The Schöneberg gasworks

Schöneberg gasworks, view from the largest gas holder to the other three gas holders of Schöneberg gasworks, 1930s
Photo Friedrich Seidenstücker, bpk

The event dome of the gasometer at its opening in 2009. It was designed on the occasion of the 2006 World Football Championship and modelled on the Reichstag dome.
EUREF AG

EUREF-Campus with filling station for electric cars, 2016
Photo Ricarda Spiegel, EUREF AG

The Schöneberg gasworks

The Schöneberg gasworks went into operation in 1871 under the direction of Leonard George Drory. It was the third gasworks of the Imperial Continental Gas Association, an English enterprise that had previously concluded an agreement with the village of Schöneberg in 1854 about gas lighting in the streets.

The gasworks soon reached the limits of its capacity and a thorough modernisation and expansion of the entire complex was begun in 1889. The listed clinker buildings designed by the Berlin architect Alfred Messel were built at this time.

In the First World War the English owners were expropriated and in 1940 the Schöneberg gasworks was taken over by the Berlin gas enterprise GASAG.

EUREF-Campus
Future venue of the energy revolution

The premises of the Schöneberg gasworks were sold to an investor in 2007 and now operate under the name EUREF-Campus. The abbreviation stands for “European Energy Forum” and focuses on the idea of developing the 5.5 hectare area into a model project for the energy revolution. The listed historical buildings such as the boiler and machine house with water tower or the retort house designed by Alfred Messel were energetically refurbished and new climate-neutral buildings were built.

Numerous enterprises and research institutes have settled here, including the new Technical University EUREF-Campus, where research focuses on the topic of city and energy, or the largest electric filling station in Germany. In terms of CO2 emissions the EUREF-Campus has already reached the climate targets of the Federal German Government for 2050.