Waghäusel near Karlsruhe, Germany, May 17, 2024. The town of Waghäusel in the district of Karlsruhe (federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg) is leading by example: its new building for Waghäusel’s comprehensive school (Gemeinschaftsschule) can serve as a blueprint for many municipalities on how to create a sustainable and innovative learning environment on time and within budget, despite challenging conditions generally. Today's ground-breaking ceremony marks the punctual start of construction work on the new school building, which is being built using a systematized method. Together with the renovated and extended secondary school (Realschule), it will provide space for a total of around 1,000 pupils on the joint school campus from as early as September 2025. Stuttgart-based Drees & Sommer SE, which specializes in advice on construction and real estate, and the Rhein-Neckar branch office of the construction and services provider Goldbeckare also on board. Crumbling plaster, drafty windows and faulty heating systems: German development bank KfW estimates the need for renovation in German schools at around EUR 50 billion. While immigration and birth rates have increased, school construction has not seen much activity for decades. In addition, the renovation or new construction of schools is now much more expensive than in the past. This is due not only to high interest rates and construction costs, but also the demands made on climate change mitigation and energy efficiency, accessibility and digit transition. Lord Mayor Thomas Deuschle explains the quick and sustainable solution the town of Waghäusel is applying: “There is no need for a trade-off between cost awareness and high quality in school construction. Due to the systematized construction method, the cost of our new school building is now at a fixed price of around EUR 14 million instead of EUR 17.6 million. At the same time, we are not compromising on high quality of learning, facilities and interaction for our pupils, or with regard to climate action.“ In addition to classrooms with learning zones, the new two-story building will provide around 2,700 square meters of space for various multi-functional rooms, administration and teacher areas, rooms for school social work and student council, pupil and teacher libraries as well as rooms for all-day activities and a spacious schoolyard. The central hub for the entire school campus, which also includes a neighboring secondary school (Realschule), is the shared canteen with teaching kitchen and adjoining kiosk. Subsidy for Climate-Friendly Construction The government of the federal state has also made more money available for the construction and renovation of schools in Baden-Württemberg. It has increased the funding for building schools by a third, to EUR 172 million, since the beginning of the year. Waghäusel’s comprehensive school (Gemeinschaftsschule) also benefits from this. “The federal state has subsidized our new building as part of the funding program for school construction. There is also funding from the program of the German development bank, KfW, for climate-friendly new buildings, so that we will receive a total of around five million in grants," says Thomas Deuschle. A photovoltaic system planned for the roof area will help to generate carbon-neutral electricity for heating and cooling the school building, while unused roof areas will be intensively greened to contribute to greater biodiversity. The new school's energy features also include underfloor heating, ventilation in all classrooms and an air-water heat pump for heating. Overall, the building will even exceed the requirements of the current German Building Energy Act (Gebäudeenergiegesetz – GEG). Smoothly Running Processes Ensure a Punctual Start The consulting company Drees & Sommer SE provided support for the town of Waghäusel in the run-up to the construction work, including strategic consulting, space requirement planning and the tendering procedure. The contracts for construction services have been awarded to Goldbeck and Drees & Sommer will provide planning and execution controls services “We submitted the building application on time in February and received construction permission. We are right on schedule and are starting construction on time," says Alexandra Schilpp, who is responsible for the project at Drees & Sommer. She is pleased with the smooth running of the entire process and the excellent cooperation between everyone involved in the project. Goldbeck’s project head Rainer Stürze sums up the main features of unitized construction using a systematized method: "We prefabricate the main system components in our own factories and assemble them on site, with precise fitting. It is like a modular system. We build quickly, cost-effectively and with high quality. We apply the principle: standardize the parts you cannot see, individualize the parts you can." |
