Green light for new sports hall and gymnasium renovation at Dr Wilhelm André Grammar School

Thomas Rechentin, Head of the Department of Educational Policy, International Affairs and School Sport at the Saxon State Ministry of Culture, handed over the corresponding funding decision today. Mayor Philipp Rochold accepted it: "With the new construction and renovation of the gymnasium, we can complete the years of construction work at Dr Wilhelm André Gymnasium. As one of the two gyms in the old building was converted into an assembly hall and the second gymnasium was in urgent need of renovation, the school had to improvise with sports lessons for many years. I am delighted that the pupils will soon have very good conditions for their PE lessons."

New, modern sports building with outdoor facilities

The new 22 x 44 metre two-court sports hall is to be built on the corner of Henriettenstrasse and Barbarossastrasse . It will be used exclusively for school and club sports. The level of the hall has been set approximately 3 metres below the existing site in order to achieve a desirable reduction in the height of the building from an urban planning perspective.

The outdoor facilities include break areas and outdoor sports facilities. Parking spaces for bicycles will also be provided. Recreation and exercise areas will be designed for breaks, for example with small areas for bouncy games, balancing equipment, a climbing wall and a stone table for draughts and chess.

The outdoor sports facilities include a 20 x 40 metre all-weather pitch, a short-distance running track, a shot put facility with two lanes, a long jump facility with two lanes as well as goals, basketball stands and volleyball posts.

Both the new building and the outdoor facilities will be barrier-free.

The gymnasium in the old building is being refurbished

During the renovation of the gymnasium, a second escape route with a smoke-tight door will be installed. The existing wooden doors will be repaired. The three skylights on the windows will be fitted with electric opening doors. Wall panelling with a ballet bar will be installed for gymnastics exercises. The surface of the sports floor will also be completely renewed.

The total cost of the two-court sports hall, the outdoor facilities and the refurbishment of the gymnastics facilities is 3.95 million euros. 2.37 million euros of this is the City of Chemnitz's own funds. The state of Saxony is subsidising the construction with 1.58 million euros.

Construction is due to start in September 2013 and is scheduled for completion in March 2015.

Information on the Dr Wilhelm André Grammar School:

The building of today's Dr.-Wilhelm-André-Gymnasium was inaugurated as Andréschule more than 100 years ago, on 5 October 1908, on Chemnitz's Kaßberg. The building survived the Second World War largely unscathed. In 1952, two general education polytechnic secondary schools moved into the building. These were named André School I and André School II respectively. In the following years, in the sixties, the first structural changes were made. A new heating system was installed, the roof was repaired and the windows were replaced. At the beginning of the 1977/78 school year, the building was renamed Bertold-Brecht-Oberschule and Hanns-Eisler-Oberschule.

After reunification in 1989/90, the two schools became a grammar school - with an arts and science profile. In 1993, the school was renamed Dr Wilhelm André Gymnasium. In 1998, one of the two gymnasiums was converted into an assembly hall.

Numerous refurbishment measures have been carried out since summer 2001. The roof and façade were renovated and the interior work was completed in four stages by 2007. Computer rooms, rooms for the natural sciences and a language room as well as a communication pool were installed.