Berliner Platz: Fence to be dismantled for the Bocholt fair

The refurbishment of the town hall and cultural centre on Berliner Platz is progressing according to plan. This week, the focus is on laying the foundations for the future supporting columns of the enlarged council chamber. At the same time, the town of Bocholt is already clearing the necessary space around the building site for the forthcoming Bocholt fair.

In order to safely support the additional loads from the council chamber, which is due to be enlarged, two central existing columns in the town hall are being structurally reinforced. To this end, specialists are currently cutting into the existing floor slab to install new, load-bearing foundations to which the chamber's structure will be anchored in future.

In preparation for this concrete work, targeted core drilling was required in advance to establish a temporary drainage system. As the water table on the construction site must be lowered, the water produced is being discharged in a controlled manner into the Bocholt Aa.

Before work began on cutting into the structure, a thorough survey for unexploded ordnance was also carried out in the deeper subsoil beneath the support areas. In parallel with the structural work, the town of Bocholt is preparing the areas around the construction site for the upcoming funfair.

To keep disruption to this traditional fair to a minimum, the construction site is being temporarily reduced in size. Building materials, which had previously been stored off-site, have been concentrated within the construction site, meaning that the existing timber hoarding has already been dismantled. 

The mobile mesh fences will also be removed temporarily, whilst the red-and-white barriers will remain in place until immediately before the fair set-up begins, so that tradespeople can continue to park their service vehicles there.

As soon as the fairground set-up officially begins, this area will also be completely cleared. Once the fair has finished, the construction site barriers on Berliner Platz will be extended again.