A few suggestions
Where will the
new building go?
FORMER SUIKERUNIE LOCATION
Most students know the former Suikerunie location from parties and the Paradigm festivals. It also houses businesses like EM2 and the Wolkenfabriek. Others might know it from the many creative businesses located between the old factory and the former drain fields.
The only problem is that the city already has plans for this location. The area will be renamed De Suikerzijde and its 130 hectares will become a new part of the city with a ‘city centre atmosphere’. It will be accessible by public transport and might even get its own train station, according to the municipal plans. The area will consist of thousands of homes, store fronts, restaurants, and educational spaces. Could this include the new UG building?
Advantages:
- Lots of space
- A new station would make it perfectly accessible
Drawbacks:
- Pretty far outside the city centre
FORMER HOLLAND CASINO
The Gedempte Kattendiep once housed the largest Holland Casino in the north of the Netherlands, until it burned down in 2017. Now it’s just a big hole. The city is using it to store building materials for a bridge between the Kattendiep and the Schuitendiep. But after that? Would the UG perhaps be able to use it?
Advantages:
- Great location just outside the city centre
- It’s basically empty
Drawbacks:
- Not a lot of room for bikes, so there’s a good chance that’ll be a mess
- To house all the students of the city centre faculties, the UG would have to build a whole tower
OOSTERPOORT
The city’s cultural and music centre will move to a new building to the south of the main train station in 2030. You know, that place that’s currently a big construction site. The question remains who will be taking over the building at the Trompsingel. It currently still houses the Noord Nederlands Orkest and Noorderslag. Could it benefit students?
Advantages:
- A stone’s throw away from the main train station and just outside the canals
- Already has room for thousands of visitors
Drawbacks:
- The current building doesn’t cover a thousand square metres, so you’d have to demolish it and build something higher
- It’s right next to a fairly busy road
BAT NIEMEYER
Tobacco manufacturer British American Tobacco – Niemeyer will close its factory at the Paterswoldseweg in 2022. With fewer Europeans who smoke, the factory in Groningen isn’t very cost-effective anymore. And so the tobacco smell at the Paterswoldseweg will soon become a thing of the past. It could be a potential new site for an educational building.
Advantages:
- Large property
- The factory building has a nice, industrial look
Drawbacks:
- Outside the city centre
- The train tracks right next to the building would be noisy
OLD V&D BUILDING
At the corner of the Grote Markt and the Oude Ebbingestraat stands the building that once held iconic department store V&D. The four-storey building has been used for a few temporary businesses, but it’s currently empty. The city has plans for a new ‘business centre’, but it could also work as a new educational building.
Advantages:
- Smack dab in the city centre
- Close to the Forum, where students can park their bikes in the large storage facility
Drawbacks:
- Work on ‘Het Grote Handelshuis’, scheduled to open in 2022, has already started
- The building looks big, but will it be enough?
HARMONIE BUILDING
The current Harmonie building may be outdated and in need of some renovation, but at least it’s an existing university location. Why not raze the building and put up a brand new campus?
Advantages:
- Great location in the city centre
- Reusing an existing UG location
Drawbacks:
- Renovating or demolishing the building would mean moving thousands of students elsewhere in the meantime
- The Harmonie building already has trouble housing all the bikes. It couldn’t handle any more