COLUMN. The plans for the new buildings at and around the Medicinareberget campus are becoming ever more concrete, as work to bring together life sciences at the university continues. In this column, deputy dean Eric Hanse will give us some insight into the work being done to coordinate the new premises required by the university and the development of our campus.
Our need for new premises, both for training and for research, should come as no surprise. After all, we are in the middle of a busy phase of expansion, our student accommodation is old-fashioned, our lecture theaters are not compatible with current teaching methods, and we are outgrowing our animal facilities. We are also going to need to leave a large number of premises in which we currently go about our daily business. No firm decision has been made on where exactly we will be building yet, but we are gradually getting closer to that point.
Conditions are set to become much better for Life sciences once they have joined forces at Medicinareberget. The University’s board decided that this was the target to aim for a year ago, but this was backed up recently by our own faculty board’s statement of intent for future building projects, which was sent to the Vice-Chancellor. In this statement, we explained that education and research go hand in hand and should not be separated, and that we should utilize new areas more effectively in order to neutralize costs. We would like to bring together the best translational research in the same buildings to create closer ties with Sahlgrenska University Hospital, around and across Per Dubbsgatan. Our statement of intent also points out several operational areas to work on before we move into the buildings which will potentially be built through the major “Sahlgrenska Life” project.
Conditions are set to become much better for Life sciences
There is a lot to consider given the situation we find ourselves in at present – we are testing different ideas and looking at our options. Work is currently ongoing to develop supporting documentation for the University’s pilot study for Sahlgrenska Life, with the report from this pilot study to be presented during fall.
The investments in the future of Medicinareberget are about more than just Sahlgrenska Life, however. The University is currently approving a completely new campus plan that will provide us with a long-term view of the options we have with regard to developing the Medicinareberget campus. The campus plan is focused on shortening distances and condensing our buildings. It has been devised with the period up until 2040 in mind, and was drawn up by the department for strategic property development in consultation with our faculty.
The first new building in the pipeline is expected to be constructed on Medicinareberget’s eastern hillside, adjacent to Medicinarelängan. This project is being instigated by the Faculty of Science, the home faculty for the three institutions specializing in life sciences that are going to co-locate at Medicinareberget.
We see it as more of a collective project
The pilot study for this planned building work has just finished – please do come along to one of the two information events taking place soon to find out more. Although, officially speaking, it is Natfak behind the pilot study, we see it as more of a collective project. After all, it is the first step toward bringing together Life Sciences here on the hill, which will create exciting opportunities for the Sahlgrenska Academy, for example boosting research collaboration and creating new shared teaching facilities. The pilot study will also make it possible to speed up other expansion work, e.g. the creation of more space for our animal facilities. I will keep you up-to-date on the work as it progresses.
I think we all share the same view, that this is a very positive development for the Sahlgrenska Academy; at the same time though, we also realize that a construction project on this scale, so close to Medicinarlängan and the animal facilities, is going to cause a large amount of disruption over the coming years. I personally am convinced though that we will find solutions that ensure that our day-to-day research and teaching work is disrupted as little as possible. With regard to our incredibly important and yet also very sensitive animal facilities, for example, we are keen to draw on the experiences of the Karolinska Institutet. With that in mind, a delegation from Gothenburg will soon be taking a field trip to the Institute’s Solna campus, where research was able to continue even though all their animal facilities were affected by the construction work in some way.
We will find solutions that ensure that our day-to-day research
I know that many people have questions they would like to ask about the building plans. That is why we are now setting up a box specifically for your questions; we will endeavor to respond to all of these, regardless of the nature of the question. We have answers to some questions already, but others will require more consideration, in which case we ask for your patience before we get back to you. Some of the questions and answers will be put together to create a general database of questions, to which everyone will have access. Please email your questions about the future of our campus to medicinareberget@gu.se.
We have a plan for the work to develop Medicinareberget going forward, and will keep you up-to-date as the plan progresses. Ongoing reports in Akademiliv aside, we will also make sure that information can be distributed at departmental level.
This column forms part of the plan to provide information about future development at the Medicinareberget campus:
- Two information meetings on May 11 and May 17
- Article about how the University’s current Sahlgrenska Life work is structured
- Article about the work carried out during the pilot study for Sahlgrenska Life. Interview with project manager Andreas Eklöf.
- Presentation of the new campus plan for Medicinareberget
- Report from KI detailing their experiences during construction work affecting the animal facilities there.
- Article about the “Färdighetscentrum” (skills center) – interview with Anna Nilsdotter and Lena Oxelmark.
