School construction: district & school committee get a picture on site

A recently completed construction measure , a measure under construction, a pending renovation measure: According to this principle, the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg, as a school authority, conducts a tour of its educational institutions once a year. Participants are the members of the district committee and the school committee of the district council as well as representatives of the responsible departments of building management and schools and education. Fortunately, the lower incidence of corona allowed the tour to take place again in 2021. The programme included two school construction projects in the spa town of Bad Wildungen and two in the municipality of Edertal.

District Administrator Dr. Reinhard Kubat and First District Councillor Karl-Friedrich Frese as Head of the Building Department were the first to welcome the ladies and gentlemen of the participating committees to the Helenental School in Bad Wildung's Stresemannstraße. Even from a distance, the extensive construction work could be recognised by the crane towering high in the schoolyard. "At the end of the last school year, i.e. in mid-July 2021, the Helenental School here at its location will be out of operation," explained head of the building department Frese about the fundamental renovation of the building from 1958 with an extension from 1972. "We plan to be able to use the completely renovated school again at the beginning of September 2022," added district administrator Dr Kubat.

For the teaching staff and students of the Helenental School, the construction project, which cost 6.8 million euros, was first an enormous challenge: the entire school had to be relocated to two other sites. "After the Easter holidays, we started clearing out and actually managed to have the school empty by the summer holidays," said a satisfied headmistress Daniela Reim. First grade, support and administration moved to the Fuchsrain branch, the 2nd to 4th grades have found shelter in the Edertal Comprehensive School, and sports continue to be taught in the Helenental sports hall. This tour de force was organisationally challenging at the beginning, but in the meantime everything works, right down to the daily bus ride to Edertal.

When the completely renovated Helenental School starts up again in autumn 2022, it will have completely new building services (heating, sanitary, electrical); the safety systems and necessary fire protection measures will also have been implemented. The former administration area of the school will be raised in a timber frame construction, and support rooms and catering areas will be created for an all-day school. New comfort will be provided in future by underfloor heating, but above all by a ventilation system which, together with the classic window ventilation, will ensure the necessary air quality. "With the eight classrooms, two differentiation rooms, the creative room, a library or media library and several adjoining rooms, we have optimally adapted the existing building to the needs of the school," emphasised the district administrator and the head of the building department.

The next stop on the school tour was the sports hall of the Ense School and the Ense School itself, the latter for a brief look at the exemplary user-friendly design of the auditorium and the bright, friendly classrooms. Due to the age of the building, which dates back to 1990, and the high frequency of use - the women's national league handball team of the Vipers plays its home games there - the Ense sports hall, like the Helenental School, requires a general renovation. In this context, the glulam trusses will also be structurally upgraded. A total of 6.3 million euros will be invested in the Ense sports hall.

Finally, the participants in the school tour at the Edertal school centre were able to see for themselves the successful renovation of the Edertal primary school. From 2015 to 2020, the school was not only renovated from the ground up at a cost of 7.4 million euros. It has also received the necessary facilities for an all-day school, including a canteen that meets the latest requirements and areas for afternoon care.

At the Edertal Comprehensive School, the ladies and gentlemen of the two committees took another look at the classrooms that had been made available to the Helenental School and were very taken with the homely atmosphere there. The comprehensive school itself will be one of the district's major renovation projects in the next few years. This is also necessary here because of the age of the building: it can celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. Built as a reinforced concrete skeleton structure, the school is now in need of energy optimisation. As a special feature, it has electric heating in the entire building. The façade was designed with exposed aggregate concrete sandwich panels. Now, the school is to be made fit for the future through a complete renovation in accordance with its large catchment area.