GENERAL ACADEMY MEETING. Within the Faculty of Science, there are clear desires to be a part of the life sciences environment that is going to be developed at Medicinareberget. That was what Staffan Edén said at the general academy meeting on the future of Medicinareberget.
About a hundred colleagues came to the general academic meeting, at which Vice Chancellor Staffan Edén gave a presentation on the project’s current status.
“In our region, there is a strong consensus that we need to continue to build on our current strengths and to create synergies between health care and the academy in order to keep up with the changes we see, for example in the pharmaceutical industry,” Staffan Edén said, and added:
“We now have an opportunity to create the best possible conditions for translational research.”
The inspiration for the project comes from several other new constructions in Sweden, the Nordic Area and Europe. Staffan Edén particularly pointed out the Oslo Cancer Cluster, which has succeeded in creating the triple helix of the academy, health care and industry, which is what the project at Medicinareberget is striving to achieve.
“I think we have the chance to create even greater added value here in Gothenburg. It is clear that we are working on a joint project here, in which all of the buildings which will be built will be created together for a common purpose.”
Natfak (Faculty of Science) and maybe Chalmers are in…
Since Staffan Edén took over the management of the project, he has devoted a great deal of time to meeting with various parties that have an interest in the project, and several research groups and units within Natfak are now sending increasingly clear signals that they would like to move closer to Medicinareberget and Sahlgrenska Life.
“Chalmers is also now developing its campus areas and is examining its location. There are several groups and units at Chalmers that would like to work closely with Sahlgrenska Life and maybe move into the new environment for life sciences, but primarily it is units from Natfak that want to move to Medicinareberget,” Staffan Edén said.
He mentioned activities in chemistry, biology, biotechnology and bioinformatics as possible future candidates for moving into the new Sahlgrenska area.
Even the Swedish Public Dental Service and the Institute of Odontology may now be more involved in the plans for the development at Medicinareberget, since Higab has canceled the lease of the Swedish Public Dental Service in Odontologen. The Institute of Odontology sublets its premises from the Swedish Public Dental Service and may therefore be interested in a new solution for its location. The lease is being terminated because Higab wants to focus on leasing to smaller companies and organizations.
…but not Samfak (Faculty of Social Sciences)
Closer examination has shown that, for technical reasons, it is too difficult to build on the steep northern side of Medicinareberget. Samfak is continuing to work on its own project for the development of Campus Linné, in collaboration with the University’s Strategic Real Estate Planner, Mårten Tiselius.
It thus appears that Medicinareberget’s future will be created in several subprojects, in which Sahlgrenska Academy, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Region Västra Götaland will carry out the joint project, Sahlgrenska Life. Odontology and the Swedish Public Dental Service may end up carrying out their own subproject for their locations. A third subproject will be the University’s collaboration with Chalmers to create a concentration of life sciences at Medicinareberget.
Sahlgrenska University Hospital is in acute need of new premises for its laboratory activities, its operations and its emergency department, and is therefore working on the subproject that is now called Sahlgrenska Life. As early as after this summer, Gothenburg University will need to sign a letter of intent that can serve as the starting gun for the continuation of project planning.
The jury has now selected the winning submission from among the five architectural proposals that competed for the commission of designing Sahlgrenska Life. The winning constellation will be presented later this week. The competition does not mean that the appearance of the buildings has been decided upon, but it determines which architects will work on the project.
Attractive to move
Jonas Nilsson, Professor of Experimental Cancer Surgery, participated in one of the groups which worked the project. He was one of those in the audience who spoke at the meeting,
“Sometimes I meet colleagues who do not believe that there will be any building. What clear indication is there that the buildings will be built which I can use when I encounter such skepticism?”
Staffan Edén stated that the University does not build and does not own any of its premises but is instead only a tenant, and that the decisional process is complicated,
“The first step in the decisional process is a memorandum of understanding for the construction, which we expect to be completed after the summer and which will be the start signal for the planning phase. Then the real estate professionals will take over and the city will begin the detailed plans for roads and buildings.”
Håkan Billig wondered about the goal of the project, and how the organization of the institutes will be affected.
“When the research groups are able to move that will have effects on how we organize ourselves, both as relates to subject areas and as relates to the institutes. What is your goal – what will it look like in 15 years?”
Vice Dean Eric Hanse, who was the sole representative of the faculty administration since Olle Larkö was ill, replied that an inventory and a discussion was going on, and that the administration did not believe that the organization would need to be changed to any great extent.
“We want to create an attractive environment which the research groups will gladly come to and we will not force anyone to move. We have a number of activities that would fit naturally into a building such as we are discussing, including a number of educational centers that are currently divided among several institutes.”
Anders Jeppsson, Professor of Thoracic Surgery, posed the burning question of how much all of this will actually cost:
“We have a current example of a newly-built research building where the rent has become unreasonably high, namely the R-building in Mölndal. How will you ensure that the costs are not imposed on the individual research groups?”
“You raise an important question: is it worth the price?” Eric Hanse said, and continued:
“Modern research premises are not free and I believe that we must expect that external financing will also be needed to contribute to the cost of the premises.
Staffan Edén added:
“It is also a matter of seeing which costs we can reduce. We have major opportunities to make area usage more efficient by building better and smarter. That is where the building contractors have previously succeeded well. If we look at the Oslo Cancer Cluster, for example, they have decent rents for their modern premises.”
