The topping-out ceremony of the new laboratory building currently erected on the AKH premises will be celebrated on Wednesday, 16.4.2008 at 16:00 hrs. Special guests will be Science Minister Dr. Johannes Hahn and Health City Councillor Mag.a Sonja Wehsely.
MUW and AKH, a European research centre
Construction work on the new laboratory complex was launched in May 2007 and is scheduled to be completed by September 2009. The new laboratory building will complement the research areas operated at the AKH, which already boast a total size of some 16,500 square metres, by another 8,000 square metres. Construction costs are shared by the City of Vienna and the Austrian Federal Government, totalling some EUR 43.6 million. Projects such as these contribute to Vienna's high renown as a location for research and technology and thus create optimum scope and ideal conditions for forward-looking research. This construction project may rightly be termed a major step towards the expansion of medical top research in Austria.
The City of Vienna as a hospital provider institution and the Medical University of Vienna are jointly responsible for research and teaching as well as the successful implementation of medical know-how.
In February 2006 the City of Vienna and the Austrian Federal Government agreed on completing the largest hospital across Austria. The construction of the new laboratory building is part of this project.
Genetic engineering – hope for patients
The new laboratory building is particularly required for state-of-the-art genetic engineering procedures, which would not have been possible in the research labs located at the central building of the AKH. Due to the relocation of research institutions of the Medical University of Vienna to the new building, operations in existing laboratories can be optimised and adapted to current scientific requirements. The project is divided into the actual new lab building with seven storeys, the underground connecting construction to the main building with three storeys, and an underground two-storey structure.
This project ensures that researchers at the Medical University of Vienna obtain additional rooms in modern design. At the new AKH, MedUni Vienna has already quadrupled its research services. The new lab building safeguards that these internationally outstanding services by the MUW and AKH are continued in future.
Other forward-looking developments
By mid-2008, bone marrow transplantation facilities will be relocated to their new site in the main building. Furthermore, facilities for dialysis and dermatology will be created, the outpatient emergency surgery clinic enlarged, and the children's surgery unit integrated into the Paediatric Centre. In 2011/2012 the Vienna General Hospital will be completed.
PID-Rathauskorrespondenz:
Karin Fehringer Leiterin Informationszentrum und PR
Direktion Teilunternehmung Allgemeines Krankenhaus der Stadt Wien - Universitätskliniken Tel.Nr.: +43/1/40400/1216
FAX-Nr.: +43/1/40400/1207 Internet: www.akhwien.at