The construction of the Feringa Building has been delayed once again. Classes in the hyper modern new building were supposed to start in September, but this is no longer feasible.
It’s unclear what has caused the delay. In an email to the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) staff, vice dean Rob Timmermans describes an ‘unexpected force majeure situation’.
Risks
According to UG spokesperson Elies Kouwenhoven, the university thinks there are currently ‘too many risks’ to start planning classes. The planning needs to be made beforehand, but certain elements of the building, such as emergency exits, aren’t finished yet.
According to Kouwenhoven, it’s uncertain whether they will be before the start of the new semester. In order to schedule classes, the university has to be sure that all rooms can be used. ‘Unfortunately, that currently isn’t the case.’
Delay upon delay
The Feringa Building, which at 200 million euros is the UG’s most expensive property ever, has suffered construction delays before. It was supposed to be finished in 2021, but delay upon delay prevented this.
Last March, the scheduled move of several departments was cancelled due to ‘unforeseen final touches’ needed in the laboratories.
While the departments’ move was postponed to March 2024, the building was supposed to open normally on July 1 of this year. The plan was that classes could start in September.
Rent
Because of the severe lack of room at the FSE facilities, the faculty has been renting the U Building from the Hanze University of Applied Sciences the past year. The completion of the Feringa Building was supposed to at least partially solve this problem, but now the faculty is forced to extend the rental period.
It’s already certain there will be no classes in the new building during block 1A, which runs from September 4 to October 27. Whether the situation will change in time for block 1B, which starts on November 13, remains to be seen.