January 2013:
"THEN ALL DISTRICT SCHOOLS ARE BUILT"
New school branch, new building: The AW district expands and renovates the Levana School for 4.7 million euros - Last major project in the AW school construction program Extensive construction work has begun at the Levana School in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, one of five special schools sponsored by the Ahrweiler district. The district is planning three individual projects there for a total of 4.7 million euros. This is the last major building project in the district's school construction program.
District Administrator Dr. Jürgen Pföhler takes stock: With the largely completed expansion of the Are-Gymnasium for all-day lessons, including the new canteen and the ongoing Levana measures, the major school construction program of the district of Ahrweiler has come to an end. This school construction program has received the broad approval of the district's political committees for around ten years. "We are close to the finish line. We will have made it in 2011. Then all district schools will be built." Since 2000, more than 50 million euros have been invested in the buildings of the district's eleven schools, continued the district administrator. This is "an enormous feat of strength", especially in view of the increasingly dramatic financial situation of the Ahrweiler district.
To the Levana School. The timetable is set: Work on the new extension building, firstly, is underway and will be completed next summer. Secondly, the energy refurbishment will start this year and should be completed in 2011. And the exercise pool, the third individual project, will be tackled in 2011. District Administrator Pföhler found out about the progress of the construction work during a tour of the site with principal Gerd Jung and architect Manfred Dünker.
The Levana extension building: To date, the school has offered a "special focus on holistic development"; around 80 children and young people with intellectual disabilities are currently cared for and taught there. From the 2010/2011 school year, the "special focus on motor development" will be added, which is aimed at physically and mentally disabled pupils. The district is building the new building for this new school branch.
This extension building will provide 366 square meters of usable space with the following room program: three classrooms, three course rooms, one room each for therapy, teaching materials, physiotherapy, equipment and care, as well as two storage rooms, two toilets and a disabled WC. Costs:
just under 1.2 million euros.
The Levana energy refurbishment. According to the district administration, the building complex, which was built in the early 1970s, no longer meets today's energy-saving standards despite appropriate building maintenance. The new wood chip heating system, which is connected to the neighboring municipal Erich-Kästner school via the local heating network, has already provided a remedy.
The 2.2 million euros will mainly be used for heat-insulating windows and exterior doors, roof renovation and the insulation of exterior walls and cellars. At the same time, the district of Ahrweiler is renovating the Don Bosco School, which forms a building complex with the Levana School.
Other measures outside of the energy refurbishment are the canopy for the playground at Levana School and the covered connecting corridor between Levana School and Bosco School (EUR 200,000). The roofed playground makes it possible for severely disabled pupils in particular to spend time outdoors even in bad weather.
The exercise pool. The existing pool was taken out of service at the beginning of the 1990s due to leaks. Since then, Levana pupils have been using the TWIN municipal swimming pool. The Levana pool is being reactivated in view of the establishment of the motor skills branch of the school and the associated expansion of the school. The spatial program of a school to accommodate pupils with multiple disabilities provides for such an exercise pool. Cost: 1.1 million euros.
PHOTO: New perspectives and plans at Levana School: Dr. Jürgen Pföhler (3rd from left), Gerd Jung (4th from left) and Manfred Dünker (3rd from right) at the construction site where the extension building is being built.
