Tuesday, September 16
Construction of 2,500 Berlin apartments blocked… by ants?
The rules are clear: if an ant nest is to be relocated, the move must take place between mid-March and mid-May, giving the colony enough time to prepare its new home for the winter months.
At the huge construction site in Lichterfelde-Süd, however – where an entirely new urban district is planned with space for 2,500 flats and around 6,000 residents – the anthill was only discovered in July. When developers applied to the Nature Conservation Agency for permission to move it, their request was refused. Too late, said the authority. Now the builders fear the delay could jeopardise the project’s timetable.
It is not as though the developers, the Groth Group, were unaware that the land was full of wildlife. Long before construction began, they had been painstakingly relocating sand lizards from the site. Yet the anthill ruling now threatens to halt tree felling and derail the carefully prepared schedule. To proceed with the 2026 clearing season, they would also have to demonstrate that the area is completely free of protected lizards and ants.
The fact that this dispute is making headlines reveals tensions between the property group and the city. The company hopes to pressure the authorities into granting construction permits, but Urban Aykal (Greens), warns the administration not to back down. He argues against clearing wildlife “in advance” for building work that might not begin “for many years”, stressing that the city has seen no evidence the removals are necessary at this stage. Even if the anthill were cleared, he asked: “Will work really begin in spring 2026?”
