Playing under energy-saving roofs. The “Anne Frank” nursery: a pilot project for energy-efficient renovations.

For a good forty years now children have been attending the “Anne Frank” day-care centre in Wolgast, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in preparation for school. Unfortunately the building, in typical GDR prefabricated style, was in a poor condition in terms of its energy-efficiency and no longer fulfilled the guidelines that are applicable today.  Thanks to the programmes that were started on 01.01.2007, “KfW-Kommunalkredit” (Reconstruction Credit Institute Community Loan) and “Sozial Investieren” (Social Investments), a fund for energy-efficient building refurbishment has been made available. The building, which was refurbished from the foundations to the roof, is regarded as an exemplary pilot project of energy-efficient modernisation of old buildings for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the whole of Germany.

“In terms of figures, it has already been proven that the energy consumption is around 40% below the permitted energy consumption of a comparable new building” says Matthias Kühn, the architect responsible for the building. Apparently both the façade and the roof displayed considerable damages. “Furthermore, the ratio of the building shell to the heated building volume was extremely disadvantageous due to the nursery building‘s geometry,” adds Kühn. In order to optimise the roof and the necessary sealing in an energy-efficient way, Kühn brought Bamberg flat roof specialist VEDAG GmbH on board. “We had already worked on several projects together and were always very satisfied with the manufacturers of flat roof sealing systems,” said Kühn.

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