Building in stock often holds surprises. The Neubiberg municipal council had to grudgingly come to terms with this at its meeting on Monday. Because the renovation of the town hall will be around 400,000 euros more expensive compared to the cost calculation for 2021. As it turned out during the work, the roof is in need of renovation more than expected and should therefore be re-covered.
In view of all the additional effort that is becoming apparent, Kilian Körner from the Greens pleaded for the renovation to be stopped and to switch to a new building. After a heated discussion, however, only he – and on one point another municipal council – voted against the measures recommended by the administration and the architect Jan Spreen. City hall chief Thomas Pardeller (CSU) thanked for “the clear decisions” and for the fact that the renovation could continue.
In the course of demolition work, it turned out, among other things, that the sealing of the roof is in a very bad condition and therefore much larger areas have to be repaired than assumed. This is one of the reasons why the roof is now to be re-covered, which amounts to an additional cost of 258,000 euros. In addition, according to new findings and tests, instead of the inner walls in the basement, the outer walls are to be sealed and the outer walls of the building are to be strengthened, which costs around another 135,000 euros. Körner asked what was left of the old town hall in view of all the changes – there had also been surprises in the past, when it turned out, for example, that load-bearing interior walls had to be replaced and the attic was unusable. Körner therefore pleaded for a new building that can be used from top to bottom and is up to date in terms of energy and is therefore sustainable.
“That too is sustainability, upgrading the stock.”
He was pretty much alone in that view. Canceling the renovation now would be an “economic and political disaster,” said Pardeller. He pointed out that replanning would then be necessary and a delay of two and a half years, and emphasized that it was economical to be careful with the existing building. Also recalled the almost unanimous decision of the municipal council for the redevelopment. The total costs for the renovation and expansion of the town hall were last estimated at 22.1 million euros.
Architect Spreen also expressed a lack of understanding and emphasized that the municipality wanted to keep the old town hall because it gave it an identity. “That too is sustainability, upgrading the stock,” he said. Project manager Ferdinand Weiss pointed out that orders worth 8.6 million euros had already been awarded. He also emphasized that there is always a risk when building in existing buildings.
Hardly anyone on the board shared Körner’s view. His parliamentary colleague Thomas Maier campaigned for understanding for his initiative, saying that one was a burned child in view of the cost increases in other construction projects. Of course, the other council members also disliked the increase in costs, but they didn’t want to shake up the renovation. “We took a risk,” said Hartmut Lilge (CSU). “But now we have to stay on the path.” According to Stephanie Konopac (Free Voters), it would also be “violent” to pull the ripcord now that the committee had passed almost all resolutions unanimously.