In the new building W03A, new offices and laboratories for the natural sciences and medicine are being built on an area of 300 square metres.
The shell of the university's building W03A on the Wechloy campus has been completed and the topping-out ceremony was celebrated today. Mayor Jürgen Krogmann was among the guests from the city and region. In the extension to building W03, new laboratories and offices for research and teaching in School V - School of Mathematics and Health Sciences and School VI - School of Medicine and Health Sciences are being built on around 300 square metres of floor space. Laboratories from the 1980s will also be renovated and fire protection measures implemented in neighbouring areas of building W03. In total, a usable area of 2,000 square metres is affected by the construction work.
"The university is not resting on its laurels, but is constantly evolving in order to be well positioned for the future. Here at the Wechloy site in particular, impressive buildings for research and teaching have been built in recent years, which underline the growing importance of Oldenburg University," said Mayor Jürgen Krogmann, looking at the shell of the building.
"Successes in research, more medical study places, the constantly increasing number of students - all signs point to growth at this university. We need more space for this. This extension is a small but very significant step in the right direction," explained University President Prof Dr Dr Hans Michael Piper.
Extensive remodelling measures
The "Marine Geochemistry" bridge group of the Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM) and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology headed by Prof Dr Thorsten Dittmar will move into the rooms on the ground floor. New laboratories for the Institute of Chemistry will be built on the first floor, while the first floor will house new medical laboratories.
The university is covering the construction costs for the extension, totalling around 5.4 million euros, from its own funds, plus costs for new laboratory equipment of around 300,000 euros. Construction work began in November 2018 and the building is due to be completed in May 2020. The client is the State Construction Management Ems-Weser.
In addition, further construction work is currently taking place on the Wechloy campus while teaching and research operations continue. Technology is being replaced in all buildings and fire protection is being brought up to date. One building is being fitted with a larger refrigeration system, while elsewhere laboratories and the wood workshops are being remodelled.
