Plans to expand the chancery building are causing a strong backlash, as the cost seems staggering at such a challenging time for ordinary citizens. It is a €777 million project that is generating sensation and comment as it has already exceeded its original budget, while the government is asking citizens every day to implement “measures” into their daily lives and save as much energy as possible.

In accordance with Focus Magazine, the chancellor’s seat is already about eight times the size of the White House in Washington, ten times the size of Downing Street in London, and three times the size of the Champs Elysées in Paris. Expansion plans provide that 25,347 sq.m. they will double, reaching 50,000 m2, and the cost from the initial budget of 456.8 million euros will increase to 777 million. The 60% increase in construction costs is not so much due to inflation, Focus points out, but to a change in the plans of new tenants. The new building, which will be built in the chancery garden, will have 400 offices and nine atriums on five floors.

The cost of construction is 31,517 euros per square meter.

More than 14 million euros will cost just the glazing to protect the building from the sun and the installation to allow the windows to be washed, while 10 million will be spent on the construction of a new heliport and 2.8 million on the creation of a playground for 12-15 children. According to the Accounts Chamber, this amount is three times the cost of a regular kindergarten. The plans, which were originally approved by the previous government and have now been revised, also include a 250 sq. m for the chancellor.

More than 200 large trees are to be cut down around the office, and work will begin in December. The new building should be completed by 2028.

“The plan is not up to date,” Taxpayers Union President Rainer Holznagel said and urged Chancellor Olaf Soltz to “show some respect” for citizens, while Bild commented on it as a “crazy plan” to spend so much money in the midst of the worst crisis of the post-war era . Focus magazine describes the plan as “disgusting”, with left-wing MP Gezin Letts quipping that “the fact that the government can’t build the 100,000 new houses it promised but apparently has no problem with the construction of a second gigantic office in a short time, he says. a lot about the ruling coalition: we all need to tighten our belts, except for the chancellor and his associates.”