On the site of the former barracks is the new farm for the municipality of Wöllersdorf-Steinabrückl, which was officially opened today, Saturday, after a year of construction. Numerous citizens, representatives of emergency services organizations, construction companies and politicians, including State Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, took part in the ceremony.
“The community and the state have put a lot of money into this new farm,” said the state governor, “and every cent is well invested, because the people who work here are those who make sure everything works in the community.” There is a need for such people optimal framework conditions, such as those offered by the new farm, “so that community workers in particular have the best possible working environment to be able to carry out their work professionally.”
In addition, the new farm in Wöllersdorf-Steinabrückl is also the best example of the common goal of the state and communities to “harmonize old with new, to combine sustainability, economy and ecology,” explained Mikl-Leitner. The country’s strategy is to “handle our soil extremely sensitively”. Lower Austria is the state with the lowest land use and the least imperviousness and a variety of measures have been taken with regard to land consumption and efficient land use. She spoke, among other things, of the revitalization of brownfield sites, “where we raise old commercial and industrial areas that are no longer used for new business locations in order not to build on new land.” Another example is the blue-yellow land bonus, in which Land supports communities that, for example, unseal unused park areas in order to return the soil to nature.
The community of Wöllersdorf-Steinabrückl is also a model for ecological accompanying measures for flood protection. The Steinabrückl flood protection is essentially completed, and in Wöllersdorf it will be completed this year. Mikl-Leitner: “Already during the construction work, the community was hit by two flood events – in December 2023 and also last September – thank God that the almost completed flood protection was able to prevent anything worse.” At this point she sent a “big thank you to the Wöllersdorf Volunteer Fire Department – Steinabrückl, for providing protection and help not only in your community, but far beyond, and for standing by those affected.”
Mayor Gustav Glöckler particularly emphasized the cross-party cooperation in this project. The new farm is “a contemporary building, sustainably and ecologically planned and built.” Glöckler emphasized: “60 percent of the output could be left in the community, 40 percent was taken over by regional companies.” This meant that economic output and jobs remained in the region.
Local councilor Martin Lobner and managing local councilor Christian Grabenwöger also had their say, talking about the development, construction phase and costs. Master builder Andreas Matuella examined the new farm from a planning and construction perspective and the manager of the farm, Manfred Dam, emphasized: “17 individual spaces were combined into one central location. This means I can work efficiently with my team and have a better overview of equipment and resources.”
The music association and the Wöllersdorf-Steinabrückl men’s cooking group provided the musical and culinary design for the opening ceremony.