Progress is being made on the new replacement laboratory building on the Wechloy campus: today, those involved celebrated the topping-out ceremony in the presence of Lower Saxony's Minister of Finance, Gerald Heere. Various working groups will be temporarily housed there from the beginning of 2025.
The new building is necessary in order to be able to carry out urgently needed fire protection refurbishment in the main building in Wechloy. As the affected working groups will not be able to use their rooms during the refurbishment, the new laboratory building will initially serve as temporary accommodation. Initially, it will be used by the Institute of Chemistry and the Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences. Later, it will permanently cover the university's considerable space requirements in the natural sciences.
"The new laboratory building is anything but a run-of-the-mill building," said Cristina von Pozniak-Bierschenk, Head of State Construction Management Region North-West. "We are constructing a new building here that will allow maximum flexibility of use in a confined space."
Climate-friendly building
"On the road to climate neutrality, the state's buildings have a role model function," explained Gerald Heere, the Finance Minister responsible for state construction management. "This means that the construction measures already underway are facing particular challenges. I am therefore all the more pleased that this new building even falls below the requirements of the Building Energy Act by around 17 per cent. The flat roof is equipped with photovoltaic modules, the building's heat supply is provided by district heating from combined heat and power generation, and the ventilation with heat recovery also contributes to energy efficiency."
"The University of Oldenburg is growing," emphasised the President of the University of Oldenburg, Prof. Dr Ralph Bruder. "This new building is important in two respects: as an alternative location, it creates the basis for being able to renovate the main building on the Wechloy campus. In view of the refurbishment backlog, which also affects our university, this is an important step. The building will then provide us with permanent additional space for our outstanding research in the natural sciences."
Flexible use in a compact space
The new building with a floor area of 42 metres by 18 metres will have three floors. There will be a total of seven laboratories with floor areas of between 40 and 134 square metres, as well as sculleries, storage and office space. The foyer on the ground floor will serve as a distribution centre as well as an information and communication area. The replacement laboratory building is characterised in particular by its maximum flexibility of use in a compact space. The new building is currently scheduled for completion at the end of 2024 and will cost around 14 million euros.
