Octopus makes Siegburg even more attractive

The shopping city at the gates of Cologne attracts visitors with new offers: Europe's largest diving center, business hotel, outdoor and indoor pool.

Initial situation

In 2007, the city of Siegburg had an almost 40-year-old indoor and outdoor pool Oktopus. The popular swimming pool tore an annual hole of around €1.8 million in the municipal budget. The renovation backlog amounted to around €15 million. If it had been realized on its own, the annual burden on the city of Siegburg would have risen to around € 2.5 million. Siegburg's budget would not have been able to cope with this in those years. The administration and municipal council therefore decided unanimously to outsource this task to a private partner via the PPP.

PPP plus contract with the Wäscher Group

  • The Group invested around €20 million plus VAT and created around 30 new jobs

  • The Group makes the indoor and outdoor pools available to the city's schools and clubs free of charge and leaves the socially acceptable admission prices unchanged.

  • The Group renovates the Oktopus to the necessary extent and expands it to include Europe's largest diving center, a business hotel, sauna, fitness and indoor surfing facility

  • The city of Siegburg saves around € 15 million in investment costs and around € 1 million a year in operating subsidies

Remunicipalization December 2012

In December 2012, the entire pool, including the very attractive and successful modules such as the diving center, hotel, sauna and fitness, was transferred to a municipal subsidiary.

In return, the municipal company took on a loan of around € 20 million. Wolfram Wäscher, the spiritual father, remains an advisor to the city.

Links & Downloads

Indoor diving center Siegburg
www.dive4life.de

Octopus Siegburg
www.oktopus-siegburg.de

Friendly City Hotel Octopus Siegburg
www.friendly-cityhotel-siegburg.de

Letter Kreisstadt Siegburg
Download PDF, 169kb

Kölnische Rundschau 2/2012 - Octopus under the city flag
Download PDF, 94kb