This week marked the opening of a new welcome centre for marginalised people in Luxembourg.
The official opening of the Le Courage day centre for the marginalised, located in Bonnevoie, took place on Tuesday 15 November 2016 at 14:00.
Plans to open the Le Courage centre began in 2014 when the Ville de Luxembourg town council approved plans to take over the building 15, Dernier Sol in Bonnevoie for a social project. In 2015, the decision was made to use the basement and ground-floor of the building as a day centre for marginalised members of society, and the Ville de Luxembourg signed an agreement with Caritas Accueil et Solidarité which laid out the management of the welcome centre.
The welcome centre, designed by Peter Merten Architekt, has been developed in such a way as to respond to the needs of people who no longer have access to existing centres due to their dependence on alcohol. Another objective was to encourage the people concerned to benefit from the centre so as to get living allowances and reduce harm, as well as to create a meeting place which is open seven days a week (from 09:00 until 19:00) and offers people moral and social support.
The welcome centre offers space for up to 30 people on the ground floor where there is a bar with free non-alcoholic drinks- although customers can bring their own alcoholic drinks. There is also an area for resting, a disabled toilet and a delivery and storage area. In the basement, there are three individual showers with locker rooms, toilets, a laundry room and a cleaning room.
The first phase of building began on 4 April 2016 and ended on 4 November 2016. There are plans to start a second building phase to add furnished rooms on the second and third floor of the centre, which should finish at the end of 2018.
The estimated total cost of the project is €736,552.
Photo by Phototheque VDL Charles Soubry.
