Mayor Lyie Polfer at the Kockelschuer ice rink; Credit: ©VDL Photothèque, Christian Aschman

On Wednesday 6 March 2024, the Ville de Luxembourg announced details of renovation works to the public ice rink at Kockelschueer.

The public ice rink in Kockelscheuer opened on 13 November 1974, since when various renovation works have been undertaken and developments have been made in order to respond to new sporting challenges. In 2005, a special training rink was built next to the public ice rink for ice sports clubs.

Almost 20 years later, in 2023, it proved necessary to improve the operation of the ice rink once more, with the City of Luxembourg carrying out a technical upgrade in order in particular to meet the latest safety requirements and technical standards. these upgrades include:

• The upgrading of the IT system for building management, both to optimally exploit all the technical installations of a complex building and to save energy.
• Several components were replaced and others added in the technical centre of the cooling plant, so that the training rink can operate all year round.
• A new grandstand with 170 seats was installed for spectators of ice hockey matches, figure skating demonstrations and short track races.
• The old press booth has been transformed into a multifunctional room, the “Skylounge”, with the technology and the panoramic windows (which no longer met the latest safety standards) being replaced.
• The old lighting in the ice rink is to be replaced in May 2024 with modern LED lights, also for energy-saving measures.
• The installation of a heat pump, planned in the short term, will make it possible to recover more production heat and use it, for example, for heating the halls and water; gas consumption will thus be reduced.

All these changes and renovations are designed to now offer new possibilities to visitors to the ice rink and especially to ice sports clubs who will be able to train all year round without interruption from 2024, strengthening their position on the international scene.

Both the public ice rink and the training rink cover an area of 1,800 m2; the curlink area is 450 m2. The public rink can seat 740 spectators, and the training rink 170 spectators. Seven ice sports clubs, with over a thousand members combined, use the facilities. 

In the 2022/23 season, a total of 119,000 people visited and used the public rink.The total cost of the ice rick renovations was €1,753,724.11.