Statement on the occupation of the "Villa Rühl

We want to offer the best possible conditions for the students and scientists working with us. This also includes planning in the long term what space we need and when, how we use it, and which projects have priority. We want to renovate the two "Villa-Rühl" buildings, which are currently dilapidated and lack functional sanitary facilities, for example, for INCHER, the international center for university research, INCHER is currently housed in relatively cramped conditions.

Before construction work can begin, extensive technical and administrative preparatory work is required, which is now nearing completion. This includes, among other things, a cleanup of contaminated sites, as the site is chemically polluted.

In addition, the university
-     has completed plans for the use of the building
-     involved the historic preservation authority
-     carried out an economic feasibility study
-     submitted the statement of requirements to the state
-     identified the estate's holdings in the building and put them to use
The university will raise the costs from its own funds, whereby the originally estimated sum of approx. 3 million has since doubled to 6 million euros.

These processes have taken longer than planned. One reason for this is that we have given higher time priority to other projects from which students will benefit more quickly. These include the Student House, unique in Germany, as a place for meeting and student culture (inaugurated at the end of 2019), or the Art Space (2022) in the School of Art. Both are places where socio-cultural activities of students find space. We also moved forward with planning for the university's largest building project, the Natural Sciences, along with the 2nd and 3rd phases of the library, the renovation of the Murhard Library, and the new machine room for university IT.

The university is expecting the transfer of partial building autonomy from the state of Hesse shortly. As things stand now, approval by the state will take place in the summer of 2022, at which point the construction planning for the two buildings in Mönchebergstraße can be concretized and the renovation can move forward.

In due course, the university will provide information on the progress of construction and further plans.