Parliament takes summer break - Loudspeakers, elevators, fire protection: Landtag becomes a construction site
The Landtag will be closed for visitors during the summer break due to renovation works. Among other things, speakers will be replaced, new elevators are being built, and fire doors are supposed to be replaced. The legislators have now been informed of this in writing by the Landtag President.
Builders have been working in the Landtag building all year round - the building, which was opened in 1988, is in need of renovation at many corners. According to President André Kuper's letter to the legislators, which the dpa has access to, the summer break will be used "to carry out measures around the clock that particularly burden the Landtag administration."
Example Acoustics: "Some speakers in the plenary hall are technically obsolete after more than twelve years of use and must be renewed," says the Landtag administration. This includes the speakers in the speaker's desk and the "sounding of the government seats."
Example Elevators: Both in the underground garage and at the plenary hall, work on new elevators has been going on for a long time. During the summer break, for example, the connection between the grandstand tribune and an additional elevator is supposed to be completed.
Example Fire Protection: "In both levels of the underground garage, work on replacing the numerous fire doors has been going on since last year, whose fire protection quality is no longer faultless after 35 years of use," it says in the letter to the politicians. These works are to continue over the summer, as they are associated with "a high level of noise and dust."
Through these and other construction measures, "the Landtag building will only be available for pure office use in the summer pause 2024," according to the administration: "Visitors and visitors cannot be received and events cannot be held."
The last plenary session is on a Friday. The first committee meetings are scheduled for the end of August, and the plenary is supposed to meet again on September 11.
During the summer break, fire protection improvements, such as replacing fire doors in the underground garage, will continue despite the high noise and dust levels. The replacement of obsolete speakers, including those in the speaker's desk and government seats, is also part of the remodeling work taking place at the Parliament building in North Rhine-Westphalia. Construction on new elevators, including connecting an additional elevator to the grandstand tribune, is ongoing and will continue during the summer break. This extensive renovation work has prompted the decision to close the Landtag building to visitors during the summer break, with only office use permitted in 2024. The plenary session will conclude before the summer break, with the first committee meetings scheduled for the end of August, marking the start of Parliament's return in September.
