The municipality of Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn will equip around one hundred rooms in its schools and childcare facilities with air cleaning devices. This was decided by the building committee of the municipal council and approved the necessary funds. In contrast to the previous year, when the town hall had already procured several devices as part of the Free State’s first funding program, this time no air filter systems are to be purchased. Rather, on the recommendation of an engineering office, the committee decided in favor of UV-C air purifiers, in which coronaviruses are to be rendered harmless by ultraviolet radiation.
After the Free State had launched a second funding program, the municipal council decided that a specialist company should examine the rooms in the municipal schools and childcare facilities. The engineering office IBDM from Hohenbrunn took over this at the end of August. Its managing director Detlef Malinowsky now presented the results to the building committee – as well as various technologies for air purification. In the previous year, the municipality had already purchased six air filter systems, of which only one is currently in operation, as reported by city hall employee Andreas Siegel. “The main problem is that these devices are too loud.” Mainly for this reason, the building committee ultimately decided in favor of air purifiers with UV-C technology, which Malinowsky had also advised to use. “These devices are much smaller and quieter,” says Andreas Siegel. In addition, they have been tried and tested in practice in hospitals and operating theaters and, moreover, are more sustainable because no filters are required.
Like the ones with air filters, these devices are no substitute for regular ventilation, emphasizes the head of the building authorities, Tanja Englbrecht. “That remains the be-all and end-all.” It is still uncertain when the new devices will be in schools, kindergartens and crèches, says Englbrecht. You will now first reassure yourself with the facilities, whether the reported need is still available. Then the town hall will submit the funding application. And as soon as there is feedback, it goes to the procurement of the devices, so the building authority manager.
According to the guidelines of the state funding program, the municipalities are reimbursed 50 percent of the acquisition costs, but a maximum of 1750 euros per room. In Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn, the town hall expects a total of around 200,000 euros. “If everything is going optimally,” says Andreas Siegel, “then the community will have to pay around 25,000 euros itself.”