Brownfield development and cable parks – An ideal solution to revitalize former industrial areas with water bodies

Water property can be a goldmine, but that’s not the case for all of them. Especially property with an industrial background often comes with its own unique challenges. In today’s article, we want to introduce you to a form of property development that you might not yet be familiar with. A Wakepark, also called Wakeboard cable park, is ideal for property that would otherwise be difficult to develop and can turn out very profitable if planned correctly.

Wakeboarding and Water ski are growing individual outdoor sports that are ideally suited for property that appears to be a real challenge to develop at first, namely land with an industrial background. In this article we want to highlight three different types of property and discuss why a cable park works so well for them.

Open pit mining and industrial wasteland

Large-scale industrial activities often leave scars in the landscape. Especially open pit mines and quarries aren’t pleasant to look at and are difficult to redevelop. Depending on the exact circumstances, cable parks can be the ideal solution and purpose for that property. Wakeparks are in high demand, so guests are used to traveling a bit to reach them. Which is rather helpful since former industrial property is often not located close to urban areas.

Additionally, a cable park can start to operate before the water quality has reached a level that would be required for swimming. A cable park is beneficial to newly created or desolate bodies of water, since the turbulence created by the riders are helpful to reduce algae growth and to bring oxygen into deeper water levels. But what if there’s only industrial wasteland, no lake or similar? In the case of open pit mines, flooding is of course the obvious answer. And since the requirements in size and depths are manageable, even digging an artificial lake is oftentimes a viable option to consider.

There’s also an additional benefit of using a cable park as a solution in these cases: the ability to expand – both in advance as well as later down the line. Adjacent property is most likely readily available which opens a vast array of options to expand into a multi-attraction park with guest accommodation, restaurants, and beach activities.

© ddb photography

Former industrial harbors

While it’s sometimes possible to transform abandoned or shut down industrial harbors into residential, commercial or office zones, there are plenty of cases where that would not work. Be it for the scenery – if for example parts of the harbor are still in use – or for accessibility reasons. Cable parks again function as a great solution for these properties and can spark the transformation of the wider surroundings into attractive and high-value land.

Examples of wakeboard facilities in areas with industrial history

We at Wakeparx have already realized numerous projects on former industrial areas. An outstanding example is the recently completed Wakepark “Supieria” in Rostock. The Cable Park is located in the mouth of the river Warnow and is adjacent to the harbor there. Other projects in and at former and still used harbors are currently underway in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and France.

We also have many years of experience with residual lakes, former open-pit mines and artificially created lakes, such as the “East Park” in Bartenheim, France, completed in 2022. The Cable Park is built in a gravel pit which is still in operation. Similar case studies are “Wakebeach 257” in Dormagen, which is also located in a gravel pit. For the Wakeboard facilities “313 Cable Park” and “Vanduo Marse”, both in Lithuania, as well as North Devon Wakepark in Great Britain and ICF in Cambodia, the excavation of an artificial lake was necessary for the implementation of the project.

Do you have any questions? Then please contact us directly! We are of course at your disposal with our expertise and advise you on a wide range of options for the project planning of industrial and water areas.

Related articles