Designed for 400 pupils, the "new" Wiesenschule was due to start in the 2025 school year.
In terms of construction, the deadline can be met, but it is more than doubtful that the school will open for the coming school year.
What is the reason?
The new school building is designed as a modular timber construction. The individual modules are prefabricated in the factory and transported to the construction site. By choosing the modular construction method, the construction time could be minimized. So good, so bad, because now the bureaucracy comes into play.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, where the modular construction company is based, this type construction was approved as part of an individual case permit. The construction company has already built a comparable elementary school in Dortmund using similar wooden modules. However, building law is state law, which means that the comparable modular building, which was approved and built in North Rhine-Westphalia, must also undergo a complete case-by-case review at the Ministry of Construction in Lower Saxony.
Simplified inspection procedure, shorter processing time - no way!
The module builder was informed by the Ministry of Construction that the average processing time is currently around 11 months.
The "finished" school, which is due to start operating as an all-day school in the coming school year and will be structurally complete by the end of July, is not allowed to start without approval. Mayor Frank Klingebiel believes that this is difficult to explain. After talks between city planning officer Michael Tacke and the working level proved unsuccessful and failed to speed up the process, Klingebiel turned to the former construction minister of Lower Saxony and current Minister President Olaf Lies.
To date, there has been no binding information from the ministry as to when approval for the construction can be expected; approval for the start of the school year in August currently seems rather unlikely.
"It is completely incomprehensible to me why there has to be such an elaborate approval procedure," says Mayor Frank Klingebiel with annoyance. If the prefabricated modular construction was approved in the neighboring federal state, then a shortened procedure should be possible in Lower Saxony. "After all, the fire load or statics are no different here than there," Klingebiel states. This is a classic case of unnecessary bureaucratic regulations, as criticized by the municipal umbrella organizations last week, and can no longer be explained to citizens.
This delay also jeopardizes the planned relocation of the schools to the new building. After all, this has to be prepared and then implemented. Head of Schools Dirk Härdrich informed the school's staff of the current situation on Monday. It is therefore highly unlikely that the new school will be able to start as an all-day school before the fall vacations, possibly not until the second half of the school year. The school authorities and school are currently working on possible interim solutions. "In the interests of the children and parents in particular, but also of the teaching staff, such a delay is unacceptable," concludes Frank Klingebiel.