UG to construct Feringa Building with Ballast Nedam

The architectural tendering procedure for the construction of the new Feringa Building of the University of Groningen is complete: contractor Ballast Nedam from Nieuwegein will construct the impressive building for technical science teaching and research at Zernike Campus. On 6 March 2019 this collaboration will be signed. The Feringa building will be the successor to the almost 50-year-old ‘Nijenborgh 4’, in which a part of the Faculty of Science and Engineering is located. Construction is expected to start in the summer of 2019.

Home to Nobel Prize winners

The building is named after Chemistry Professor Ben Feringa, who conducted his Nobel Prizewinning research (2016) in Nijenborgh 4. With the Feringa Building 'home to Nobel Prize winners', the UG pursues its ambitions to contribute to important international research areas, such as chemical engineering, (nano)technology, material research and astronomy.

Labs, clean rooms, classrooms and installations

This will be the Faculty of Science and Engineering’s third new building, after the Bernoulliborg and the Linnaeusborg. It will replace Nijenborgh 4. With around three kilometres of laboratory tables, the new building will accommodate an average of 1,400 students and 850 staff members. Alongside offices and lecture theatres, the building will also contain a wide range of special laboratories, such as physics, biochemical and anti-vibration labs. The building will comprise three connected V-shaped wings.
Besides the completion of the tender for the construction contractor, the tendering procedures for installations and specialized facilities such as labs and clean rooms are still ongoing.

Construction schedule

The construction of the new building of around 64,000 m² GFA will proceed in phases. Over the past few months, the area at Zernike Campus has been made ready for development. The first phase of construction will start this summer. This is expected to be completed in mid-2021. When the first Faculty of Science and Engineering research groups have moved into the new Feringa Building after Phase 1, the sections 17 and 18 of Nijenborgh 4 will be demolished to make space for Phase 2. This will start at the beginning of 2022, to be completed in the summer of 2023.