Successive Steps Towards the Creation of a Marina at Loutraki
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Transactions on the Built Environment vol 40 © 1999 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 Successive steps towards the creation of a Marina at Loutraki - West end of Korinth Canal - Greece AJ. Rogan, SJ. Rogan, G. Papageorgiou, C. Solomonidis Rogan Associates, Consulting Engineers - Architects Email: [email protected] Abstract The scope of this paper is the presentation of all the necessary stages for the creation of a marina in a maritime European country, such as Greece, from the starting point of its scheduling as a node in the National network of leisure harbours, to it's final design phase. The whole procedure is demonstrated with the example of a new 700 berthing places Marina at Loutraki, a well-known resort at the northwestern end of the Gulf of Korinthos. A number of parameters are examined, such as the hinterland, which the marina will serve as well as the existing transport accesses. A thorough analysis of the existing and future demand for berthing places in leisure harbours, both for the whole of Greece, and more specifically for the Attica and Argolis areas is performed, setting as time horizon for the estimates the year 2014. The demand is compared to the existing capacity in berthing places, thus establishing the necessity of creating new marinas in the area. The required capacity of the marina is then calculated in terms of places in the sea and on dry, in relation to the local demand, but subject to geographical and other constraints. The main goals of the Master Plan of the marina are outlined and the design proposal is presented with emphasis given on the architectural concept which was followed. Transactions on the Built Environment vol 40 © 1999 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 474 Coastal Engineering and Marina Developments 1 Introduction The Greek National Tourism Organisation (ONTO), having realized the need for leisure harbours and the possibilities offered by Greece's natural and cultural attractions, asked the then Chair of Harbour Works of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) to study the 1* Phase of a National System of Navigational Zones for Leisure (NZL). According to this study, which was completed in 1982 and approved by the GNTO, Greece was divided into eight (8) subsystems or NZ. The Marina at Loutraki belonged to NZ No 6: Corinthiakos-Saronikos-Argolikos Gulfs. After a public invitation to tender, ROGAN ASSOCIATES was commissioned by the Municipal Enterprise for Tourist Development of Loutraki-Perachora (DETALP) to carry out the project aiming at selecting the most appropriate site for the development of a Marina. The study proposed three sites from which DETALP approved and selected the one at Poseidonia. At the end of 1993, the Ministry of National Economy (meanwhile the GNTO had become a "General Secretariat" of this Ministry) passed Law 2160/1993 on "Regulations for Tourism and other provisions", of which Article 30 §5 approved sixteen sites for development of Leisure Harbours. The site approved under the name LOUTRAKI KORINTHIAS coincided with the one at Poseidonia (see Figure 1). Further to this, another company belonging to the Loutraki Municipality, the "Tourist Development Company of the Casino-Loutraki", the ATEKL, in Joint Venture with "Club Hotel Loutraki SA", owner of the Casino of Loutraki, invited a restricted number of contractors to bid for the design-construction of the "Marina Loutraki" on the site approved by Law 2160/1993. AEGEK SA Contractors and ROGAN ASSOCIATES SA Designers were selected, and these latter were asked to adapt their initial preliminary design to the regulations of Law 2160/1993. The Marina Loutraki will have a capacity of 700 yachts. In August 1997, the joint Venture ATEKL - CLUB HOTEL LOUTRAKI submitted to the Secretariat for Support of Tourist Harbours (SSTH), which was created by Law 2160/1993, a request for the planning and creation of a leisure harbour. The final decision is still pending due to diverging interpretations of some articles of Law 2160. Transactions on the Built Environment vol 40 © 1999 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 Coastal Engineering and Marina Developments 475 Figure 1: Geographical location of the Marina Transactions on the Built Environment vol 40 © 1999 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 476 Coastal Engineering and Marina Developments 2 The served hinterland The proposed Marina is practically serving (due to the submerged bridge at the west end of Korinth canal), both the towns of Loutraki (11,000 permanent inhabitants and 70,000 in summer) and Korinth (27,500 permanent inhabitants) thus totalizing 38,500 inhabitants (97,500 in summer). Several archaeological sites are close to the site: Ancient Corinthos at 15 km, Mycenae at 50 km, Epidaurus at 70 km, Delphy at 220 km and Olympia at 240 km. The most important is that yachts sailing from west (Ionian Sea - Adriatic Sea) are not obliged to cross the Korinth Canal in order to visit Athens, which is only at 85 km distance. 3 Transport accesses The Marina at Loutraki is connected through a 7 km long secondary road to the PATHE Motorway (Thessaloniki-Athens-Patra). A suburban rail is connecting Loutraki to Athens and R.R. Station of Korinth is at 10 km distance. The new international airport of Athens at Spata will be at a distance of 80 km upon completion of the peripheral road Stavros- Elefsis. 4 Potential future demand for berthing space in leisure harbours 4.1 Total demand for berthing space in Greece (1994-2014) The present chapter is based on the results of the study "Dynamics of Marina Market in Greece" completed on July 1994 by ROGAN ASSOCIATES. The international and the domestic demands have been evaluated for various Scenarios (3 Scenarios for the international and 3 for the domestic demands). The time horizon of related estimates was the year 2014 (20 years from the then study year, or 15-years from today). The results are compiled in Table 1. The following are noted regarding these forecasts: • In each case (international and domestic demand), the final estimates of total demand are derived as the average of three scenarios, two of which are based on trends (related to tourism development in general and to incomes) while the third although is based and one is of substantial greater order of magnitude, based, however, on modest assumptions - in the case of international demand, on a modest share of Transactions on the Built Environment vol 40 © 1999 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 Coastal Engineering and Marina Developments 477 international boats cruising the Mediterranean and selecting Greece for berthing; and, in the case of domestic demand, on per capita leisure boat ownership in Greece after 20 years only half the corresponding index in Italy and France in 1990-1991, it is of substantially greater order of magnitude. • Thus, overall these forecasts are considered modest. For the demand of boats for charter, it is assumed that the number will increase at the same rate as the number of individual leisure boaters in Greek waters (international and domestic). All the above are summarised in Table 2 and Figure 2. Table 1: Alternative scenarios of demand for berthing space in organised leisure harbours in Greece in the period 1994-2014 1994 2000 2005 2010 2014 International Demand Scenario I- 1 2,000 2,700 3,100 3,600 4,100 Scenario 1-2 2,000 2,200 2,500 2,700 3,300 Scenario 1-3 2,000 3,100 4,400 6,200 8,200 Average 2,000 2,700 3,300 4,200 5,200 Domestic Demand Scenario D- 1 5,300 7,100 8,200 9,500 10,700 Scenario D-2 5,300 6,200 7,200 8,400 9,400 Scenario D-3 5,300 11,200 21,000 39,200 64,600 Average 5,300 8,200 12,100 19,000 28,200 Total Demand (Average) 7,300 10,900 15,400 23,200 33,400 4.2 Future demand for berthing space in Attica and Argolis areas The Marina at Loutraki, situated at only 85 km distance from Athens Great Area, with a population of 4,500,000 inhabitants (more than 40% of Greece's population), is easily reached during the week-end (maximum one hour drive). It is, therefore, an attractive leisure harbour for domestic users originating the Attica area. Transactions on the Built Environment vol 40 © 1999 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 478 Coastal Engineering and Marina Developments Table 2 Total Demand for Berthing Space in Greece 1994-2014 1994 2000 2005 2010 2014 Individual Yachtsmen 2,000 2,700 3,100 3,600 4,100 International Boats 5,300 8,200 12,100 19,000 28,200 Domestic Boats Total 7,300 10,900 15,400 23,200 33,400 Boats for Charter 3,700 5,500 7,800 11,700 16,800 Grand Total 11,000 16,400 23,200 34,900 50,200 60,000 1994 2014 • o - - International Boats • Domestic Boats •o- - • Boats for Charter •Grand Total Figure 2: Total Demand for Berthing Space in Greek Leisure Harbours 1994-2014 Future demand for berthing space in the greater area of Attica/Argolis, where the Marina at Loutraki can be considered as a gate to the next NZ for leisure (Korinthiakos Golf), is estimated on the basis of: • Total demand for berthing space in the country estimated in the previous section and presented in Table 2 and Figure 2. • Existing demand for berthing space in these areas. • Logical assumptions, on the basis of which alternative scenarios of shares of the national totals are formulated. Existing demand for berthing space is estimated on the basis of available facilities, observations and trends in Greece as a whole.