A relocation plan that will set in motion the various relocation movements on the campus will be ready as early as this summer. At that time, it will also be clear when ITC will move to the Spiegel building.
The ITC, which was merged with the UT in 2010, has its own premises at Hengelosestraat. "There is, however, a growing need to be situated closer to the UT colleagues," says Kees van Ast, Board member. "We have examined different scenarios. The Executive Board has decided that the ITC will be housed in the Spiegel building."
International prestige
The Executive Board sees the Spiegel building as the ideal location for the ITC, because it gives the campus a more international character. "It is also a distinct location, which is what the ITC needs. The possibility of a better reception area for visitors and international students at the campus entrance will be assessed. We will also assess the possibility to put up flags of various nationalities."
This will, of course, mean that the current Spiegel residents, such as the Financial and Economic Affairs, Marketing and Communication and Human Resources departments will also have to relocate. Van Ast says that all scenarios are being investigated, but accommodation in one of the buildings surrounding the O&O Plaza is preferred.
New Design Center
The relocation plan will also state that on 1 September 2014 the new to be set up Design Center, an initiative of Professor Vanessa Evers, will temporarily be accommodated in The Gallery, the location that was previously to house the Center of Medical Imaging (CMI).
This Design Center, which involves the Creative Technology and Industrial Design Engineering programmes, will eventually relocate to the Technohal, the building that used to house the ArtEZ institute of arts. "This Technohal requires extensive refurbishment. Hopefully, it does not have to be demolished. The exact work to be done, and the related costs are currently being assessed", says Van Ast. "The Technohal fits in perfectly with the experimental philosophy of the Design Center, which wants to take a new approach to education and research."
Board no longer housed in the Vleugel building
The relocation plan will also state that the Executive Board will move out of the Vleugel building to a building near the O&O Plaza. There is no exact location known yet.
Finally, it will be assessed how all Health sections can be joined. The Technical Medicine, Biomedical Technology and Health Sciences programmes are now spread across the Horst and Carré buildings. Van Ast: "There is also a capacity problem, because the technical medicine programme wants to expand to an intake of 150 students. The labs currently cannot handle this capacity, requiring us to take a critical view of this."
Van Ast says it is "quite an ambition," but also sees a lot of opportunities."The question is: how to achieve our goal? We do not want to relocate the entire campus. That will cost money and energy. So we do not want to maximise a relocation movement, but to minimise it."
