It is planned that the construction of the building of Ventspils Music School with Concert hall will be completed within two years.This is provided for in the construction agreement concluded on 28 December with “Merks” Ltd.

It is planned that the construction of the building of Ventspils Music School with Concert hall will be completed within two years.This is provided for in the construction agreement concluded on 28 December with “Merks” Ltd.

 Chairman of the Board of “Merks”Ltd, Mr Oskars Ozoliņš explained: “”The construction contract has been awarded to “Merks” and “Ostas celtnieks”- a construction company in Ventspils. Our agreement stipulates that we organise our works in co-operation. We have set up a management team and we bear shared responsibility”

 Mr Ozoliņš stressed that this will be an energy efficient building.

 “This is what distinguishes this building amongst others – high energy efficiency or low losses of heat. This requires use of specific materials and great attention to detail”, Ozoliņš went on.

 “Heat pump will be used for heating. Heating pipes will be incorporated in piles – this poses a certain challenge”

 Some formalities still need to be addressed in order to start the large-scale preparation works for the construction.

 “We will start laying the foundation in the middle of February and plan to finish it by May. We plan to finish the carcass and roof of the building by the end of the year. In parallel we will start the construction of engineering networks in the second half of the year.”, explained Mr Ozoliņš. Contractors have two years to finish the building.

 At the time of signing the agreement Ventspils Mayor Mr Aivars Lembergs told that the road to the start of the construction of the new building has been long and complex. Mr Lembergs reminded that society “Delna” had challenged the provision of emission quota funding for the school at the Constitutional Court. The challenge did not succeed and in September a contract was signed for the provision of 15 M Euros funding for the construction of low energy consumption building for Ventspils Music School. 10.9 M Euros for the project have come from other EU funding programmes. Another 4.5 M Euros will be assigned from national budget over next 3 years. 2 M Euros will come from municipal budget, Mr Lembergs explained.

 “If somebody had simply given 30 million for the project, it would give far less satisfaction. It is much more interesting now, having gone a long and hurdlesome way.”, Ventspils Mayor admitted.

PROJECT RECEIVES FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM EMMISSION QUOTA AUCTION INSTRUMENT