The tying of strings

Today the new building Navet was inaugurated in Uppsala. Among the speakers were Minister Jan Björklund, Vice-chancellor Eva Åkesson and Co-director Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, who also tied two green strings together to symbolize the coming together and creating bonds, which is the core of SciLifeLab. The mingle and the ceremony was well visited and among other guests Craig Venter, Janet Thornton and Svante Pääbo, could be seen.

While the 3 000 square meters building Navet was erected in one of the courtyards at the Uppsala Biomedical Centre (BMC) approximately 8 000 square feet of existing space in the surrounding areas of BMC were rebuilt. Several research groups and staff at SciLifeLab have moved their operations there from the Rudbeck Laboratory, the Uppsala University Hospital and other sites. There is also plenty of space assigned to visiting researchers from both Swedish and foreign universities.

– We have succeeded in what we wanted to accomplish, an interdisciplinary, productive and excellent research environment. I think we even may have underestimated the attraction that this building poses as a meeting place. The interest of coming here has been huge, said Co-director Kerstin Lindblad-Toh.

The building project has been a unique one in many ways. Since a large part of the construction has taken place inside a courtyard the project have bested many challenges.

– It has been a very technically and logistically challenging project, said Peter Bohman, Acting regional director at Akademiska Hus. A crucial prerequisite for implementing such a complex project is close collaboration and frequent dialogue between the tenants and the construction and project management. Throughout the project, this process has worked well, as evidenced in the best possible way by the resulting building.

Minister Jan Björklund, Co-director Kerstin Lindblad-Toh and Vice-chancellor Eva Åkesson