A 19th-century windmill, which is protected as a national heritage site, may be demolished to make way for the expansion plans of the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL). The windmill is located on Route d’Arlon in Belair, which is where ambulances access the hospital, leaving little room for compromise.
Health Minister Martine Deprez inherited the CHL expansion plans from her predecessor, Paulette Lenert, who signed off on the project in 2022. Recently, Deprez and Culture Minister Eric Thill received an urgent parliamentary question from Greens MP Djuna Bernard, who raised concerns about the fate of the historic windmill.
According to the health minister, it is difficult to imagine the building remaining at this location. Situated in Belair, near the stadium and on the border between Luxembourg City and Strassen, the windmill is located right at the hospital’s future main access point.
Back in October, Deprez met with Thill to discuss the situation, amid intensifying construction work on the CHL expansion. Based on the government’s written response, it appears that the issue was, or should have been, known.
Yet, the fate of the windmill remained unaddressed for years – a puzzling situation given that the structure has been under national heritage protection since 2002.
With regard to “mass casualty plan” scenarios and the need for emergency preparedness, Deprez is surprised that the project is still under discussion. According to the available documents, she states that the expansion is being built according to plan, otherwise they would have to completely redo the plans, which is not an option at this stage.
According to Industrie.lu, the windmill itself dates back to 1867. At the time, it was a small but strategically located windmill and source of income. Today, however, maintaining it could prove costly, as the ambulance entrance is planned to be built on that very spot, as set out in the modern plans for the hospital.
Deprez noted that two expansion options were evaluated at the time of planning, one with the windmill included, the other one without it. In April 2022, the Ministerial Council approved funding for the project.
Then-Culture Minister Sam Tanson recalls that the windmill was not specifically brought to the Council’s attention at the time.
Official documents (FR) reflect this ambiguity. In one section, there is indeed mention of “integrating the windmill at its current protected stage”, while elsewhere, the text reads that “the space is intended for the implementation of the future ambulance bay”.
Minister Deprez says that, based on the documents in her possession, it is clear that the project is proceeding with the version that excludes the windmill. With the windmill in place, only three ambulances could access the hospital at a time, as opposed to five.
Emergency logistics, particularly in the event of a pandemic, were also taken into account. Keeping the windmill would mean losing a third of the space required for patient intake.
The case reveals inconsistencies that still need to be clarified. A meeting is scheduled at the Ministry of Culture next week, where Minister Eric Thill is expected to provide further explanations.
