The Medical Association of Lower Saxony (ÄKN) estimates significantly more money than initially planned for the completion of its new building in Hanover – the higher costs are justified from their point of view. It was said on Thursday that not only a pure administration building should be built, but also “a meeting place for Lower Saxony’s doctors” with rooms for seminars, training courses or examinations. The “Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung” had reported on the increased expenses for the headquarters and the corresponding criticism from the state audit office. According to the Medical Association, the objections are older, and the majority of the members of the Chamber Assembly have supported the increases in previous votes.
According to plans in 2018, the sum for the new headquarters was originally supposed to be around 50 million euros, if you look at the exclusive construction costs in the narrower sense. The design envisaged a ten-storey building with a green roof, the old property was no longer considered economical due to structural defects and fire protection problems, among other things.
Including ancillary and project costs for architects and other service providers, for example, the chamber set the budget at 75 million euros. She is now assuming a total of almost 100 million euros. In the meantime, however, there have already been two recalculations, which were 82.5 million euros in 2019 and 90 million euros in 2021.
Over time, it has become necessary to “expand the scope of action,” the reasoning goes – for example due to increased requirements as a result of the Corona crisis and most recently also because of the enormously increased costs for building materials and construction services. The building is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.
According to the chamber, the state audit office was bothered by overcapacities in a test report that had already been submitted in mid-2021 and questioned whether such extensively expanded areas were really needed. The Chamber of Physicians explained that in addition to the classic self-administration for the almost 45,000 Lower Saxony doctors, the new state headquarters should also fulfill other important functions and be used, for example, for conferences and further training, also for non-medical medical staff.