Image: © LIAG architecten en bouwadviseurs
The construction will probably be realised in three phases, to take the changing numbers of students into account. The first phase will be completed in 2021. By then, the building will have an area of around 7,500 m². This could increase up to 20,000 m² during the following phases. Besides education rooms, the building will also house offices and restaurants.
The definitive design will be ready by the end of the year, and construction will start in 2019. The construction should take two years. ‘Due to the increasing numbers of students, a new building must be realised by September 2021, and not a moment later’, says Simon Vink, spokesperson for WUR.
Ring road
The new building will replace building 119 (Triton), which currently houses StartHub, on the Vijfde Polder. The location is within the perimeter of the new ring road, about which the Provincial Council will make a decision next year. At the moment, the construction of a new building is in accordance with the development plan. ‘The construction plans are in effect. If the new development plan turns out badly, we will have a problem. We would have to talk with the province about monetary losses caused by changes in urban planning’, Vink adds.