As of: February 10, 2024, 1:05 p.m
By: Katrin Hager
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Major construction site: (from right) Pastor Gottfried Doll and Günther Pichler from the church administration welcomed the topping-out ceremony of the new parish center.
© Thomas Plettenberg
Halfway through the construction work - high time to celebrate the topping out ceremony.
The Holzkirchen parish did that on Friday.
A visit to the construction site.
Holzkirchen
– A major construction site has been opening behind the parish church of St. Josef and the Chapel of the Holy Family for more than a year: the new Holzkirchen parish center is being built here.
The topping-out ceremony was celebrated late on Friday.
The original date in December was canceled due to heavy snowfall.
Opposite at the Josefssaal, the drill bits roared as Günther Pichler from the church administration led the guests - including District Administrator Olaf von Löwis and Mayor Christoph Schmid - through the still bare walls of the new parish center with shining eyes.
The rectory and intermediate building were removed a year ago.
With the existing buildings of the Josefssaal in the west and the parish hall in the north, which are being completely renovated, as well as the new building with a flat roof that docks at right angles in the east, a horseshoe has been created that opens up to the Chapel of the Holy Family.
“People often sat down here before,” remembers Pichler.
But when the outdoor areas are designed from the middle of the year, a real small “parish park” with seating will be created that invites you to linger and meet.
This suits the Church of St. Josef, whose architecture should also radiate the openness and community that the parish cultivates.
The former basement becomes the ground floor
The open space was dug up, turning the old basement into a ground floor.
Floor-to-ceiling windows will ensure bright rooms in the multifunctional rooms in the future.
Pastor Gottfried Doll admitted that what bothered him about the old parish center was that the young people were basically parked in the basement, in dark rooms.
The St. Josef Family Center, where the Catholic Education Center organizes courses and offers for parents, should also come out of its dark little rooms on Münchner Straße and find its home in the new parish center.
In the future, the main entrance will lead into the new building, where visitors will also be welcomed by the rectory on the ground floor.
The entire complex is finally barrier-free, there are new staircases and an elevator.
The cost framework has so far been exceeded by around 150,000 euros - not that much given the volume of 6.5 million euros, says Pichler.
The falling construction prices compared to the time of calculation ensure that the additional costs do not have a significant impact on the budget.
As is often the case when building existing buildings, the parish center project also has unpleasant surprises.
Asbestos appeared in some places.
For the expansion, a so-called black space with negative pressure must always be created, explains Pichler.
Most of it has to be finished by the end of the year
The work is therefore around six to eight weeks behind the original schedule until autumn 2024.
However, it shouldn't take much longer: In order not to lose the award for a good one million euros of Leader funding from EU funds, the relevant areas must be accounted for by the end of the year.
“And people should finally be able to use the rooms again after two years,” adds Pastor Gottfried Doll.
The future parish office could also be completed later.
“Whether we still sit in the container and in the driving school for a while,” says Doll about the temporary accommodation on Münchner Straße: “We can handle it.” Even if he is grateful to everyone who is currently hosting rooms for the parish’s events, for example the BRK, the Protestant community or the Eichnerhof – home is home.
Doll is looking forward to when life returns to life: the parish has had 2,100 room occupancies in the year so far, and the St. Josef Family Center will add at least another 400.