Nijenborgh 4 will not be demolished but renovated

The parts of Nijenborgh 4 that are not needed for the Feringa Building will not be demolished after all. Instead, the UG wants to ‘transform’ them. The search for an architect has already begun.

It’s been clear for a long time that the Faculty of Science of Engineering (FSE) would lack space even after the completion of the Feringa Building. However, the university was still discussing where that extra space was to come from. New construction was being considered, but a good location near the other FSE buildings has been hard to find. Moreover, it is an expensive option.

There were also objections to maintaining Nijenborgh 4. The building is now almost sixty years old and suffers from problems related to asbestos and poor insulation.

Cheap and sustainable

‘That’s why we opted for a transformation of Nijenborgh 4′, says Peter Timmerman, who chaired the vision and strategy working group within the FSE Builds 2040 programme. ‘We think this is both the cheapest and the most sustainable option.’

He is aware of the financial distress the university is in, yet investing in the future is necessary, he says. ‘The working group was about where we want to be in 2040 and we believe that the future for the university – including revenue – lies largely in collaboration with the region, with companies, other knowledge institutions, and research partners.’

The new Nijenborgh 4 should therefore, on the one hand, provide space for activities that do not fit in the Feringa Building. ‘Think of the technical workshop for building instruments that is also currently located in Nijenborgh’, says Timmerman. ‘That alone involves a thousand square metres.’

Educational facilities

In addition, the working group looked to the future. After all, the faculty is increasingly profiling itself as a technical university and as such is also going to participate in the Beethoven project to train students for the semiconductor industry. ‘But we have a real shortage of technical teaching facilities and there is also much more engineering staff than when the Feringa Building was planned’, says Timmerman.

For example, the faculty needs tall halls where engineers can build large research set-ups and prototypes, as well as maker spaces and innovation labs for students.

Finally, there is a need for places where research alliances and fledgling start-ups based on UG research can find accommodation, where cooperation with parties from industry can take place, or where hybrid research groups can be set up, as is already happening in Emmen. ‘Think also, for example, of spaces with 3D printers and for prototyping.’

Flexible approach

Timmerman stresses that they sought a maximum flexibility approach that would allow for the university to quickly respond to changes. Furthermore, the intention is that students and scientists from other faculties can also use the building.

‘In phase one, which involves tackling building 5113, it’s really about the things that are needed in the short term, particularly in the field of education’, Timmerman explains. ‘That involves our own needs, but also of other faculties at Zernike that need more teaching spaces.’

The second phase, with spaces more focused on research, collaboration and valorisation, is more about what the faculty and university need in the future. ‘Doing things in stages has great advantages. It gives us time to find financial resources, but also to carefully figure out exactly how much space will be needed later. After all, all sorts of things are moving politically.’

The building should also become maximally reconfigurable and future-proof. ‘So that spaces currently reserved for education can be used for something else in the future, or vice versa’, says Timmerman.

Less complex

Technical problems, such as those the Feringa Building is currently facing, are not expected. ‘Of course we learned a lot from the process of the Feringa Building as a faculty, but so has the Real Estate Organisation’, says portfolio manager Esther Marije Klop. ‘But the new Nijenborgh 4 building will also be much less challenging in terms of technical installation, and as a building it will be smaller and therefore less complex.’

The UG is looking for an architect willing to design both phases so that the plans fit together well. The start of the refurbishment of building 5113 should begin in the third quarter of 2026.

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