UvA aims to relocate Maagdenhuis staff in the first quarter of 2027
The relocation of UvA departments from the Maagdenhuis to the Roeterseiland Campus is scheduled to take place in the first quarter of next year. This is the target outlined by the university in its “preferred scenario” for the reorganisation. According to the plans, a large proportion of staff will be housed in the J/K building.
If it is up to the University of Amsterdam, the relocation plans for staff currently housed in the Maagdenhuis, announced in January, will be carried out during the first months of 2027. On Thursday afternoon, the university presented an initial plan for the spatial reorganisation: the so-called “preferred scenario”. The plan outlines where various departments are expected to relocate. The plan is to sell the Maagdenhuis once all the departments have moved out.
- Executive Staff: REC J/K
- Campus Development: REC J/K and partly the University Quarter
- Service hub AC/ICTS/FS: location not yet determined
- Communications: location not yet determined
The Executive Staff (B&B) and part of the Campus Development and Real Estate department (HO) will be relocated to the J/K building on the Roeterseiland Campus. The remaining part of HO will be accommodated in the University Quarter. A solution is still being sought for employees of the Communications Office (BC) and the service hub AC/ICTS/FS. The Executive Board (CvB), which moved from the Spui to the Nieuwe Achtergracht nearly ten years ago, will remain on the sixth floor of the D building.
Shift of the centre of power
One of the main arguments for leaving the Maagdenhuis has often been that university staff and administrators should be “closer to the primary process”: education and research. Another consideration was that, over the years, the building had increasingly become a symbol of power and powerlessness due to several prolonged student occupations, most notably in 1969 and 2015.
In addition, the university needs to reduce its floor space in order to keep housing costs under control and to meet its own sustainability targets. Last month, the university’s new Housing Plan already indicated that the Maagdenhuis – like several other iconic UvA buildings – is being considered for disposal.
The UvA emphasises that the preferred scenario is not yet a final decision. Adjustments may still be made based on the results of a recently distributed survey and the “wishes and needs” of staff members. A Programme of Requirements is expected to be completed in September.
