After several months of construction work, Stadtwerke Gießen has completed the modernisation of the crematorium at the New Cemetery in Gießen. In future, a new prayer room and the extended administration wing will offer space to say farewell in a quiet and intimate atmosphere and provide optimal care for mourners.
Human dignity and environmental protection - these values are emphasised in the crematorium at the new Giessen cemetery. Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) has been managing the facility since 2013.
"As the city of Giessen, we want to support the crematorium in the best possible way. We are therefore delighted that SWG have taken over the management of the facility and run it just as professionally and appropriately for the occasion in terms of reverence as they do in terms of technology. Sensitivity in dealing with relatives is at the forefront of operations," explains city councillor Astrid Eibelshäuser.
SWG has extensively renovated the crematorium in Giessen in order to be able to realise its credos even better in the future. The biggest change: a new prayer room. It offers space for smaller ceremonies and makes it possible to bid farewell to the deceased in a quiet and intimate atmosphere. Larger ceremonies are still held in the chapel on the cemetery grounds.
"For relatives, the crematorium is the place where they see their loved ones for the last time. These moments of mourning should take place in dignified and pleasant surroundings," explained Matthias Funk, Technical Director of SWG, at the opening on Thursday, 8 September. "Thanks to the remodelling, the employees of the Giessen crematorium can now create such an atmosphere even better."
Optimum service through change
Before Stadtwerke Gießen took over the operation of the crematorium at the New Cemetery, the facility was in municipal hands. At that time, the administrative part of a cremation - from the application or accompanying document to invoicing - was handled by the garden and cemetery office, while the actual cremation took place in the crematorium. To ensure fast and direct organisation, SWG optimised the workflow and set up offices on site - administration and cremation combined under one roof. Merging the two areas of work ensures that the crematorium staff can concentrate better on the sensitive, compassionate handling of mourners.
However, this was not the only change that SWG made to the facility. Matthias Funk explains: "When we took over the crematorium, we were breaking new ground. We first had to familiarise ourselves with the processes - from the delivery of a coffin to the dispatch or collection of an urn. By hiring a new employee for the administrative area and purchasing new software, we were able to ensure the planned simplification of day-to-day business."
As a result of the current remodelling measures, SWG will further improve the processes at the Giessen crematorium in the future. This is because the individual work areas are now even more clearly separated from one another. "The addition of a prayer room allows us to enlarge the administrative wing and create a retreat and preparation room for employees," Funk continued. "There is now a separate area for each process."
The design realised by the Stumpf-Glock Tischler planning office uses simple architectural means to visually distinguish the prayer room from the operations and administration wing. In contrast to the cubic building with a flat roof, the base area of the prayer room was rotated 15 degrees from the rectangular part of the building. It is also covered with a pitched roof made of zinc sheeting that slopes in two directions. SWG also refurbished the façade in places, creating a recognisable transition from the new to the old part of the crematorium. "This clear separation of the technical, office and farewell areas makes the work of the funeral directors easier: in future, they will be able to look after the mourners in a separate room and create the best possible atmosphere for them to say goodbye to their loved ones," explains Matthias Funk.
Hermann Hubing, Managing Director of the German Institute for Funeral Culture and hessenBestatter, the state guild association of the Hessian funeral industry, also recognises the importance of a place for relatives to mourn and say goodbye. Saying goodbye can have very different facets: "Some people mourn and lament the loss of a loved one, others celebrate the life of the deceased and are happy that they were part of that life," says Mr Hubing. As individually as people may deal with the death of a loved one, having a place such as a place of worship to say goodbye as part of the grieving process is very helpful.
Demanding all along the line
Stadtwerke Gießen is committed to constantly developing the crematorium and keeping the equipment and premises up to date. The construction of the prayer room and the extension of the administration wing are not the first structural changes to the building, which was erected in 1975. The two cremation systems were renovated a few years ago. "Three filters connected in series ensure that toxic pollutants do not escape," explains Matthias Funk. "The technology at the Giessen crematorium therefore complies with the strict requirements of the Federal Immission Control Act. We are among the pioneers when it comes to climate protection," continues Matthias Funk.
The "Controlled Crematorium" seal of approval, which proves that the facility meets demanding technical, organisational and ethical criteria and has already been awarded twice by the Working Group of Municipal Crematoria, also testifies to its high quality.
Further information is available from Stadtwerke Gießen on the crematorium's website at www.krematorium-giessen.de.