Hartmannstraße and Arno-Schreiter-Straße become new secondary school locations
Preferred location Vettersstrasse decided
At its meeting yesterday, the city council approved two new secondary school locations in Chemnitz. Both the Hartmannstraße/Hartmannplatz and Arno-Schreiter-Straße 1-3 sites are planned as three- to four-form secondary schools.
Due to rising pupil numbers, particularly in the western districts, the partial school network plan for secondary schools from 6 May 2015, which shows the long-term development up to the 2024/25 school year, diagnoses an additional capacity requirement of five secondary schools in total. Secondary school capacity will be expanded to ensure a stable school network.
Following an in-depth review by an internal administrative working group, 25 alternative locations were identified. These were communicated and discussed with city councillors and the school and sports committee at an early stage, and two locations were selected. These have now been presented to the city council, which has decided on the new secondary school locations. Evaluation criteria were defined in the search for suitable locations. It was important for the sites to be located in the city centre and west. This will stabilise the urban structure, further develop the inner-city areas and strengthen the rail-based public transport system. The site area must be at least 10,000 square metres in size. In addition, the number of pupils, the number of pupils and the sports facility situation as well as technical and economic characteristics such as ownership, contaminated sites and costs were also taken into account.
Hartmannstraße/Hartmannplatz site
The Hartmannstraße site offers the opportunity for the construction of a new three-form secondary school close to the city centre. In conjunction with the use of the Richard-Hartmann-Halle, the existing infrastructure can be utilised for sports lessons. Thanks to its inner-city location and good public transport connections, the construction of a new three-form secondary school can relieve the pressure on several secondary school locations. The existing site is owned by the City of Chemnitz. The costs for the construction of a new three-form entry secondary school are currently forecast at 17 million euros.
Arno-Schreiter-Straße 1-3 site
At the Arno-Schreiter-Straße 1-3 site, an existing school building will be used for a new three-form secondary school. The evening secondary school and the evening grammar school, which are already located in the building, will continue to operate. The prerequisite for this is that the "Ernst Busch" speech therapy school with all-day care/after-school care and the counselling centre will be relocated to Ernst-Wabra-Straße 34. The advantage of the Arno-Schreiter-Straße site is that it can be realised and made available quickly. The refurbishment of the site can be realised as planned. No major structural changes are required. Despite various dependencies, from a structural and financial perspective, this option represents a timely solution (already for the 2017/2018 school year) for the urgently needed creation of secondary school capacity. In addition to the €2.5 million already spent on the current refurbishment, a further €3 million will be spent on the refurbishment of the sports halls and the remaining interior work.
Vettersstraße 34 site
If there is a further need for new school buildings in the future development of the city of Chemnitz, the Vettersstraße 34 site will be included in further planning as a preferred location. This also applies if the Hartmannstraße/Hartmannplatz site is not realised.