HvA to pull out of major real-estate project
The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) is expected to decide not to go ahead with the so-called ‘Conradhuis’ building. More than four years ago, the university made public its plans to build new accommodation for the Faculty of Technology on the corner of the Mauritskade and the Wibautstraat on the university’s Amstel Campus. Now, however, the project — worth an estimated 85 million euros — seems to be too much of a burden on the university’s tightened budget.
The HvA uses only 40 per cent of available space while other universities of applied sciences use 60 per cent, the Board of Directors recently published in a memo to students and employees. If the university could make better use of all available classrooms, it continued, it wouldn’t be necessary to build the Conradhuis after all. Tens of millions of euros could be invested in research and education activities instead.
On receiving the consent of the CMR, the elected Participation Council representing students and employees, the university can now begin proceedings to pull out of one of its most ambitious real estate projects ever.
Technology
Four years ago the HvA first drafted plans for the project, designed to accommodate a growing technology faculty and billed to be the most beautiful and sustainable of all Dutch universities of applied sciences. Architects won prizes for their designs and construction was expected to begin early 2014. In reality, construction has been postponed indefinitely in response to a significant decrease in the number of students enrolled at the HvA.
The Faculty of Technology is instead expected to move to the Fraijlemaborg, a HvA building in the south east of Amsterdam. The Faculty of Business and Economy is expected to move to the Amstel Campus. The Board of Directors will appoint a special committee to draft a relocation plan and is expected to take its final decision before the end of the year.
Preparatory costs for the construction of the Conradhuis has already accumulated to an estimated 10 million euros. ‘It doesn’t matter if we pursue the project or not: we’ve lost that money anyway,’ CMR chairman Pieter Claeys says.
