Krefeld: DRK builds disaster control center

Head office in Krefeld
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DRK builds disaster control center

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Sabine Hilcker (left) and Diether Thelen (centre) from the DRK district association in Krefeld.
Photo: Samla Fotoagentur / samla.de

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Krefeld The Krefeld Red Cross is building a new building in Hüls. From there, primarily the civil protection should be organized. A heat pump is used to heat the building and the parking spaces for emergency vehicles are to be designed flexibly.

The Krefeld Red Cross is getting a new building, from which disaster protection in particular is to be organised. On Monday, those responsible, managing director Sabine Hilker and district association chairman Diether Thelen, presented the project together with architect Martin Sulke. The new four-million property with a wagon hall, training and storage rooms, kitchen and a modern communications center will be built over the next two years as part of the new industrial park Den Ham in Hüls.

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The comparatively low costs for a project with around 2,000 square meters of converted space on a 4,200 m² site can be explained above all by a cautious approach to investment. “We finance almost 60 percent of the money from our own funds. Then there are very low-interest loans from Sparkasse and KfW. We are entitled to these funds as part of a disaster risk reduction fund,” explains Thelen. That is a big burden for the DRK. “That’s why we often made compromises. This is how we prepare the site for all eventualities, but we will build many things gradually. For example, all the connections and circuits for an emergency generator are there. The unit itself, however, will only be retrofitted in the future. It’s the same with photovoltaics,” says the chairman of the district association.

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On the one hand, the property will consist of a 1500 m² vehicle hall with 40 parking spaces. “The vehicles are parked in three rows in this hall. The front one has its own gates so that the vehicles can move out quickly. They also have steady power and so on, so we’re on permanent standby. The two rear rows can then be fed via a common exit. It’s similar to a very spacious multi-storey car park,” explains architect Sulke. The side facing away from the gates with currently 16 parking spaces is designed in such a way that the parking spaces can also be changed quickly. “Vehicle sizes can change quickly, especially in the field of civil protection. We can also simply make eight or even six out of these 16 places. There are no carriers or anything like that to prevent that,” explains Thelen.

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The design of the building.
*Photo: DRC*

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The new facility is primarily intended to improve the conditions. “We are still fully operational today. But some things are very improvised. We cannot offer our volunteers the working conditions that we would like to offer, and that makes it increasingly difficult to find new employees. Without volunteers, however, many of the events that we support would simply no longer be possible because the costs got out of hand. Be it popular sports or festivals and the like,” says Hilker, who is looking forward to the completion of the building, which is planned for the end of 2023.

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In addition to the vehicle hall, the object should also contain an administration area. “The lower floor has a ceiling height of almost four metres. This is good for the vehicles, but also for the warehouse. So we can store tents, beds, communication equipment and so on in high racks and load the vehicles at ground level. The upper floor of the administration building mainly houses the training rooms for our volunteers. Training for external parties, such as first-aid courses, will remain in the old building in Bockum for the time being, ”continues the DRK chairman.

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The building should have a uniform appearance. “We are planning for the vehicle hall with translucent polycarbonate panels in different shades of gray on a steel skeleton. The hall is mainly heated by an air heat pump, but it should only be brought to seven degrees in winter. A more effective geothermal heat pump is not possible because it is a water protection area,” says Sulke. The administration building will also be provided with a gray insulating plaster. “Moreover, 40 percent of the roof is green. That is also a requirement of the B plan,” explains the architect.

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Other groups such as DRK local associations, fire brigade or THW will also be supported from the new building. The canteen kitchen in the building is used for this, as is the communication center. The civil protection in Krefeld is to be raised to a new level.

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