Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Gretel-Furler Daycare Center in Oberkirch

A groundbreaking ceremony kicked off construction work on the new Gretel-Furler daycare center in Oberkirch. The Koehler Group is building the new facility in order to create additional avenues for people to have a healthy work–life balance. The result is a total of 100 new daycare spots, of which 60 will be for children of employees and 40 will be public daycare spots. The daycare center is slated to be in operation during the 2025/2026 kindergarten year, and will be run by Konzept-e.

The groundbreaking ceremony at the premises where the new Gretel-Furler daycare center will be located was attended by Oberkirch Mayor Gregor Bühler, external project partners, and members of the Koehler Group and Konzept-e project team, among others. Koehler Group CFO Frank Lendowski had the fol-lowing to say: “Today, we are celebrating a new milestone in the history of the Koehler Group. I’m tremendously proud of the fact that we are providing young families with good prospects and helping them so that they don’t have to worry about emergencies where they can’t find someone to look after their kids.”

 

Gretel-Furler daycare center makes Koehler Group an even more attractive employer

 

The new daycare center will offer spots for toddlers who are six months to three years old, as well as spots for older children. The daycare center should be in operation during the 2025/2026 kindergarten year and will be offering “extended hours” and “all-day” options. In order to properly accommodate parents’ working hours and truly provide for a good work–life balance, the center will be open from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and will not be closed more than 12 days per year.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that the Koehler Group has found an extremely experienced and dependable partner for running the daycare center in the form of Konzept-e. All educational activities at the daycare center and during vacation childcare will be based on element-i pedagogical practices, in which children are nurtured and helped to develop in a personalized manner based on their interests. Rates will be the same for all families and identical to those charged by the town of Oberkirch, plus a standard meal/snack fee. This fee will be used to follow guidelines for a healthy diet for children and prepare fresh food at the daycare center on a daily basis, ensuring that all children at the center will be properly nourished throughout the day.

Until the new Gretel-Furler daycare center building is ready for use during the 2025/2026 kindergarten year, employees can continue to use an existing daycare center. Then, as soon as construction work is done, these children will be able to start going to the new daycare center in Oberkirch, right next to the company’s headquarters.