Feringa Building is great, but there are still some teething problems that need to be addressed

Yes, Maurits de Roo is very satisfied. In Nijenborgh 4, the electrochemistry PhD student was still in a laboratory that was actually unsuitable. ‘There had to be equipment in the fume cupboards, which were not intended for that purpose. Moreover, they only offered limited space.’

The move gave him and his group the opportunity to furnish the laboratories completely according to their wishes. ‘Here we have much deeper workbenches, which allows us to better position all the equipment.’ The design drawings that indicate where the equipment should be located in the brand new lab were made in consultation with all users, he says. “You only do this once.”

Many users who made the switch to the new building in the past three weeks are, just like De Roo, delighted. The Feringa Building offers them considerably more space, light and, above all, a brand new workplace. Compare that with the leaky windows and dark corridors in the old energy-guzzling Nijenborgh, and the choice is quickly made.

I think we’ll go to Ikea ourselves and get some cupboards

‘The new labs are very nice and building management is very quick to sort things out, such as keys that were mixed up,’ says professor of molecular inorganic chemistry Wesley Browne. ‘But I’m a bit concerned about the capacity of the refrigerators in the new building. We may not have enough room for our lunch,” he says with a smile.

‘Things are installed and connected every day, which is very nice to notice,’ says PhD candidate and research technician Mart Salverda.

Fishbowl

But despite all the joy about the benefits of the building, the researchers are now also encountering the first teething problems. Sometimes these are small things, such as the lack of storage space. “The strange thing is that boxes of things have been placed here, but no cupboards to store them in,” says De Roo. “I think we’ll just go to Ikea and get something ourselves.”

There are also slightly more serious problems: for example, employees and students who use the areas around the atrium behind the main entrance suffer from a ‘fishbowl effect’. Because window coverings are not allowed to be hung, their work is clearly visible from outside.

Or take the connecting doors that can only be opened with a card. Safe perhaps, but it also ensures that students cannot simply visit their study advisors. Labs are also only accessible with a pass.

Improvise

A bigger concern were the ventilation problems that emerged last week. They have to do with the adjustment of the technical systems in the building, says RUG spokesperson Elies Wempe-Kouwenhoven. Too much air is blown in, which causes noise pollution in work areas. As a result, the fume hoods that are supposed to extract air are not all working as they should.

And so Justin Ye, professor of device physics of complex materials, still has to improvise. In his laboratory he can… gloveboxa kind of fume hood intended for experiments, currently only used when hanging the exhaust pipe out of the window.

You can never have a thorough plan for ventilation at once

Inconvenient perhaps, but it poses no further danger, he emphasizes. Almost pure nitrogen – a part of the air around us – comes out of the device. ‘And that only suffocates you if you don’t inhale anything else.’

The group of David Garcia, PhD candidate in photophysics and optoelectronics, also has to deal with ventilation issues. In addition, there were some communication problems between the various parties surrounding the move, which caused some delays. As a result, they cannot yet use their new cleanrooms, spaces where work is done with as little ‘dirt’ from the outside as possible. “But luckily we can still use the cleanrooms in the old building,” says Garcia.

Browne understands that these types of ventilation problems arise. ‘You can never have a thorough plan for ventilation in one go. You always have to tweak it a little bit.’

Customization

This ‘tweaking’ of the ventilation is now in full swing, according to Wempe-Kouwenhoven. ‘It has been better balanced by better software settings and by keeping doors closed throughout the building as much as possible. This means that the air flow in the room is less disturbed and the installation requires less effort to function effectively and safely.’

There can be no question of relocating a group if it cannot be done one hundred percent safely, resources portfolio holder Esther Marije Klop adds. ‘In some cases this means that customization has to be provided, where, for example, the chemicals will not be moved for a while, but the rest of a group’s lab equipment will be. We are in close consultation with each of the groups that have moved or are moving very soon.’

I no longer have to go to the lab after ten minutes of sweating to cool down

And then there is the temperature. “My office was between 26 and 29 degrees in the past two weeks and that temperature was not adjustable,” says Salverda. ‘Luckily I was mainly in the lab so far, so it didn’t bother me much.’

Further on in the building it was cold in the office. ‘There, group members opened the door from the corridor to the stairwell, where it is nice and warm.’

Salverda is not the only one who is in hot water, said staff council member Tjalling Canrinus during the faculty council. ‘Employees complain that it can get very hot, up to 32 degrees. That makes people drowsy.’

Improvement

A solution for this is now also being worked on. The staff received an email in advance stating that it could take up to a year before the building was fully ‘adjusted’. But, Klop said in the faculty council, attention is being paid and it should not take a whole year before researchers can work comfortably.

Salverda already noticed an improvement this week. ‘For me the temperature is suddenly 22 degrees and I can regulate it myself. Now I can decorate my office for a little longer at a time, instead of in ten-minute chunks before I have to go to the lab sweating to cool down.’

He understands that things like this can happen when you move into a building that isn’t finished yet. In any case, the building is a lot better than his old workplace, he says. ‘The temperature is a lot more pleasant than the past two winters in Nijenborgh.’

Very happy

And further? The move is going smoothly so far. It is stressful for those involved, says Klop, and flexibility, solution-orientedness and creativity are called upon from all these people. ‘But the overalls what we hear from the people who have now moved into the Feringa Building is: what a beautiful building, what a good place to work.’

De Roo recognizes that. He had planned seven full moving days, but thanks to thorough preparation, it turns out he won’t need them for a long time. “Four or five days is probably enough.”

Garcia is also happy. In the laboratories of the Zernike Institute of Advanced Materials, there is currently a coming and going of technicians who reassemble and adjust the last moved equipment, he sees. “Yesterday they calibrated an atomic force microscope and today it’s already working.”

“There are still some teething problems,” says Klop. ‘But we notice that most people have a lot of understanding for that. They mainly look ahead. So we are especially very happy with our new building.’

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