Two construction measures at Chemnitz schools approved

At its meeting today, the City Council approved the extension and refurbishment of the Altchemnitz special school (subject to funding approval) and the construction of the new co-operation school on Heinrich-Schütz-Straße.

Refurbishment and extension of the Altchemnitz special school

The school building was built in 1888/1889 in the Gründerzeit style. Over the next few years, the two wings were added. The building has been used as a special school since 1993 and currently accommodates 215 pupils. The capacity limit has thus been reached. New rooms are needed for crafts, art, counselling and after-school care. The building also needs to be made barrier-free. A three-storey connecting bridge between the north and south wings of the school is favoured for the extension. This will create an additional area of 260 to 290 square metres. As part of the refurbishment, the roof of the sports hall, the clinker brick façade on the old building and the interior rooms and ceilings in the building will be renovated.

The complete project will be carried out in two phases:

In the first phase, the connecting building will be constructed from reinforced concrete, the interior of the main building and the existing sports hall will be refurbished and the schoolyard will be refurbished. In terms of design, the connecting building will blend in with the existing old building. The new building houses two additional workrooms and four classrooms. There is also a WC on each floor, which will be converted into a barrier-free WC on the 2nd floor. There is an additional support room on the 1st and 2nd floors. A materials store will be located on the ground floor.

The new building will have two statically required "feet" in the basement. The new garage and a storage area will be housed here. The "floating" centre section covers the new courtyard area.

In the old building, the entire basement will be restructured as part of the refurbishment. The new courtyard access is then possible in the basement between the two main staircases. This will require the courtyard to be lowered and earth removed.
The entrance next to the gymnasium on the north side will be made barrier-free by means of a ramp. A lift will be installed in the stairwell.

The existing PVC and carpet coverings in the old building will be replaced with linoleum. The historic existing doors will be refurbished and reinstalled. New doors will be visually adapted to these. The toilets in the main building will be reorganised and completely renovated.

Existing damaged pipes in the building will be replaced.

The sanitary facilities in the gymnasium will be completely renovated and a sports teacher's room will be installed. A barrier-free shower with changing area and WC will be added. The gymnasium will be fitted with new windows and plaster damage and cracks will be repaired. It will then be repainted. The roof of the gymnasium will also be renovated.

The second construction phase includes the renovation of the façade and roof of the main building. The building will be completely scaffolded for this purpose. The top storey ceiling will be insulated. The roof truss also needs to be renovated.
The façade needs immediate attention, as some of the clinker bricks are porous and falling down. For this reason, the courtyard must be partially cordoned off with construction fences. Scaffolding has already been erected in the entrance area to catch falling bricks.

Construction will begin in August 2021 and end in October 2025. The total costs amount to around nine million euros, of which around five million euros are subsidies from the Free State of Saxony for school building construction.

During the construction phase, pupils will attend the former school on Sonnenberg, Philippstr. 20, which will be used as a temporary building during school renovations.

New building for co-operation school

A two-form entry combination primary and secondary school is due to open on the former barracks site on Heinrich-Schütz-Straße in the 2023/24 school year.
The planned new school building will form a new campus together with the existing school complex, the Terra Nova Campus. The planned new school building is to be built as another "special kind of school", the Kooperationsschule Chemnitz, a state school for grades 1 to 10 with all-day programmes and after-school care. This type of school is an inclusive school, open to all pupils in the city.

The school complex is to be constructed as a three-storey building with an adjoining two-court sports hall. Due to its location, the connecting corridors and bicycle parking spaces, covered break areas, canopies for the school and after-school care entrances, it forms a self-contained square.

The area for primary school pupils is located in the northern part of the building and the area for secondary school pupils in the southern part. An atrium is located in the transition to the sports hall.

The two-court sports hall is planned with a grandstand for 199 spectators and the possibility for club sports.

A road still to be built will provide access to the school campus. Construction is scheduled to begin in August 2021 and end in June 2023, so that it can be put to use in the 2023/2024 school year. The construction costs amount to around 34 million euros and will be financed entirely from the City of Chemnitz's own funds.