Major renovation and maintenance at Drift 21, 23 and 25
Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 will renovate the buildings at Drift 21, 23 and 25. The work includes maintenance and significant improvements to the buildings, including improvements to the indoor climate, accessibility and sustainability. The buildings will be closed during the works. Other locations will be sought for teaching and offices.
Work in Drift 21
In Drift 21, new climate control installations and the electrics, lighting, data and AV installation will be replaced. The toilet groups will be expanded and a disabled toilet will be installed on the ground floor. The first floor will be made accessible for people with physical disabilities. There will be more space for meetings and community formation at the new entrance near the lecture hall. The exterior and interior of the building will be completely painted, the windows will be fitted with vacuum glazing and the roofs and facades will be insulated wherever possible.
Work at Drift 23 and 25
Maintenance at Drift 23 and 25 consists of interior and exterior painting. They are replacing the flooring in the teaching rooms and replacing all AV facilities. The air conditioning will also be maintained and adjustments made to improve air quality. Furthermore, top cooling will be installed which will provide more comfort in the building.
The buildings are also being made more sustainable. All fluorescent lighting will be replaced by LED lighting. This new LED lighting will be presence-controlled, and the light strength will be automatically adjusted to the light coming from outside. The brightness will also remain manually adjustable. The single-glazing will be replaced by vacuum glazing, and the windows will be fitted with new heat-resistant blinds on the inside. New motors that consume much less energy than the old motors will be installed in the air treatment system.
Buildings closed
The properties on the Drift will be closed during the works. Drift 23 is closed from today and available again from September 2024. From semester two of academic year 24/25, Drift 21, 23 and 25 will be closed, Drift 25 and (parts of) Drift 23 will be available again from the start of academic year 25/26. Drift 21 cannot be reoccupied until September 2026 at the earliest. Teaching and offices will move to another location. The study associations that are present will temporarily move to Kromme Nieuwegracht 80. During the upcoming summer, various preparatory works are already being carried out at Drift 21 that will not affect the use of the building during semester one.
By closing the buildings only from semester two (blocks 3 and 4), the premises remain available during the busiest period of the college year (blocks 1 and 2). It is important to note that the exact details of the alternative locations for teaching and research are not yet known, but will become clear in the coming period.
Downtown sliding puzzle
Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 has developed a real estate strategy to ensure that its buildings provide maximum sustainable support for research and education in the long term. This maintains the principle of housing the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance and the Faculty of Humanities in the city centre.
This also means that a lot of necessary maintenance will be carried out on various buildings of the Humanities faculty in the coming years. Not only the buildings on the Drift but also the Transcomplex, the Academy Building and Janskerkhof 13-13a are scheduled for renovation. This means that the faculty will face a complex sliding puzzle of available locations for teaching, research and office work.
The Property & Campus and Facility Service Centre directorates are working with the faculty on an integrated plan for future-proof housing for the Humanities faculty. This focuses on the complex sliding puzzle and the final picture we are working towards together.