Too much time pressure, too little financial buffer, too few investigations of the old building material: The city administration is presenting a report to the responsible project advisory board on Friday in which it analyses the causes of the construction site crisis in the Beethovenhalle. "There is not only one reason for this unpleasant development but a multitude of causes that have mutually reinforced each other," explained Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan. "We must learn from that."

Recording the state of a building: Not enough has been done before the decision was taken, the city admits. This would have required more "invasive investigations" (e.g. drilling), which would not have been possible during ongoing operations. The hall would have had to be closed for half a year - which would have jeopardized the goal of completing the building in time for Beethoven's anniversary in 2020. There had been 152 test drillings in the building and underground. "On this basis, however, the damage was not as noticeable as it later turned out to be when the building was gutted," writes the press office.

Time pressure: Planners and project managers had classified the goal of renovating the hall within two years by the end of 2018 as feasible. This assessment proved to be wrong, according to the administration. The architects had "not taken enough active countermeasures". The time pressure had also made Bonn "susceptible to blackmail" for the contractors. In the future, top city officials want to work with "significantly higher time buffers".

Budget: The original budget of 61.5 million Euro has already more than doubled. There was no buffer planned for risks and unforeseen events. The administration wants to do this differently in the future.

Planning: To postpone parts of the planning had additionally slowed down the project, analyses the administration. The Council had decided to initially solicit donations for the renovation of the kitchen - which was unsuccessful. The city concludes: "It would be better if all functionalities were already fixed in the final building decision.“

Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan apparently had no success yet in trying to bring building services companies back to the construction site that had cancelled the contract. This had triggered a chain reaction of further delays and impending layoffs. The city is striving to get the companies back, according to the press release.

Original text: Andreas Baumann

Translation: Mareike Graepel