Doubts about the million-euro project City Hall for Berg

Created: 03/31/2022 13:29

By: Sandra Sedlmaier

Getting old: The old Berger town hall offers too little space for the employees, which is why containers have already been added.

Some workplaces are not up to standard, the roof is leaking and the plumbing is prone to failure.

For all these reasons, the municipal council decided to build a new building.

© Andrea Jaksch

The tender for the new Berger town hall building is running, so some councilors have doubts as to whether the project worth millions should be carried out now.

Mountain

– What could you do with the building and the property of the current Berger town hall if the new building is only a few hundred meters further north at Huberfeld?

The committee for sustainable development of the municipal council spoke about this on Tuesday evening.

And based on this question, a discussion ignited as to whether, given the high construction costs and the generally uncertain world situation caused by the Ukraine war, it would be better to wait with construction.

"I would hate to reset everything," Mayor Rupert Steigenberger said of these considerations.

“Putting money into the old town hall makes even less sense – the sooner we switch to photovoltaics and geothermal energy, the better.” There are jobs in the old town hall that are actually not allowed.

In addition, there is a lack of space

The schedule for the new town hall building is currently looking good, it's going faster than originally expected.

"Currently the tender is running, we want to start construction in the middle of the year," said the mayor.

The new building is expected to be ready by the end of 2024.

"From January 2025, the site of the old town hall will be available for a new use." For example, for childcare in view of the strong influx of people or for local supplies, as suggested by the head of the building department, Beatrix Neubert.

The Greens want an inclusive residential group, affordable apartments and roof terrace apartments at the usual market rent, "and maybe there is also space for a kindergarten group downstairs," said Verena Machnik (Greens).

Werner Streitberger (SPD) spoke of affordable housing and suggested selling part of the 3,600 square meter area in order to have money for a kindergarten and apartments.

"This is prime property, we're talking a lot of money."

The money then sparked the discussion about postponing the new building.

When Machnik asked how realistic it was that the tender for the new building would remain within reasonable limits, Steigenberger replied: "It's a lottery game, the prices are very volatile." That also depends on the individual companies and what materials they have at their disposal had.

"We will certainly have price deviations of 100 percent, I guess." The price increases are not only due to the shortage of materials, but also to the construction boom.

At this point, Peter Sewald (EUW) came up with the suggestion that "perhaps wait a year or two before building the new town hall, maybe the prices will calm down again".

The new building will certainly be more expensive than the currently announced EUR 15 million, he said.

This is one of the reasons why the municipality will not be able to afford a replacement building for the old town hall.

"Yes, we can afford that," contradicted the mayor, pointing out that there are subsidies for housing construction and that Berg could also take out profitable debt for this.

"We'll pay them off, every homeowner does that."

Sewald did not only get support from the green side.

"There's a war going on, it's going to cost us all," Machnik said.

"Maybe you have to press the pause button." agreed with him.

"We should consider that when the results of the tender are available," said Steigenberger.

"Maybe I'll have a different opinion then."