A new building for the Department of Biomedicine

A new building for the Department of Biomedicine is to be constructed by 2031 on the site of the old Biocenter.

Original plans foresaw refurbishing the old Biocenter building for different university purposes after the new building was completed. However, an extensive analysis showed that its structure couldn’t meet today’s requirements, making a new construction more cost-effective than renovating the forty-year-old building. Plans were thus made to relocate the Department of Biomedicine, spread at the time across five sites (Mattenstr. 28, Pestalozzistr. 20; St. Peter’s Square 10; Klingelbergstr. 50, ZLF), to the site of the old Biocenter. This design for the construction emerged from an architectural contest held in 2014. After the initial project phase, the University of Basel assumed responsibility for the construction from the Canton of Basel-City and tasked Burckhardt+Partner AG with the project development, the same firm that was behind the original 1971 building. A comprehensive contractor tender led to Implenia winning the project. By 2028, a new laboratory building with two basements and nine upper floors is slated to be completed and operational by 2031. It will house the department’s roughly 70 research groups, their 900 staff members, and up to 200 students. The investment costs are being covered by the University of Basel and financed through the financial market. A credit guarantee, issued in 2014 by the cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Countryside, had to be increased in 2023 to secure favorable loan conditions. Construction costs will be equally shared between both Basels. On 26 April 2023, the Grand Council approved increasing the total from 106 to 182.5 million Swiss francs by a vote of 88 to 3. The building is expected to be finished by 2031, with operating costs projected at 19.5 million Swiss francs annually for the first decade, then reducing to 15.5 million Swiss francs.