On Monday morning, the headstone was laid and the first shovel used to officially launch construction of the buildings that will some day welcome children and adolescents on the ‘Batty Weber’ site, located on the street of the same name, in Pétange.
The foundations of the buildings are already rising from the ground and in three to four years’ time, construction should be completed. Workers at the 1.84-hectare-wide site were thus asked to take a short break when Minister for Mobility and Public Works François Bausch spoke.
The Greens politician explained that the future Robert Krieps site will be built a mere 500 metres away from the Batty Weber site. The second project is a little less than half the size of the first one. Combined costs are expected to be €116.8 million.
Most of the facilities will be under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth. There will be a nursery for babies who can no longer stay at home, explained Minister Claude Meisch on Monday. In some cases, these children may also be accompanied by their mother.
Furthermore, a psychotherapeutic boarding school and a social boarding school for children and adolescents will be integrated into the new sites.
The Ministry for the Family Affairs and Integration will take care of some 30 accommodations for autistic people and six accommodations for mentally disabled adults. The aim is for everyone to be able to live as independently as possible, with as much supervision as necessary, said Minister Corinne Cahen.
The Batty Weber site will be able to accommodate 125 people and 94 employees. On the smaller Robert Krieps site, where the social boarding school will be located, 63 residents will be accommodated and ten people employed.
The Ministry of Health will further operate a medical centre on one of both sites. According to Minister Meisch, the nine buildings across the two locations will thus be run in synergetic manner.
