The Olaine Training Centre built by Pillar Contractor celebrates its topping-out ceremony
On Friday, 12 January, a topping-out ceremony was held at the construction site of the Olaine Training Centre, attended by Minister of Justice Inese Lībiņa-Egnere. This symbolizes the moment when the highest point of the building has been reached in the construction process.
The total area of the training centre building is approximately 2,500 m2. It will house not only training rooms for correctional service staff, but also a conference hall, a museum of the prison system, a reading room, a service hotel, as well as rooms for sports and practical classes. The training centre will be able to train 150 employees at the same time. It is planned that the Olaine Training Centre will open its doors in 2024, and it will also play an important role in the process of training staff for the new Liepāja Prison, providing a learning environment and infrastructure suited to the new resocialization system.
Minister of Justice Inese Lībiņa-Egnere noted at the topping-out ceremony that the training centre in Olaine will help people acquire new knowledge and skills in order to assist those who have served their sentences in returning to society as fully fledged and law-abiding members of it as effectively as possible, so that we can all live in a safer and better country.”
Jānis Lāčaunieks, Chairman of the Management Board of the training centre’s builder, SIA “Pillar Contractor”, stated: “I congratulate everyone involved in the project on the topping-out ceremony, as despite various events and difficulties, this important stage of the building’s construction has been successfully completed. Special thanks go to the builders, because without their work on the construction site, the result could not have been achieved. The festive moment is brief, as the next stage of construction work already awaits us, during which approximately 15,000 m of electrical wiring, 1,600 m of ventilation ducts, approximately 3,000 m2 of façades and approximately 4,100 m2 of finishing surfaces must be built. In view of this, I wish everyone involved in the construction process constructive and productive cooperation in the further implementation process, so that we can meet in equally good spirits at the building’s opening ceremony.”
The construction of the facility is being carried out by Pillar Contractor in accordance with the signed contract for 6,364,029.82 euros (excluding VAT), of which 85% is funded by Norwegian Grants and 15% by the Latvian state budget.
