Which buildings will UU vacate in the city centre and International Campus?

These are some of the takeaways from the university's “Integrated Premises Plan” for the city centre and the Kromhout site (also known as International Campus). The document specifies which buildings Utrecht University wants to retain, which it will renovate and which it will let or sell until 2040. The document also announced that the university's two “new" buildings on Nicolaaskerkhof will be put up for sale again.

The plan was adopted by the Executive Board at the end of 2025. It is an elaboration of the Strategic Accommodation Plan (see the box below), which specifies the required space for education, research, and support activities, along with the associated accommodation costs. This document is reviewed every two years, which means the plans are roughly fixed for the short term but can change significantly in the long term.

De Bijlhouwer
As previously announced, UU will sell the Public Administration and Management building on Bijlhouwerstraat, but this will not happen before 2040 or so. According to Dennis van Dijk, from Campus & Facilities (C&F), and the communications advisor Dennis Walta, UU has opted to sell the building because it needs to be thoroughly renovated and is located too far from the other university buildings in the city centre, around Trans and Drift.

The fact that the building best known as “De Bijlhouwer” will not be vacated until 2040 has nothing to do with the protests staged by the Utrecht School of Governance staff. "The department will move to Spinoza Hall on the International Campus, which needs to be thoroughly renovated first, and that can only happen a few years before 2040," Van Dijk and Walta say.

De Bijlhouwer. Photo: UU

Never sell unused buildings
The Utrecht School of Governance will have to move due to the Executive Board's decision to retain the International Campus and limit its city-centre premises to the area around Trans and Drift. Another direct consequence of that decision is that the two connected buildings on Nicolaaskerkhof, near the Miffy Museum, are back on the market. UU purchased them in 2021, but did not use them.

And neither will it put them to use, say Van Dijck and Walta. According to them, the university had only bought those buildings because it planned to sell the Kromhout site (International Campus) and needed space to replace it. The two buildings, along with De Bijlhouwer, would become a third UU cluster in the city centre.

Within the next two years, UU will decide when to put the two buildings on Nicolaaskerkhof up for sale. One of the buildings will be rented to a tenant until the end of 2026.

Law, Economics & Governance
The Faculty of Law, Economics & Governance will not be disposing of any other properties apart from the one on Bijlhouwerstraat. However, around 2030, the faculty board and a part of the supporting organization will move from the building on Janskerkhof to the building on Achter Sint Pieter because the faculty needs additional classrooms at Janskerkhof, and there is still space available in the Johanna Hudig building. 

The Spinoza Hall on the Kromhout site will be renovated for Public Administration & Management, meaning that the Economics and Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE) programmes will remain housed at the International Campus.

Humanities
As for the Faculty of Humanities, there is little to report since last year's plans. Several buildings on Drift are currently being renovated, and the building at Kromme Nieuwegracht 80, which is temporarily housing the Humanities study associations, will eventually be sold off. 

The same applies to the connected building on Muntstraat-Kromme Nieuwegracht, the current home of the Media & Culture department, which will move to Trans 10 after the renovations are completed. The university is still looking for a suitable alternative to the theatre hall on Kromme Nieuwegracht. It is unclear when Trans 10 will be renovated: UU is still looking for an interior design team.

The Parnassos Cultural Centre will stay where it is, at least until 2035. Although the building on Kruisstraat will be maintained, no major investments will be made in it. UU is waiting to see what politicians will decide regarding what universities are allowed to invest in using taxpayers' money. Last year, the Ministry of Education determined that universities could not use public money to fund initiatives related to student culture and sports, which directly affected Parnassos and Olympos. After a public outcry, the government decided to postpone the enforcement of those rules. Now that a new cabinet is set to take power, a new debate on this subject will follow.

In addition, there are rumours about Drift 13. Students heard that this building would also be sold, but that is not the case, Van Dijk and Walta explain. UU rents that building, “and it actually only does so because of the large lecture hall”. With the disposal of Kromme Nieuwegracht 80 and De Bijlhouwer, the university will lose two big lecture halls in the city centre, so it cannot do without Drift 13. “But if that lecture hall is no longer necessary, UU will terminate the lease.”

Trains
The integrated premises plan shows that moving and disposing of buildings is not a simple process. UU can only dispose of a building once another space has been found for its users. This other place must then be adapted to those users' needs.

For example, the facilities staff based at Boothstraat can only move once the university has found a suitable space for them. Only then can the building be sold. The same applies to the Utrecht Summer School at Janskerkhof 30. UU also wants to get rid of that building, but first, it needs to define a new location for the summer school.

Furthermore, UU would like to dispose of University College Utrecht's Dining Hall. The university is considering selling the building because it believes it doesn't actually need that space. UCU students don't share that view and have argued for the preservation of the building, where they organise several activities. According to the university, the Dining Hall will not be sold until another place has been found for those activities, so students need not worry.

Dining Hall. Photo: UU

Saving on accommodation
The Integrated Premises Plan is an elaboration of the Strategic Accommodation Plan adopted by the University Council last year. It specifies the space Utrecht University needs for teaching, research, and support services, as well as the types of spaces required. It also states that UU may spend up to 15 per cent of its annual turnover on accommodation. This amount may therefore fluctuate from year to year.

The university's income is declining due to budget cuts in higher education and the prediction of fewer students in the near future. In the Netherlands, public funding for universities is calculated by the number of students, so the university will have less money to spend on its premises. In 2023, the UU estimated that its construction and renovation plans would cost 2.1 billion euros and ultimately concluded that it would have to reduce its accommodation spending by 700 million euros by 2040. To reach that goal, UU must reduce the amount of floor space and make buildings more sustainable in order to save on energy costs.

Now, the university has unveiled its integrated premises plan for the city centre and the International Campus (Kromhout). A similar plan was previously drawn up for new facilities for the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Another plan is in the pipeline for the central area and the “corner” between the Geoscience and Science faculties at Utrecht Science Park.