When the work on De Plint started in March, it was planned to be finished by July 28th. According to the current schedule, most rooms will now be completed by the beginning of September, including the areas for the child care center Korein, the hairdressing salon, Spar supermarket, office spaces and classrooms. The music hall and dance hall will be completed later that same month, and the student associations will be able to move in sometime in October.

For all parties concerned, the delay is not news anymore: Sabine Jongerius, former committee member of music society Quadrivium and representative of the cultural student associations which were scheduled to move from De Bunker to De Plint this summer, says that she had heard even in June about asbestos having been found during the refurbishment work. The consequence is that during the next Intro, which is scheduled to begin on August 21, the cultural associations cannot present themselves to the new students in De Plint yet. This means that the workshops of the cultural associations during the Intro will take place in the Auditorium and outside on the campus during the daytime; the evening program has still been planned in De Bunker.

Jongerius is not surprised to hear that things will take a bit longer. “In the original planning we would already move during my committee year at Quadrivium, in 2015-2016. In the meantime I have learned that building projects always overrun. For us it is not a disaster in itself, as we can in principle still find accommodation in De Bunker for all of the next academic year, but it is quite a pity that we will not yet be able to show our new housing, which is going to be really beautiful, to the new students.” Dance company Footloose is taking the floor along to De Plint, says the student of Applied Mathematics. “This implies that for them a move during the season causes the greatest inconvenience.”

Studium Generale

After the holidays Studium Generale (SG) will also be dependent on the rooms in De Plint for the evening performances. David Ernst from SG explains that this delay had already been made allowance for in the programing. “Normally we get cracking full throttle right away in September, but this year that risk was too big for us. We wanted to get to know the new rooms first in any case to find out what we can do there.” He thinks that the first great event to be staged by SG is the preliminary round of the Kleine Prijs van Nederland, featuring student bands. “That will take place in the staircase hall on Wednesday September 20, and we do expect that that hall will be completed in time for that.”

Both Jongerius and Ernst emphasize that the completion of the bar worries them most. Ernst: “That appears to take longest, which is really very annoying for our visitors. Still, in case of emergency we are going to arrange a mobile bar installation and music equipment. We are also used to organizing things this way in the Gaslab.”

For the Intro, Studium Generale has arranged a big tent that will be pitched on the KOE field (between the Auditorium and Vertigo). “It’s a special way to present ourselves, but I think that is rather fitting for us”, Ernst admits.