University to start front area renovation at the main building and continue ongoing construction projects in university buildings next year

The university’s next year’s budget will provide €15.8 million for renovating and constructing university buildings. The capital budget is 6% lower than this year’s, and no new objects are planned to start in 2025.

“We have launched the biggest investment in the university’s history – designing a building complex for the Institute of Technology, the Institute of Bioengineering, the Institute of Pharmacy and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in the Maarjamõisa field. In this light, we are not taking on any new projects soon but will continue with the projects we have already started. It’s a great pleasure that the more than 300 places added to the Nooruse dormitory in the autumn have significantly improved our students’ living conditions,” said Kstina Noormets, Director of Administration of the University of Tartu.

Next summer, the reconstruction of the area in front of the main building will begin. The works were planned for 2023 already but were postponed to start after the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024. The academic building at Ülikooli 16 will be fully renovated, works will continue on the Kõiguste field base on the Saaremaa island, and the buildings of Narva College, Pärnu College and Viljandi Culture Academy will be partially renovated. For the latter two, support has been received from structural funds. Reconstruction works will continue in the building at Ülikooli 18a, where offices are planned for the Grant Office, Centre for Learning and Teaching, and Administrative Office.

The grant from the Ministry of Education and Research for smart investments enables the university to continue improving the energy efficiency of buildings. The designing process of the School of Law building in Tallinn will go on. Renovations will be done in the building at Näituse 13a, so the Estates Office could move in there. A new Estonian Maritime Institute field base will be built at Praaga, at the estuary of the Emajõgi river, to replace the structure that burnt down in 2023. In addition, the IT infrastructure of the Biomeedikum and Chemicum buildings will be modernised. A building signage project has been launched to create uniformly designed signs for all University of Tartu buildings. An idea competition for designing the signs is planned to be announced before the end of this year.

The construction of the building complex for four institutes, designed in the Maarjamõisa field, will hopefully begin at the end of 2026. The university is negotiating with the Council of Europe Development Bank and the Nordic Investment Bank on financing the construction of the building.