Damage to the glass roof World Conference Centre building must be renovated
Bonn · Bonn's city administration has presented a list of priorities for the refurbishment of event venues. The Bad Godesberg city hall and the Godesburg are to be tackled first. There is also a need to renovate the WCCB.
Four years after its opening, the new World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB) is already in need of refurbishment. This is the result of a draft communication to the Council following the evaluation of the condition of event venues by the city administration. However, the Bad Godesberg city hall and the Godesburg are in the greatest need of attention, followed by the Parkrestaurant Rheinaue, the Beuel Halle, the CJD-Conference house in Castell and the Redoute. The submitted recommendations for the venues deals with “property data, renovation requirements and initial prioritisations".
The WCCB hosts the annual conferences of the UN Climate Change Secretariat and many meetings such as the annual general meetings of corporations such as Bayer and Telekom. Recently it was realised that "the steel girder construction of the foyer roof in the main building needs to be renovated". According to the press office, this involves the internal rain gutters in the glass roof. A special waterproofing foil had been damaged at some point, so that water had penetrated and dripped from the ceiling.
The damaged area had been repaired with liquid plastic. "An expert will examine the condition of all rain gutters lying inside the roof, which ensure the roof drainage”, said vice-spokesman for the city, Marc Hoffmann. Only then can the renovation costs be estimated. The roof was erected in 2007 and 2008, before "investor" Man-Ki Kim filed for insolvency and the construction site stood idle for years. Warranty periods have long since expired.
- Bad Godesberg city hall: Here the city is proposing refurbishment from 2022, because then the previous tenant will retire. The recommendations for renovation, produced under the auspices of the Economic Development Agency, says nothing about the costs of the listed building. In 2011, the administration spoke of a need for renovation amounting to 13 million euros. In the meantime, the figure is expected to reach 25 million.
- Godesburg: Gastronomy is leased to Godesburg Event GmbH. From 2012 to 2014, the city put the castle keep in order for about one million euros. Now a full renovation is to follow. Everything has to be renewed according to the proposals, including the kitchen, disposal pipes, heating, ventilation. The costs are unclear.
- Park restaurant Rheinaue: Between 2010 and 2013, the municipality renewed the roof and the ingoing and extraction air in the kitchen of the 1976 pavilion, which cost about one million euros. The listed restaurant, which was leased to Dirk Dötsch, is now to be fully renovated. The city is proposing to renew heating, ventilation and undertake a thorough renewal of the facades. The costs are unclear.
- La Redoute: In the group of buildings from 1792, the kitchen ventilation is to be renewed for about 300,000 euros and the terrace in the garden room and the toilet facilities are to be renovated.
The city only sees a need to do something about the Brückenforum in the medium term. The building fabric of the Kunstmuseum, the Hardtberg culture centre, the House of Education, which opened in 2015 and the Schumannhaus are solid. The municipal theatre buildings are dealt with only briefly in the draft proposals, because a separate procedure has been initiated for these. Originally, Mayor Ashok Sridharan had announced a public participation to decide on the future of these buildings, but then put it on ice: the problems with the renovation of the Beethovenhalle are to be evaluated first.
The Opera House will also be fully renovated, with an urgent need for action "in order to ensure its continued operation". A cost estimate has not been given, although the independent experts from Actori had already estimated about 80 million euros. For the "Beuel Event Hall/Pantheon", on the other hand, the economic development agency is quoting 13.4 million euros, an estimate that also came from Actori. There is disagreement within the administration regarding costs for the Schauspielhaus: whereas the Municipal Building Management reports a need for 21.8 million euros, the Culture Office estimates 27.2 million. For most properties, the city administration admits that the proposals only contain "initial estimates of the redevelopment needs". Further investigations are necessary.
(Original text; Andreas Baumann, translation John Chandler)
