The investment was co-financed by the European Union from the Cohesion Fund. The cost of the investment stands at nearly 19 million złoty, including 10 million złoty that the University managed to acquire from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.
The grand opening was attended by Minister of Development and Technology Waldemar Buda, who visited Lodz University of Technology last January to present a symbolic check for the investment. Cutting the ribbon alongside the Rector, prof. Krzysztof Jóźwik, were Deputy Marshal of the Łódzkie Voivodeship Piotr Adamczyk, Deputy President of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management Artur Michalski, and President of Jawbud, the contractor for the investment, Adam Jaworski.
The Rector offered the following remarks about the concluded investment,
‘We had complete renovation of the building done. As a result, we got an environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, accessible facility suited for teaching and design work. I am convinced that it will be a welcoming space of creative collaboration for students and university staff.’
Referring to the scope of work, the Rector highlighted
‘adequate insulation, modern ventilation systems enabling heat recovery, as well as energy monitoring and management systems, water-saving plumbing fixtures, energy-efficient lighting and photovoltaics.’
He went on to explain that
‘these were just but a few examples from the vast array of works that were performed here. The added value lies in reducing emissions of harmful substances and dust. The building's layout was redesigned to give preference to laboratory functions.’
Dean of the IPOŚ Faculty prof. Grzegorz Wielgosiński was pleased to be back at a facility where plants required for running process engineering projects can be assembled.
Prof. Grzegorz Granosik of the TUL Institute of Automatic Control spoke about the plans for the Universal Design Center,
‘The Center will feature a FabLab creative space, based on the idea pioneered at MIT in the US. A cutting edge VR lab and an ergonomics lab will complete the setup which will allow us to develop innovation from an idea through modeling and VR simulation to building a prototype and then verifying it for ergonomics and against the anticipated results. The Center will open up new opportunities for students from different faculties to collaborate on innovative and interdisciplinary projects.’
Asked about upcoming activities, TUL professor Grzegorz Granosik listed weekly Design Wednesdays bringing the student community together, workshops on universal design, a monthly networking micro-conference held in collaboration with businesses, and a hackathon, a collaborative Academic Łódź event.