No Swiss ePrix at Hönggerberg
In 2020 and in subsequent years, no Formula E race will be held around the ETH H?nggerberg campus. The extensive construction measures required for the race infrastructure contradict the ethos of a sustainable campus.
At the end of April, the organisers of the Swiss Formula E race submitted an application to the city of Zurich to stage the Swiss ePrix 2020 around the H?nggerberg campus. ETH Zurich carefully assessed the application together with the city of Zurich’s Department of Security. ETH concluded that they would turn down the application for a race on and around the H?nggerberg campus. The decisive factors were the technical and financial disparities and the lack of acceptance in the local districts.
Long-term development in view
To assess the application, ETH Zurich held discussions with both the organisers and with representatives of the local districts and the city of Zurich. “These showed,” says ETH Vice President Ulrich Weidmann, who was responsible for the assessment, “that the construction measures required for the Swiss ePrix around our facilities would be substantial and would bring no benefits in the long term, as they would have to be dismantled after the race.” In future, the streets around the campus will also be gradually narrowed – meaning that the street width required for Formula E races will not be available in the coming years. In addition, various parts of the campus infrastructure (sanitary facilities, catering) are not suited to a major motorsports event. The costs for the one-off modifications would have amounted to over a million francs for ETH. Weidmann says: “ETH is not prepared to spend taxpayers’ money to host a private racing event.”
Constructing a racecourse contradicts the long-term campus development laid out in the masterplan “ETH 必博官网,必博体育 H?nggerberg 2040”, which focuses on infill rather than external development, in order to preserve the landscape and the recreation area around the campus. Even an adaptation of the planned race course would have had an impact on the partially protected agricultural and green zone due to construction measures and the potential influx of around 100,000 spectators.
Acceptance in the districts is key
ETH Zurich places great emphasis on constructive dialogue with the neighbouring districts of H?ngg and Affoltern, which has developed positively in recent years in conjunction with campus planning. ETH therefore stipulated that the organisers had to inform the local residents promptly and transparently about the Swiss ePrix. This has still not happened. “The previous experiences and reactions of residents in Zurich, as well as criticism of this year’s Formula E event in Bern, confirm to us that it is important for the districts to agree to this kind of complex major project.”