There has been a shortage of space in the vocational school center in Kempten for many years now. This will change soon: the special-purpose association ‘Vocational School Center’ plans to invest around 134 million euros until 2028 in order to create room for 6,000 school students, 320 teachers and administration. In addition, the indoor space will be redesigned as to comply with state-of-the-art teaching standards. In addition to extensive refurbishment work, the construction project also included an extension building which was completed last September. Drees & Sommer supports the City of Kempten and the special-purpose association in this project.
The first milestone is ready: The extension building of the vocational and secondary technical college (Fachoberschule und Berufsoberschule, FOS-BOS) was completed on schedule and within the budget in September 2022 – in spite of the current material shortages and delivery problems. The building provides space for 35 classrooms and ten technical rooms. It is now also possible to redistribute rooms and to reorganize room functions, and thus avoid the need to send students to neighboring vocational schools for some courses. At the same time, the building also includes a cafeteria designed for about 300 persons which can be used as a rest and recreation area by the 720 students.
The new extension building is thus a central element in the design of a modern campus which encompasses the whole school complex – the three vocational schools, the vocational and secondary technical college (FOS-BOS), the commercial school, the technical school, three caretaker buildings, a sports hall and the adjacent vocational education and technology center of the Swabian Chamber of Trades (Handwerkskammer).
Building in Existing Contexts Trumps New Construction
The decision to carry out general refurbishment and extension of the school buildings was preceded by a lively discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of refurbishing existing structures or rebuilding the whole complex. The advantages of building in the existing structure outweighed the disadvantages. Even taking into account the demolition work which is necessary in any refurbishment, the cost comparison came out in favor of a general refurbishment. Drees & Sommer’s expert Dr.-Ing. Björn Nohe comments: ‘Existing buildings are responsible for around 40 percent of the global CO2 emissions. Refurbished and modernized buildings are of particular relevance for creating low-carbon and clean-energy systems. Continued use of existing buildings saves resources. To protect the climate, refurbishment of existing buildings is therefore increasingly the better choice.
Find more information in our press release.