BONN. Refugees from Ukraine are to be moved out of hotel accommodation and into municipal facilities. At times, up to 1,150 people have been living in rented rooms in Bonn, with the city spending around 8.2 million euros on hotel costs in the period from March to mid-September. “This corresponds to about 1.26 million euros per month,” explained Marc Hoffmann from the city press office. At peak times, refugees were accommodated in 21 differenthotels, currently rooms are still booked at six of these. New facilities in Roleber and Bad Godesberg will now provide more places for the refugees to stay. In total, the Office for Social Affairs and Housing operates four shared accommodation facilities in Bonn, with a total of 1,040 places for people from Ukraine. (Original text: Gabriele Immenkeppel)

BONN. The Fridays for Future (FFF) movement has been back out on the streets in Bonn. The organisers spoke of 3,000 protestors along the route, but police estimated the number to be much lower at 1,000. Under the slogan ‘People not profits’, the climate protection movement were again calling for decisive action against global warming. Around 240 demos were planned in Germany alone as part of the eleventh global climate strike. Berlin was one of the focal points with 20,000 people taking part. The demonstrations reiterated demands for renewable energy use to be accelerated on a large scale. “The strike was very motivating and the atmosphere was amazing. We are glad that so many different people came to stand up for climate protection,” said FFF spokeswoman Anastasia Pütz. The demonstrators were not only students, but included people of all ages, ranging from young children to pensioners. (Original texts: epd / Anton Dieckhoff)

BONN. In October BonnNetz will be carrying out works on the pipelines and connections at three locations in the city. This will affect local traffic routes. The road at Buschdorfer Straße 26 will be fully closed in order to replace a gas and water network connection. A detour will be signposted and public traffic will also have to be diverted. Residents will be able to drive up to the construction site. From the beginning of October, works will also be carried out on the corner of Kölnstrasse and Stiftsplatz. Only one of the two lanes here will be open in the direction of the city. In addition, BonnNetz will be putting in a gas network connection at Reuterstrasse 155 and replacing the water-pipe system at the same time. Here in the direction of the motorway slip road, only one of the two lanes will be open. The work at these three locations is scheduled to be completed by mid-October. (Original text: ga)

AHRTAL. The association "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Historisches Ahrtal" (AHA) has received a completely unexpected honour in its very first year. The group, whose 65 members are construction experts from a wide variety of trades, has been awarded the German Prize for Monument Protection in the new category ‘Mediation Prize’. This is the highest award in Germany in this field and will be presented to AHA Chairman Fritz Vennemann on November 8 in Hamburg. The association was formed after the 2021 flood disaster by locally affected people and various professional groups with expertise in historic craftmanship and traditional building techniques. Vice chairman Stefan Dietrich explains, “We were united by the idea of saving heavily flood-damaged historic building structures from demolition.” The AHA has been commended for its commitment to monumental preservation under extraordinary circumstances, helping to preserve timbered houses and listed buildings in the region and responding quickly after the flooding to support people in planning and implementing the reconstruction works. Its members provide training, consultation and practical information which aims to speed up the reconstruction work and help residents save money by learning how to do the work themselves. In the long term, the association would like to advise and support owners of historic buildings not affected by the flood in their repair and preservation. "But currently our focus is on professionally reconstructing the flood-damaged buildings, preventing demolitions and thus preserving the architectural culture characterising the Ahr Valley," says Dietrich. (Original text: Volker Jost) (Translations: Caroline Kusch)