Building construction project
For these three reasons, the administrative centre at Seetalplatz will be significantly more expensive
The central administration building in Emmen costs 14.25 million francs more than planned. The expansion to include 220 jobs alone will cost more than 10 million.
The central administration building at Seetalplatz in Emmen is to be occupied by cantonal employees in stages from mid-2026.
Visualization: zvg
The central administration building on Seetalplatz in Emmen was designed to accommodate 1,500 employees at the time of the referendum in November 2021. To do this, the government wanted a loan of 177.4 million francs from the people – and found a receptive audience: the yes vote was a comfortable 65 percent.
Since then, a lot of water has flowed down the Kleine Emme and thousands of fighter jets have thundered over the large construction site at Seetalplatz. The project has also changed – and thus become more expensive. The government is therefore requesting an additional loan of 14.25 million francs from the cantonal council, as Reto Wyss, the finance director responsible for building construction, and cantonal master builder René Schmid explained to the media on Tuesday. Parliament is due to discuss the loan in October.
There are three reasons for the cost increase of around 8 percent that our newspaper predicted five weeks ago: the building must provide jobs for more cantonal employees, more stringent energy-saving measures are being implemented, and additional requirements from the building permit must be met.
2000 instead of «only» 1500 employees
Instead of 1,500 employees, the building will now have space for around 2,000 people. The Asylum and Refugee Office alone will grow by 150 to 425 people by 2028 due to the increasing number of refugees. The total of 220 additional jobs will cost 10.7 million francs due to the expansion of the reserve space and the extension of the part of the building in the inner courtyard.
A further 2.05 million francs must be spent on extending the photovoltaic system from the flat roof to the facade. This is a consequence of the cantonal council’s decision that the canton of Lucerne must set an example with its own construction projects. Conditions from the building permit for the municipality of Emmen, including weatherproof and fire-proof waiting areas at the bus station, were also not foreseeable before the referendum. According to René Schmid, these conditions generate additional costs of 1.5 million.
All of these points have no impact on the schedule, Wyss and Schmid emphasized. The shell of the building is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2025, and the first employees are expected to move in from summer 2026 – into a building that, according to Wyss, will be 80 percent constructed by Lucerne contractors.
At the groundbreaking ceremony for the cantonal administration building on Seetalplatz in Emmen, there was no mention of additional costs. The entire government was present with (from left) Ylfete Fanaj, Reto Wyss, Fabian Peter, Michaela Tschuor and Armin Hartmann.
Image: Pius Amrein (14. 9. 2023)
Additional costs also in Sursee and Sempach – SVP criticizes
The administration building at Seetalplatz is the canton’s third building project to become more expensive in a short period of time. Most recently, Wyss and Education Director Armin Hartmann had to explain that the campus in Horw will cost 600 million francs instead of 365 million francs. In addition to the high cost of construction, the growth is also due to the canton’s role model function as a developer, which Parliament wants. The cost increase at the security center in Rothenburg is even more pronounced. Instead of the 91 million francs planned for 2019, it will be 291 million francs.
As Wyss said on Tuesday, the Cantonal School in Sursee and the Civil Protection Training Center in Sempach will also become more expensive due to the canton’s exemplary role. In Sursee, a geothermal heat pump and photovoltaic systems will be installed on the roof and facades, which will require 5.6 million francs of the total cost of just under 70 million. In Sempach, similar measures will increase the cost of the 37.8 million project by 5.1 million, or 13.5 percent.
The additional costs for the administration building that have now been communicated have drawn the attention of the SVP. It is critical of the supplementary credit, as it writes in a statement. The growth in jobs in the administration must be questioned just as much as additional expensive climate protection measures.
