City of Friedrichsthal: Structural engineering for the new construction of the afternoon care at Bismarck School

Due to the All-Day Care Funding Act passed by the federal government, there is a legal entitlement to all-day care. Starting in August 2026, all primary school children in the first grade will initially receive the legal entitlement to all-day care. This entitlement will be extended by one grade level each year, so that from August 2029, every primary school child in grades one to four can be cared for all day. According to the current school development plan of the city of Friedrichsthal and the forecast figures from the Ministry of Education, an average student population of around 230 is expected. If two-thirds (realistic utilization rate) of the students are used daily until 5 p.m. ("long group"), 6 group rooms will be needed. Since the spatial capacities at the Bismarck School site are exhausted, the entire afternoon program will have to be accommodated in the planned extension building in the future. In order to determine the overall needs at the school site and incorporate them into the designs and construction phases, a participation process (Phase Zero) with representatives from the school, administration, and afternoon care was placed before the actual construction planning process, also to meet contemporary educational needs. Based on the funding guidelines of the Investment Program for All-Day Expansion (Ministry of Education and Culture), the following room program resulted: 6 group rooms, 1 dining room (meals in two sittings), 1 serving kitchen, 4 toilets (girls, boys, disabled, staff), 1 FGTS team room, 1 school social worker's office, 1 janitor's office, 1 first aid room, 1 technical room, storage rooms. The 2-story building must be equipped with an elevator to ensure accessibility. The corridors, which must be maintained for escape routes, should also be usable for children's activities. The project is also funded through the school construction program BAUSTEIN of the Ministry of the Interior, Building and Sport dated 05.03.2024. Energetic measures that must meet a corresponding KfW standard will be funded from the transformation fund. To conserve resources and promote a circular economy, the use of sustainable materials and the recyclability of building materials are desired. Inclusion in the aforementioned funding programs requires the creation of a HU-Bau (Construction Supervision Plan). According to the funding guidelines, the project must be completed by 12.31.2029. By this date, all final invoices must be submitted and all trades settled. A new building is planned to accommodate the afternoon care for the Bismarck School. For this purpose, planners are sought to provide the following services: object planning, structural engineering, and planning of technical equipment. The Bismarck School (primary school) in Friedrichsthal currently consists of three different buildings: the gymnasium, the original school building from the 1920s, and the later addition from the 1970s. The afternoon care is to be housed in a new building that complements the existing ensemble and encloses the schoolyard on the currently open side. To further specify the project, the planning phases 1-3 of the object planning have already been completed. The developed planning documents are part of the inspectable tender documents (plans attached). A cubic, 2-story flat-roofed building with extensive green roofing, a photovoltaic system, and a heat pump on the roof is planned. The foundations are intended as individual or strip foundations (depending on soil load-bearing capacity). The building structure is planned as timber frame construction, with the floor slabs to be executed in a timber-hybrid construction of concrete and wood. The facade is planned as a colored wooden facade made of local larch/spruce wood as a vertical clapboard facade (or similar). The floor-to-ceiling windows and doors are to be executed as wood-aluminum elements in the facade with external sun protection (roller shutters). Two walkways are attached to the south and north sides, serving for shading and as maintenance access. Access to the building is via the schoolyard on the facade. The ground floor contains a large dining hall with a kitchen as a communal "main room." The room program on the ground floor is supplemented by further group rooms, which are dimensioned to be usable as classrooms. This also applies to the group rooms on the 1st floor. The common room on the upper floor serves various leisure activities for afternoon care. Two social rooms are connected to the common room via a glass wall and serve for individual care and counseling. The large common room can be reconfigured for groups or as classrooms using flexible partitions. A wooden staircase and an elevator system provide vertical access for barrier-free access to the upper floor. The second escape route is ensured by an external fire escape. With the exception of the sanitary, kitchen, and utility areas, which will be tiled, all rooms will have linoleum flooring. The walls are to be finished either with a wood surface or as painted plasterboard walls. Acoustically effective Heraklith panels are installed on the ceilings in the main rooms. Sanitary rooms are located on both the ground floor and the 1st floor. The building services equipment is to be reduced to the essentials, while adequate cooling/heating/ventilation must always be guaranteed. A supply with a heat pump, a photovoltaic system with storage function, and hot water supply via under-sink units is planned. The building must achieve an energy efficiency rating of at least 40. Attention should be paid to the use of sustainable raw materials.