With the construction of a new six-group daycare centre in Hans-Böckler-Ring on Fredenberg in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt, another flagship project is being realized by an investor as part of the child and family-friendly learning city. The investment budget is around €2,500,000.

Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel comments: "For more than eleven years - and thus long before the federal and state governments - I, as Lord Mayor, have been working with the council and administration to ensure that Salzgitter consistently invests in education and families. This includes the expansion of nursery and kindergarten places. I am delighted that another flagship project is being planned and realized with the Fredenberg daycare centre."

The daycare center will have four kindergarten groups and two crèche groups. All-day care is planned. In order to meet local requirements, opening hours from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. are planned. Klingebiel explains: "As a daycare center for the district, the focus is also on socio-structural aspects, as Fredenberg, as a district with a high proportion of families with a migration background and low-income families, has an increased need in the area of early education, which will be sensibly supplemented with the additional offer."

A plot of land measuring 2,445 m² will be transferred to the investor at a purchase price agreed with the previous owner, TAG Immobilien AG, on condition that a rental agreement is concluded with the city of Salzgitter. The sponsorship of the daycare center is to be put out to tender.

The new buildings of the Fredolino daycare center, the Helifanten daycare center, the Kunterbunt daycare center, the Rasselbande daycare center and the extension of the "Zwerge vorm Berge" daycare center have already been completed in recent years as own investments or investor projects.

The conversion of the building next door to the Hubertusstraße daycare center with an additional 36 kindergarten places has also been completed. The daycare center moved into the building on 01.08.2017 and began operations.

In addition, 15 further crèche places were created at the SOS Mütterzentrum. Operations commenced on 01.10.2017.

50 new nursery places are currently being created at the Goerdelerstraße daycare center.

The new Hallendorf daycare center with an additional 19 kindergarten places is expected to be completed for the 2018/2019 kindergarten year.

"And the expansion to meet demand should continue consistently," the Lord Mayor clarifies. Klingebiel adds: "From 2018 onwards, the following new projects are therefore planned by the administration:

• Rental and conversion of the St. Lukas rectory with 25 kindergarten places (expected to be completed in mid-2018)
• Complete renovation and partial new construction of the Martin Luther daycare center with 50 new kindergarten places (expected to be completed in early 2019)
• Construction of a new daycare center at the Am See elementary school with 50 kindergarten places and 15 crèche places
• New construction of the Fredenberg West daycare center with 75 kindergarten places and 30 crèche places
• Construction of a new Ringelheim daycare center with 50 kindergarten places and 15 crèche places."

These and other expansion projects to meet demand in the districts of Salzgitter are being planned in parallel and submitted to the political bodies for approval. Whether this is done as an in-house investment or an investor project is considered on a case-by-case basis. The awarding of projects "as a package" is also being examined. Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel: "These projects are further milestones in family and child-friendly urban development".

In this context, Lord Mayor Klingebiel praised the state government's initiative to completely abolish parental contributions for all three kindergarten years in 2018. "I am very pleased that the new state government is learning from the experiences and successes in Salzgitter, which is the only major city in Lower Saxony to have implemented the complete exemption from fees without interruption since 2008, and now wants to implement this socially important measure as quickly as possible. However, I expect the state to cover 2/3 of the total costs of running a daycare center. Based on what we have learned from the state government so far, the local authority umbrella organizations will certainly have a lot of work to do in the very near future."