New day care centre on Südring: New building in the starting blocks

A new day-care centre with over 100 day-care places will be built in the authorities' quarter on Korbach's Südring next year at a cost of around 3.3 million euros. The project is already in the starting blocks: Construction work is scheduled to start in spring 2021 - and to be completed about a year later, so that the daycare centre is expected to open its doors in March 2022. The building application has already been submitted and the tenders are currently being prepared.

The district of Waldeck-Frankenberg has already sold the DRK Kreisverband Frankenberg e.V. the corresponding plot of land for this purpose in the Korbach authorities' quarter on Südring opposite the Office for Land Management. On behalf of the city of Korbach, the DRK will build the new day care centre there and also operate it for at least 25 years.

"The house will offer up to 111 places in six groups - three crèches and three kindergarten groups - for children aged from one year to school enrolment," says Christian Peter, managing director of the DRK district association in Frankenberg, explaining the plans for the facility, which will be geared towards holistic learning. In addition to the group rooms, a spacious exercise room, quiet rooms, rooms for staff, a kitchen, a bistro, utility rooms, diaper-changing rooms and bathrooms as well as appropriate storage capacities are planned. The outdoor area will also be planned accordingly. "The design of the rooms is intended to invite children to form individual learning communities and to enable them to gather social, motor and cognitive experiences," Peter continues.

The catchment area refers to the city of Korbach with its districts. The city assumes a real demand of at least 1,100 childcare places. "With this project, we are responding to the ever-increasing demand for childcare facilities in the core city and the local districts," says Klaus Friedrich, Mayor of the City of Korbach. "In the DRK, we have found a strong partner who will realise this project together with us." The location in the immediate vicinity of the neighbouring authorities is ideal, he said. Four of the six groups are basically intended for municipal children, two groups as kindergarten for the authority centre on Südring. The day-care centre is to be open from Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; a hot lunch service is also planned. Since the parents' fees only cover a small part of the operating costs, the city of Korbach has to finance up to 1,200 euros per child and month on average from municipal funds for its groups. The amount depends on the age or the amount of care required and the care time chosen by the parents.

"We are pleased that, if necessary, some of the day-care places can be reserved for district employees and those of neighbouring authorities," adds District Administrator Dr. Reinhard Kubat. "We are also constantly working on further improving and expanding the compatibility of family and work for our employees." The close proximity of the new day-care centre to the district office is a great advantage. A needs analysis conducted by the district's women's office under the direction of Beate Friedrich has already shown that the district's employees very much welcome the possibilities of child care close to the workplace and the resulting better work-life balance.

In order to create a demand-oriented offer in the area of childcare for the under-threes, the city of Korbach has continued to expand the number of places in recent years and also relies on partnerships with independent providers. A lively diversity of providers is important to the city - from municipal kindergartens to those run by Lebenshilfe, churches, associations or the Frankenberg district association of the German Red Cross. After the opening of the kindergarten in Friedrichstraße this year, the Kinderkarten am Südring is now the 16th kindergarten location in the district town. In 2022, two more locations will be added with the new childcare places in Solinger Straße and a kindergarten on the site of the former Waldeck hall.

The total costs for the Südring project are calculated at around 3.3 million euros. More than one million euros in federal and state funds have been applied for. The district of Waldeck-Frankenberg will also support the new building with more than 600,000 euros - subject to the release of the corresponding budget funds. As with other day-care centre funding in Waldeck-Frankenberg, this is 20 per cent of the eligible costs. In 2020, the district has already awarded grants of around 1.7 million euros for construction measures and infrastructure improvements in kindergartens and day care centres in Waldeck-Frankenberg.