The centre of Limassol is being transformed into a construction site to meet the building needs of the University of Technology, while work on the Verengaria campus will get under way in 2021. University, the rector of the University Rector Panayiotis Zaphiris recently spoke to "Entrepreneurial Limassol" and outline some of the construction plans. The development of the buildings of the School of Fine and Applied Arts, on Archbishop Kyprianos avenue, is already in the third (of four) stages of its implementation.
Work is under way, the Rector said, on the construction of the new building of the School with teaching spaces and workshops, next to the rectory. In the adjacent Tseriotis building, the addition of two more floors will be completed in about two months. At the same time, Panayiotis Zaphiris indicated, consultations are continuing with the owner, for the acquisition of the neighbouring building of the National Bank of Greece, with a view to utilizing this space for laboratories, exhibition and office spaces.
the restoration of the listed Drakos building on Socrates Street will be completed by the end of 2021 and this will be connected through a roof with its new addition at Athens Street. The complex will house classrooms and offices. Media In addition, in the next few months, tenders are planned for the restoration of the mansion of Melpo Plavakis on Irinis Street, with the construction of a new addition to the back of the listed building, for the accommodation of the Media and Communications school. New student residences at Verengaria are expected to be completed by 2025. The cost of the project, which will consist of 485 student rooms, will amount to €40 million.
Recently, the contract was signed between the university and the architectural firm Hercules Papachristou who won the architectural competition that had been launched, while the next step according to the Rector is to obtain a loan from the European Investment Bank and secure the necessary permits. This is, as he noted, the largest infrastructure project of the university to date, which will solve the housing problem of students -- and that of high rents. In the same area, as Mr Zaphiris indicated, the university plans to build sports facilities and research centres, with the Rector pointing out that schools as such are not planned to move to the site.
Pole B’ and new sections
At the same time, the university is launching the procedures for the exploitation of the area of 18 thousand sq.m. granted behind the old hospital. It is the so-called Second Pole of Development, in which the construction of a large building complex for the School of Health Sciences is planned. The number of students at the university in 2021 will increase, with the Department of Public Communication expected to welcome its first students in September. Of the utmost importance to the university is its interconnection with the city and the economy of Limassol, with the Rector stressing that great efforts are being made in this direction.
