Space needed for CBBC research centre
Seven million budgeted for Linnaeusborg
The instructions for the job will be sent to the contractors this week. They will modify the currently empty laboratories on the ninth floor to meet the demands of the chemists who will be working there.
‘The new lab interiors have to be put in before the end of the year’, says Faculty of Science and Engineering housing manager Andrys Weitenberg. ‘We want everything to be operational by April of next year at the latest.’
The entire renovation, which will take place on the eighth and ninth floor of the Linnaeusborg will be ‘finished sometime next year’, says Weitenberg.
The job will cost almost seven million euros, and the board of directors will pay six million for the renovation costs. The rest of the money will be spent on fume hoods and other interior needs.
Collaboration
The CBBC research centre, which is headed by Nobel Prize winner Ben Feringa, is a collaborative project between the universities of Groningen, Utrecht, and Eindhoven, and several large corporations, including Akso Nobel. It focuses on fundamental chemistry research, mainly aimed at figuring out how the world will have to deal with the increasing demand for resources.
The CBBC was founded in 2016, but is expanding rapidly, which is why it needs more lab space. The Linnaeusborg has that space, but the building’s ventilation system was at maximum capacity.
‘When the Linnaeusborg was first built the system was at maximum capacity almost immediately, says FSE managing director Dick Veldhuis. ‘If we’re renovating and installing new fume hoods, we need extra ventilation capacity.’
Air supply
Almost six million of the renovation costs will be spent on expanding the capacity of the air filter system, the air supply, and the cogeneration.
The other residents at the Linnaeusborg will have to shack up. There are currently 595 people working in the building, but this number will increase to 645 by 2023. Especially the Gelifes biologist will have to make do, as their room will shrink while their employee number will increase. Several of the workshops will move from the eighth to the second floor.