With the symbolic act of “laying the first brick”, the construction of stage I of phase II of the National University of Colombia (UNAL) La Paz Headquarters began, which will increase coverage from 1,300 to 2,500 students.
The goal is to finish in 24 months, of which the first two were pre-construction for the preparation of all the technical and budgetary part of the construction process. It is expected to finish in December 2024.
Claudia Lucía Rueda, Director of Planning and Physical Development of the UNAL Bogotá Headquarters and of the investment project for the construction of the work, explained that three concrete blocks will be made with an exposed metal structure, with about 7,600 m2 of construction.
“The three floors will be more than 15 m high in the blocks. The ground floor plan is open, and the restaurant, cafeteria, and wellness areas will function there for the permanence and enjoyment of the university community. The terraces and administrative areas will be on the third floor, ”he explained.
According to Edinson Henao Carvajal, designer of the project, the infrastructure will have laboratories of all kinds: digital, environmental, biological, chemical, social impact and cultural issues.
“It is a transversal look; It is as if we had packed the entire University into a single building. The design of the La Paz campus was born from the territory, from its geography, with everything it gives us: the winds and the sun, so its architecture was planned so that there is low energy consumption to make it sustainable. The buildings are and will continue to be like hats, which generate their own shadow. It has been thought about the movements of the sun that exist at this latitude, with a north-south orientation that means that the buildings are always long in the benevolent orientations and short in the orientations that impact with the heat (rising and setting of the sun)” he explained.
The budget for this project is managed between the national government, through the National Planning Department, through the mechanism of the Cesar-La Guajira Territorial Pact, which will contribute 56,000 million pesos, and the UNAL Headquarters of La Paz, which will allocate 24,333 million of pesos of own resources.
Professor Dolly Montoya Castaño, rector of UNAL, stressed that “this work is significant not so much because of the brick, but because it is an academic necessity. First we did the academic project and then we looked at what needs were required to continue building the nation, especially in this region of Cesar, La Guajira and its surroundings”.
“For the University it means a success because it was very difficult to do the second stage. Despite the fact that we have all the knowledge and can show what we have done in the country, managing the resources was not an easy task. We are very happy because National Planning helped us a lot to execute them properly; it is also a pedagogical way of showing the country how works are done”, added the Chancellor.
For her part, Marcela Camacho, vice-rector of the UNAL Headquarters in La Paz, assured that “the work is significant for the region because it complements what exists in phase I, but also because from the technical point of view an effort has been made in dialogue with the academic project to harmonize the mission axes of teaching, research and extension, and in turn build capacity to transfer knowledge to the region”.
“Here we will have laboratories that do not exist in the area and that we hope can support the communities with many projects in terms of better productivity, virtuous linkages around many possibilities and the economic diversification of the region. It will be an educational center of reference for the Caribbean and for the country”, sustained the academic.
THE PROCESS
The pre-contractual stage of the work was carried out through the “delegated administration” mechanism, in which it is established that the work is carried out at the expense and risk of the contractor through a builder (contractor), who is only the delegate, in exchange of previously agreed fees. For this purpose, Constructora Obreval was selected and will be under the supervision of the UNAL La Paz Consortium.
The UNAL Headquarters in La Paz has six undergraduate programs: Biology, Mechatronic Engineering, Statistics, Geography, Biological Engineering, and Cultural and Communication Management, in addition to the Specialization in Constitutional Law and the Master’s in Public Health.