Semily are preparing the construction of a new kindergarten for 95 million

Semily - Semily is preparing to build a kindergarten for a hundred children. The project, which is estimated to cost 95 million crowns, has received 25 million from the Operational Program Environment. It concerns an energy-efficient building built to passive standard. The town hall is now looking for additional funding options for the costly project, with the possibility of interest-free loans, said Mayor Lena Mlejnková (Choice for Semily) to ČTK today. During a visit to the Liberec region in March, the resigned Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) promised support for the project and help with financing.

"Construction is expected to start next spring; we first need to secure a space where the kindergarten will operate for a year because we will completely demolish the current building and have to accommodate the children somewhere for a year," explained the reasons for the delay, the mayor said. According to her, the town plans to adapt a building next to the elementary art school (ZUŠ) that the town hall has purchased for the kindergarten. "We have long been addressing the inadequate capacity of the elementary art school, so this will solve two problems at once. The kindergarten will be there for a year, and then we will adapt it for ZUŠ with minimal costs," added Mlejnková. The modifications to the building will require an additional 15 million crowns in total.

A new kindergarten will rise on the site of the Pod Vartou Kindergarten, which was built as a temporary solution in the 1980s and no longer meets standards. As early as 2009, the town planned to build a low-energy building on this site and wanted to obtain grants from Norwegian funds for it. However, the project was abandoned. In the fall of 2015, the town hall announced an anonymous architectural competition for the design of the new kindergarten. A total of 200 studies, including foreign ones, showed interest, and ultimately the town hall selected from 70 proposals. The winning design was by architect Marek Topič, featuring a single-story building in the shape of two circular structures.

According to Mlejnková, the building will house two separate kindergartens - Pod Vartou and the Waldorf Kindergarten, together accommodating a hundred children. "The costs are high, the price of the kindergarten building is 62 million crowns, with the remaining 33 million constituting costs for landscaping, greenery, play equipment, fencing, kindergarten furnishings, gastronomy technology, parking, water connections, and other expenses that need to be considered," the mayor stated. The demolition of the current dilapidated building alone will cost around three million, and the rerouting of high voltage lines will cost nearly two million. "Even a container kindergarten with comparable capacity wouldn't be much cheaper," added Mlejnková. Construction is set to begin next spring.