Dismantling of the former Earth Sciences Building

The Earth Sciences building (1979), formerly used by the Faculty of Geosciences, is technically outdated and no longer suits Utrecht University's current research and teaching requirements. For this reason, the building is being dismantled. After a period of research and tendering, asbestos removal started in January 2022.

After that, the actual dismantling of the building will begin. On this page you will find the latest information and the provisional planning of the project. The project is part of the development of the Northwest Cluster. This is the area around the Earth Sciences building, between A27/A28, Leuvenlaan and the Botanical Gardens in the Utrecht Science Park.

Why has this building been dismantled?

The Earth Sciences Building dates from 1979 and was previously used by the Faculty of Geosciences. The building is technically outdated and no longer suits Utrecht University's current research and teaching requirements. For this reason, the building has been dismantled. In doing so, we are giving space to future developments in the Northwest Cluster of the Utrecht Science Park. Currently, the plan is to issue the vacant lot to a market party that will create a generic lab/office building here. The university wants to rent that building to bridge the transition period from the redevelopment of the Hugo R. Kruyt building.

Approach to remediation and dismantling Earth Sciences Building

A 3D animation below shows how the Earth Sciences Building has been remediated and dismantled over the past period.

Circular dismantling

Despite the fact that the building was not built to be dismantled and used a lot of asbestos, the dismantling process was carried out in such a circular way. You can read exactly how that process worked and what we learned from it here.

    More information

    Do you have questions about this project? Or do you want to know more about the dismantling? Send an e-mail to communicatievenc@uu.nl. We are happy to help.