Details have emerged of a new €210 million project to build a new international school and a boarding school, including facilities specially tailored to the needs of athletes, in Mondorf-les-Bains.
Minister for Mobility and Public Works Yuriko Backes submitted the bill for the construction of the new complex to parliament just before the Christmas break.
The 26-hectare campus, which will have capacity for up to 1,690 pupils, is being built on the Gréimelter site right next to the US Mondorf football pitches and adjacent to the new velodrome, which is already under construction.
The new campus is being built right next to the US Mondorf football pitches © Photo credit: Ministry for Public Works
Currently 515 primary and secondary pupils attend the Mondorf International School, which is now housed in temporary buildings on the Op Olbierg site. Since opening in 2018, the school has had to be expanded several times with modular buildings to accommodate its steady growth.
Hotel standards
The boarding school will house a total of 43 rooms divided into two clearly separated areas: a social-family boarding school for the pupils and an innovative sports boarding school.
The sports boarding school will be housed on its own floor, which can only be accessed via an electronic key system. It will have 40 beds for athletic scholars in 20 double rooms, as well as two single rooms for accompanying persons.
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The lodging facility will operate autonomously with simplified check-in and check-out and professional cleaning between room occupancy. The aim is to provide a level of comfort that meets modern hotel standards.
In addition to the rooms, a communal area will be tailored to the life and work of athletes. This will include a lounge, meeting rooms, regeneration facilities and kitchenettes. The internal space is designed to separate sports and international school boarders to ensure peace, security and privacy.
The velodrome is currently being built on the ‘Gréimelter’ site and is scheduled to open in 2028 © Photo credit: Stéphane Guillaume
The immediate proximity to the velodrome, which will house a seven-metre-wide 250-metre track, and a planned six-lane 25-metre swimming pool gives the sports boarding school special significance. It will meet what the bill calls a “real and growing need for temporary accommodation for athletes” which should help facilitate longer training camps and more expansive competitions.
Mondorf as a sports location
The project will be the second largest sports facility in the country after the Coque national sports and cultural centre in Kirchberg – at least until the completion of the new athletics stadium and associated facilities planned for Hamm on the outskirts of the capital.
This is what the velodrome should look like when it is completed in 2028 © Photo credit: Metaform Architects
The velodrome will have seating for up to 1,500 spectators and an infield space that can be used for other sports fields. The project also features a multi-sports hall, a climbing wall and fitness rooms. Outdoor facilities at the sports boarding school will include multi-sports pitches, streetball facilities and a four-lane 80-metre athletics track.
Interestingly, the original plans for the construction of the Coque included a velodrome, which was eventually not incorporated for cost reasons.
(This article was first published by Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated with editing by Duncan Roberts.)