An important milestone on the path to expanding University Medicine Oldenburg: on Thursday 28 July, the State of Lower Saxony and the City of Oldenburg had the purchase agreement for a 22,565-square-metre plot of land in the Oldenburg Technology Park notarised. The state is paying the city around 4.5 million euros for the site. Laboratory, teaching and office buildings for the University Medical Centre are to be built on the site, in the immediate vicinity of the Wechloy and Haarentor campuses. Three construction phases are planned, with a total usable floor area of around 12,400 square metres.
Lower Saxony’s Finance Minister Reinhold Hilbers, together with Science Minister Björn Thümler and representatives from the city and the university, outlined the current status of the project during an on-site visit to the Technology Park. “The purchase of this site lays the foundation for the further development and expansion of University Medicine Oldenburg,” said Finance Minister Hilbers, who is also responsible for the state’s property portfolio and building projects in Lower Saxony. “We are investing a substantial sum of money here. In doing so, the state is also assuming financial responsibility and contributing to the long-term development of the local University Medicine Oldenburg and the city of Oldenburg. That would actually be a win-win-win situation,” said Hilbers with a wink, referring to the benefits for the local University Medicine Oldenburg, for the city of Oldenburg and also for the state as a centre of science.
“I am delighted about this important step towards the expansion of University Medicine Oldenburg. The expansion of the European Medical School is of outstanding importance for the further development of medical training in Lower Saxony and for medical care in the north-west,” emphasised Science Minister Björn Thümler. “In Oldenburg, we have succeeded in establishing an innovative and strong third training centre in the state within a short space of time. It is our responsibility to ensure the best possible study conditions for students here. This applies both to the recruitment of teaching staff and researchers and to the provision of teaching and learning spaces. The completion of the office and research building, including the anatomy teaching facilities in the first construction phase, lays a crucial foundation.”
The site is located right next to the building currently under construction for the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB), an institutional co-operation between the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven – Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research – and the university.
Delight for the city and the University of
The city had already set aside the site on the street ‘Im Technologiepark’ since 2018 as a potential site for the development of the university medical centre. “I am very pleased that this foresight is now paying off and that the plans can finally become a reality,” said Lord Mayor Jürgen Krogmann. He thanked all stakeholders from the business and political spheres who have shown great commitment to the expansion of the university medical centre. “Without this tremendous unity in the region, we would still not have got this far today,” Krogmann is convinced. “By selling this high-quality plot of land, the city of Oldenburg is fulfilling its role as a regional centre: Medical care in the vast state of Lower Saxony will also be secured in the long term by the students of the European Medical School,” added Dr Julia Figura, Head of the Finance Department, who represented the Lord Mayor on Thursday during the site visit following the signing of the deed.
Prof. Dr Hans Gerd Nothwang, Dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Oldenburg, emphasised: “We are very grateful to the city of Oldenburg for its ongoing support of University Medicine Oldenburg. Reserving a plot of land for the urgently needed new building is just one important example of this commitment. We will continue to need this support in future so that we can develop appropriately as the third university medical centre in Lower Saxony – for the benefit of patients.”
Planning in detail
The planning contract for the first construction phase on the site in the Technology Park has already been awarded. On a total area of around 4,000 square metres, the focus will be on creating laboratory and office space, as well as teaching facilities for anatomy. According to the current plans, the total cost amounts to around 61.5 million euros, and the necessary funding is in place. Construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2024.
In the second phase of construction, laboratories and offices for medical research are to be built on a usable floor area of around 3,500 square metres. A teaching building (with a usable floor area of around 4,900 square metres) is planned for the third phase of construction. This will house lecture theatres, seminar rooms and practical training rooms.
The planning is based on a report by the Institute for Higher Education Development, which has quantified the space requirements for research and teaching as part of the expansion of University Medicine Oldenburg. As early as the 2017 coalition agreement, the state government had agreed to create new places for medical students – the majority of which would be in Oldenburg. In November 2021, the decision was taken to increase the current 80 places by 40 from the 2022/23 winter semester onwards.
