The University has been working on establishing operations in Science Village for many years and is still only on step 2 of the 9 steps in the building process. (The building process at Lund University is described in "The Building Process in Nine Steps", which is presented on pages 12-13 of the Provision of Premises Plan 2023.) In order to be able to start research and education in Science Village in 2030, we need to complete a premises programme this year – and we will do that!
The establishment of research and education at Science Village is primarily about development of our core activities, not implementing a building project. This development is a process owned by the faculties, departments, staff and students.
It t is mainly LTH and the Faculty of Science that are planning to establish activities in Science Village. Two steps are planned: the establishment of NanoLab Science Village (Stage 1) and establishing parts of the Department of Chemistry, Department of Physics and others (Stage 2). The development of activities not only concerns the activities to be established at Science Village, but also the activities that will be carried out at Sölvegatan in the future. However, not all of the planning has to be done at the same time.
A project structure has been established to ensure that Lund University will have a premises programme for Stage 2 by the end of 2023. A project group for the development of the activities has been appointed by LTH and the Faculty of Science and is led by Charlotta Turner. This group is responsible for describing the activities for which the premises will be built. In order to ensure that the premises programme is completed on time, the Vice-Chancellor has decided on a steering group, chaired by the undersigned and comprising the deans Sven Lidin and Annika Olsson, Malin Gülich from LU Estates and the student representative Henrik Palme. A project group for the premises project, led by Charlotte von Brömssen, is working under the steering group. With input from the project group for the development of the activities and with the help of architects, this group will develop the proposal for the premises programme.
As work on the establishment at Science Village entered a new phase at the turn of the year, the faculty managements saw some challenges arising from the joint faculty Science Village Office as a separate organisational unit with a specific mission. The office will therefore be disbanded followed by decisions in the two faculty boards.
The work is intensive. Many meetings have already been held and several design dialogues will be held in the spring with the support of architect firm Sweco. The readiness to discuss organisational development and premises programmes in detail is good, thanks in large part to the excellent work of the joint faculty Science Village Office.
If all this were not complex enough, there are parallel processes that are crucial to the establishment at Science Village. These processes involve zoning plans, traffic solutions and motorway exits. The processes are driven by others – Lund Municipality and Science Village Scandinavia AB – but Lund University is involved and the cooperation is working well.
In the development of Science Village, it is essential that the conditions for the unique research facilities – MAX IV and ESS – are guaranteed and that the needs of the activities that Lund University will establish at Science Village can be met. This means that there cannot be a motorway exit in the middle of the area. At the same time, the logistics solutions must be adapted specifically for the activities related to experiments that will be established in the area.
/Per Mickwitz
Read more
- The Building Process in Nine Steps (in Swedish)
- Provision of Premises Plan 2023 (in Swedish)
- The Science Village establishment | Internal Faculty of Science (lu.se)
