Linnaeusborg closed around Christmas
Work on ventilation channels
Linnaeusborg closed around Christmas
Door Thijs Fens
By Thijs Fens
‘The planned operation will prepare the main air ducts for the expansion of these channels’, says Faculty of Science and Engineering housing manager Andrys Weitenberg.
According to him, the maintenance will make it unsafe for people to be in the building, since the lack of ventilation greatly increases the chance someone inhales something harmful. ‘We can’t take that risk.’
The work is needed to make room for the prestigious Chemical Building Blocks Research Centre (CBBC), which should be finished in April. The CBBC is a collaborative project between the universities in Groningen, Utrecht, and Eindhoven. Big companies such as Akzo Nobel are also involved. The centre will be doing fundamental chemical research to find out how the world should handle the demand for resources.
Quiet
‘We specifically picked the days around Christmas’, says Weitenberg. It’s usually really quiet around that time. ‘If we did it at a later time, a lot of research would get in trouble.’ They’ve already come up with a solution for the people who will be affected by the building closing. ‘We mainly adjusted the planning.’
It’s possible that the Linnaeusborg will have to close again before the CBBC opens in April. Weitenberg currently can’t say much about that since the definitive planning hasn’t yet been completed. It will be finished in early January at the latest. ‘But’, says Weitenberg emphatically, ‘we’ll try to do as much as possible around Christmas, so we don’t have to close again next year.’