In addition to the regular funding for construction and refurbishment, the state is providing a total of around 627 million euros for construction, modernisation and fitting-out work at universities and research institutions in Lower Saxony. The funds come from the federal government’s Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality. Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences is to receive 11.84 million euros.
Volker Küch, President of Ostfalia (pictured), welcomes the investment programme, which places a focus on climate protection and energy efficiency. “With these investments, we will carry out refurbishment work at all four of our university’s campuses. In general, the focus will be on refurbishing façades and roofs, and modernising technical building services such as ventilation systems, which have reached the end of their service life and therefore need to be replaced and upgraded to improve energy efficiency,” explains Küch.
The planned investments are distributed across Ostfalia’s campuses as follows:
- €3.3 million for the Salzgitter campus
- €2.2 million for the Suderburg campus
- €3.26 million for the Wolfenbüttel campus
- €3.08 million for the Wolfsburg campus
The funds are to be used, amongst other things, to upgrade the ventilation systems for the chemistry laboratories in the laboratory buildings of the Faculty of Automotive Engineering in Wolfsburg and the Faculty of Supply Engineering in Wolfenbüttel at ‘Am Exer 4’, the district heating connection and the measurement and control systems to optimise building operations.
In addition to the refurbishment of the technical building services in these buildings, a roof refurbishment is also planned in Wolfsburg and the replacement of windows in Wolfenbüttel.
Funding is also earmarked for the refurbishment of the ventilation and refrigeration systems, as well as the hot water supply systems, in the canteens in Salzgitter and Suderburg; in Suderburg, there are also plans to adapt the main kitchen to meet changing requirements and to replace the kitchen equipment, which is now over 30 years old.
Further planned measures include the refurbishment of the roofs in Salzgitter, including insulation of the top floor ceiling, the refurbishment of the data centre façade in Suderburg, and general measures to improve fire safety.
Background:
The funding comes from the federal government’s Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality (SVIK). They are being made available through two programmes: around 377 million euros (60 per cent) from the joint construction initiative of the federal and state governments, and around 250 million euros (40 per cent) from the State and Local Authority Infrastructure Financing Act (LuKIFG). The federal funding is subject to binding deadlines. The funds from the joint construction initiative between the federal and state governments must be spent by 2030. For the funds from the LuKIFG, the implementation deadline is 2042. This means that both measures required in the short term and long-term investments in the state’s higher education infrastructure can be financed.
