Logbook
This logbook gives you an overview of events so far (since August 2012).
You can also see an overview of more news here.
May 2022
Because of the earthquake threat around Groningen, it was decided to provide the large span over the atrium with an air cushion roof (1,000 m2): a steel construction of trusses in which foils are fixed, which are inflated by compressors. This is not only a lightweight construction, but it also has very good insulating properties. The middle two layers of foil can be regulated with air pressure. If they are apart, they let light through. If they are on top of each other, they act as light barriers. This special air cushion roof will make you feel as if you are walking outdoor in the atrium.
December 2021
The first large façade panels are applied. On each floor, the large windows are separated by a wide strip of so-called 'wybert' slates. These are diamond-shaped aluminium panels that together form a scaly pattern in various shades of grey.
May 2021
The final lot in the tenders, the construction of the Cleanrooms is awarded to Kelvin Reinraumsysteme GmbH from Germany. In Phase 1 there will be about 500 m2 of cleanrooms for the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials and the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry. In construction phase 2, the SRON Institute for Space Research will have some 150 m2 of cleanroom space.
April 2021
With a 'topping off ceremony' a special moment is marked: the reaching of the final height of the new building. In this long-standing tradition of construction workers, an evergreen tree is hoisted up.
September 2020
Laboratory designer Wesemann comes on board and Feringa Building rises above ground: the first steel structures and constructional walls of the new building are clearly visible. The German company Wesemann was awarded the furnishing of the laboratories, a major part in the completion phase of the building.
February 2020
On 12 February 2020, President of the Board of the University of Groningen, Jouke de Vries, and representatives of installation company De Groot-Lammerink Installatiecombinatie B.V., Erik Lammerink and Harry Drenth, signed the contract for the technical installation work to be carried out on the new Feringa Building.
September 2019
Ben Feringa himself attended the celebrations to mark the start of the first building phase of the Feringa Building at the University of Groningen (UG) on Wednesday 18 September. ‘A historic moment. September 1969 I entered this University as a Chemistry student. Fifty years later I am very honoured to kick off the construction of a new Faculty building named after me’, said a very proud Professor Ben Feringa.
July 2019
You can follow the building work online via a webcam on the building site.
March 2019
On Wednesday 6 March 2019, Vice Chair of the Board of the University, Jan de Jeu, and Chair of the Executive Board of Ballast Nedam, Cenk Düzyol, signed the contract for the construction of the Feringa Building.
July 2017
University of Groningen withdraws call for tenders for Feringa Building.
The Board of the University of Groningen has decided to stop seeking a contractor for the new Feringa Building on the Zernike Campus. Continuation of the procedure will lead to too large a gap between the project budget and the sums which contractors are expected to bid. This is the conclusion reached by the UG. The result is that the plan must be significantly modified, and a new procurement effort will have to be launched.
November 2016
During the Faculty’s Nobel Prize reception on Friday 18 November 2016, the Faculty Board was happy to announce that the new building, so far known as Zernikeborg, will be renamed Feringa Building.
As the University is now honoured with two Nobel Laureates, the Faculty Board thought it only fitting that the new building will be named after our recent Nobel Laureate Ben Feringa. The Board of the University agreed with the Faculty Board’s request. A lot of locations on the Zernike Campus are already named after Frits Zernike, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953, and the unique opportunity to name a new building for science research and education does not arise often. For a good understanding amongst international visitors and students, the new name does not contain ‘borg’ but ‘building’.
December 2015
The Final Design of the new building is ready. The building will be used for high-quality fundamental and applied research, serving as a base for top-class institutes such as the Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen, the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, the Van Swinderen Institute, the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute and SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research.
January 2015
On 6 January 2015 'Little Zernikeborg' has been officially opened by Dick Veldhuis (Managing Director, FMNS) and Rien van Uitert (Projectleader Zernikeborg). In Little Zernikeborg you find the design and building team working on the realisation of big Zernikeborg.
October 2014
To ensure that the laboratories in the New Zernikeborg are equipped as functionally, safely and flexibly as possible, the University has called on the expertise of lab specialists dr. Heinekamp.
September 2014
On Tuesday 2 September 2014 the building name Zernikeborg is officially transferred to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. CIT director Tjeerd Willem Hobma symbolically handed over the Zernikeborg to Dick Veldhuis, Faculty Director of FMNS.
May 2014
Architect Joost Ector reveals a possible Structure Design of the New Building Zernikeborg to the staff members of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
May 2014
Jan de Jeu signs contracts with the partners of the Design Team. Here you see Max Pape, director of Ector Hoogstad Architecten.
March 2014
We are proud to announce that the new building will be called Zernikeborg, after Nobel Prize Winner Frits Zernike.
January 2014
The Board of the University approves the Programme of Requirements.
December 2013
The Design Team presents itself to all staff members of Nijenborgh 4.
November 2013
The Design Team visits Nijenborgh 4 and the Linnaeusborg. They are shown around by Petra Rudolf (Zernike Institute), Wim Kruizenga (Stratingh Institute) and Gerald Jonker (Industrial Engineering & Management Science).
November 2013
The Design Team is selected. The following consultancies will advise us on the design of the new NB4:
- StevensvanDijck (Project Management)
- Ector Hoogstad Architecten (Architect)
- ARCADIS (M&E Installations)
- ABT & Wassenaar (Structure)
- DGMR (Building Physics and Acoustics)
September 2013
Ector Hoogstad Architecten selected to design new Nijenborgh 4.
May 2013
ARCADIS starts drawing up the Programme of Requirements . This document describes the functional, spatial and technical requirements of the new building.
August 2012
Business Case presented by Aronsohn Management.
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| Last modified: | 07 March 2023 10.52 a.m. |