The science museum “Odysseum” will be leaving Kalk; the operators have been looking for a new location for some time. Now the city wants to use the building in Kalk as a comprehensive school. The council must decide on the project at its meeting on October 1st. In order for the museum to become a school, extensive renovation work would be necessary, and according to the city, the building would also have to be expanded.
Odysseum in Cologne: The aim is to renovate by the 2028/29 school year
Some time ago, the city launched a Europe-wide tendering process and was looking for an investor with suitable land for the Kalk district to build a four-stream comprehensive school including a sports hall. The idea seems to be so interesting for the owners of the Odysseum that a new direction in Kalk is conceivable. Since 2021, the Odysseum has belonged to a civil law partnership (GbR), the decision-makers include Andreas Waksch and the Belgian entrepreneur Stéphan Uhoda. Both are equal partners and shareholders in the company. The exhibition “Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs” is currently being shown in the Odysseum.
The new comprehensive school is scheduled to open at Brügelmannstrasse 10 in Deutz at the beginning of the 2025/26 school year, where it will share the site with the new “Gymnasium Innenstadt” in Deutz until it moves into its own building, which will begin operations at the same time. According to the city, the aim is for the renovation of the Odysseum to be completed by the 2028/29 school year and for the building to be handed over to the city of Cologne ready for the school to move into.
As the Rundschau learned, the employees of the Odysseum have already been informed of the plans. According to the report, after the city of Cologne put out a tender for a school, the owners approached the city administration and offered them the building. They are already looking for a new location.
On October 1st, the city council will decide in a closed session on the rental of the Odysseum for a fixed contract period of 25 years. According to Rundschau information, the rental includes a building area of 23,300 square meters and 5,350 square meters of outdoor space as well as 24 underground parking spaces. The property is 12,356 square meters in size. The four-story building is to be completely renovated and converted into a school, and the planned sports hall will be integrated into the building.
To justify the rental, the city administration points out in the draft resolution that it has “no suitable area for building a school or buildings in its portfolio for conversion in this district”. It has also “not been able to purchase a suitable area or building”. According to Rundschau information, renting the Odysseum after conversion to a school will cost around 8.7 million euros per year plus around 1.1 million euros in additional costs. Over the term of 25 years, the rental will add up to a total of 246.5 million euros.
As part of the renovation, the owners of the Odysseum will install a photovoltaic system on the roof, which will then be purchased by the city for 860,000 euros. Services such as building cleaning, school caretaker and locking services will be provided by the owner and billed as additional costs.
The sports hall is intended for school use from Monday to Thursday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The aim is for the sports hall to be available for club sports after school and on weekends and during school holidays until 10 p.m. This is subject to no basic cleaning, maintenance or construction work being scheduled. Midnight activities are also planned, so an extension of the usage times to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays should be permissible.
