On the waterfront: a new headquarters for the water police in Hamburg reflects both the changing nature of the city's docklands and local crime.

Though Harburg is technically part of Hamburg, it is separated from the city centre by the Elbe River, two bridges and a fifteen-minute drive. Until recently, its inland harbour and canals were known only to directors of police thrillers, but now, with rising prices on the north bank and moves to increase city densities by recycling warehouses and grain silos, Harburg is rapidly and fashionably accelerating into the cabled loft age.

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Established in 1786 (and reputedly the oldest in the world), Hamburg's water police must now cope with a transformed Harburg harbour. Telekom headquarters, shipping controllers, on-line service industries, media professionals and a China Tower for one of Germany's biggest export partners are replacing fish handlers, scrap metal yards and palm oil refineries. The air is cleaner and the crime more white collar. Water police responsibilities have also expanded to encompass the land between the canals as well as 150 kilometres up river.

To keep pace with those more likely to steal computer notebooks than lead piping, the river and harbour police divisions have a new headquarters equipped with state of the art technology to tackle borderless European Union crime. Located between river and harbour, behind a protective dyke and lock gates, the eye-catching new structure also signals a change in status for Harburg, as quayside walks and al fresco eating gradually replace nineteenth-century industry and pollution.

Local firm Architekten-Contor in collaboration with Schafer-Agather-Scheel won a national two-stage competition for the new headquarters with a dramatically cantilevered, copper-clad structure reminiscent of EI Lissitzky and Mart Stam's 1924 unbuilt Wolkenbugel project. Traditionally associated with durability and constancy, here the vivid green pre-patinated copper is intended to make a bolder statement. Although only five floors high, the building is visible from road, rail and water approaches. Similarly, the police have three hundred and sixty degree visibility over their patch, like eagles in an eyrie.

To improve operational efficiency, three police divisions have been brought together under one roof. In-house training officers and a specialist marine technical team join conventional policemen on a daily quartet of six hour shifts. Patrol boats are moored on the river or harbour side of the building and video cameras monitor their comings and goings. As the water level is only five metres below ground, the station has no cellar storage or parking. Internal organization is based around a central spinal corridor, with cellular offices on both sides and full width conference or sports rooms at each end. A boardwalk balcony overlooks a roof terrace and the eventually landscaped car park could double as open-day barbeque party area. Building services are generally domestic in scale, with openable windows, heating (but no air conditioning), external sun louvres and internal roller blinds.

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Rejecting institutional grey, building users instead opted for Yves Klein blue, an obvious choice for a marine location, and an effective contrast to the warm timber fittings. The fair-faced concrete lift shaft is also painted the same penetrating blue, bringing a dash of the Mediterranean to northern latitudes.

Given the upmarket hotel character of finishes and furniture, it is sometimes easy to forget that the building entertains more troublesome visitors. These arrive by car through a lockable garage at the west end of the ground floor to be booked in at a no-frills reception area with lockers for personal belongings. There are four different sizes of cell, each with built-in wooden benches. In the past, the water police had little to do with land-based crime, but now when large numbers of suspects are detained, the new station is designated one of several holding points around the city.

Though this project cannot be compared to more modest community buildings, it shows how an enlightened government client can use the competition system to encourage and deliver innovative architecture. Here in Hamburg, it is refreshing to see the state setting a challenging benchmark for the private sector.

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