The blue Planegger town hall is 27 years old and, according to Mayor Hermann Nafziger (CSU), it is “getting old”. For the employees, this means “increasing narrowness, difficult separations and thus higher requirements,” said Nafziger at the most recent meeting of the construction committee. In the search for a solution, the town hall came up with the idea of completely converting the 124 square meter caretaker’s apartment in the town hall and using it for administration.
The apartment is empty after the municipality now works with a caretaker pool after the departure of the previous caretaker. In an expert report, an architect’s office determined that nine offices and a meeting room could be accommodated on the site – after extensive conversion work. The municipality is to pay around 600,000 euros for this. That was “still cheaper than a new town hall,” joked Nafziger.
Architect Bernd Callsen emphasized that with this sum one had “reduced to the bare essentials”. However, the requirements for technology, safety and equipment have increased enormously, with the current fire protection alone accounting for a six-figure sum. In addition, there are the necessary networks, computer equipment, a new kitchen and toilet facilities.
The building description of the architect triggered different reactions among the municipal councils. While Philipp von Hirsch (CSU) quietly murmured “madness” and calculated a square meter price of 4,700 euros for the conversion, Fritz Haugg (FDP) said that this enormous investment only made sense “if we no longer need the caretaker’s apartment permanently” – which the mayor Nafziger confirmed.