‘Right now, it’s a complete maze. The offices are old, dark, musty, and inefficient’, says Jeroen de Lezenne Coulander with the department of Property and Investments Projects (VGI) at the RUG.
The lecture halls will also be updated, just like the offices. Because of the building plans, several student service desks and departments have had to temporarily move. The renovations will start in June.
The four large lecture halls at the Academy building are currently fairly hard to reach. This will become easier. In addition to the current side entrance past the overhead bridge, a second one will be made.
Emergency exit
There is already a door here, but that serves as more of an emergency exit right now. ‘Students will use this as an entrance sometimes, but it’s not really intended for that’, says project manager Peter van Hoesel. He expects the work to be finished in February.
In the lecture halls, the isolation and ventilation options will be improved. They will also be fitted with new window frames, and the audiovisual facilities will get an upgrade.
This means that faculties that currently use these halls will have to find a new location for their classes in the next semester. They won’t be back in use until mid-November.
Shuffling departments
In the meantime, VGI is shuffling departments and student service desks around. The Central Student Administration, where students can go with questions about registration, tuition, and admission, can be found at the Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat for the foreseeable future.
The Immigration Service Desk (ISD), grant programmes (MSD), and the Admissions Office have been temporarily moved to the Oude Boteringestraat 13, the Studium General building.
The majority of the departments housed in the west wing have been moved to the Public Library’s building. ‘The RUG has owned that building for a while, it’s our emergency location. After the west wing has been renovated, we’ll move groups from the Harmony building into it’, Van Hoessel says.