According to Hohenbrunn Mayor Stefan Straßmair (CSU), the probability that the new Riemerlingen indoor swimming pool can be opened at the start of the 2022/23 school year has recently fallen significantly: “I can’t say at the moment, but it’s quite possible that we cannot open the pool as planned on September 13th,” said the head of town hall, who, as a precaution, has already informed the two main users of the swimming pool, the school special purpose association and the swimming department of TSV Hohenbrunn-Riemerling, about the recent delay.
“The building is actually finished and to the layman it looks as if you could swim right there. But little things just don’t fit,” says Straßmair. This primarily affects questions of fire protection, the solution to which must be worked very carefully. Otherwise there is a risk of a long-term postponement. “I’m not necessarily assuming that the pool will only open in winter, but we’ll probably have to push it a few weeks into the fall.” This is particularly important for the schools, which will have to restructure their swimming lessons by then.
Fire protection needs to be improved, and there is also the separation from the previous planning office
Another reason for the delay is apparently the termination of the cooperation with the previous planning office K-Plan, which designed the sports campus and is also responsible for the new indoor pool to be built in Oberschleißheim. Mayor Straßmair does not want to comment on the background of the discrepancies that led to the end of the cooperation, referring to the ongoing proceedings. Only so much: There were always coordination problems during the construction process. He now hopes that “a good solution can be found with the planners”.
The renewed delay in completion that is now threatening is another setback in the realization of the spectacular sports campus on Georginenstrasse near the Riemerling elementary school and the Carl Steinmeier secondary school. Until autumn 2021, it was still hoped that an opening would be possible as early as March 2022, but due to the pandemic, important materials were temporarily unavailable and now the September date will probably not be met either.
The costs for the swimming pool and sports hall have also risen significantly since planning began and are now around 25 million euros. In addition, according to Mayor Straßmair’s estimates from a finance committee meeting in spring, there are operating costs of 4,000 euros a day – an amount that could possibly even increase due to the ever-rising energy costs as a result of the Ukraine war.