well-tended squares with fountains and adequate seating facilities, as well as attractive outdoor catering establishment underline the fact that great importance is attached to a pleasant ambience in Wittlich. Wittlich is progressive without abandoning its historically developed character, its traditions and its identity. From the urban planning aspect, the townscape offers a balanced mixture of old, lovingly renovated building fabric, modern business premises and new buildings in various styles.