United, half a billion for construction, focus on the Grugliasco Campus and Palazzo Nuovo

The University of Turin's building programme for the coming years is worth almost half a billion. An important variable when compared, for example, with the total value of the Pnrr projects for Turin and the metropolitan area, which cube 389 million. The highlight is the new Grugliasco Campus, which alone cubes almost 200 million. While the Reinventing UniTO programme, which involves almost every second building in the university's entire real estate portfolio, is worth EUR 158 million. Among the most important projects is the restoration and functional recovery of the 'Courtyard of the Guards' of the Cavallerizza Reale (EUR 15 million), an integral part of the plan to revitalise the historic site in the centre of Turin.

Also in the pipeline is the building and plant engineering renovation of Palazzo Nuovo, the heart of the humanities faculties, and the set of interventions in the field for the renovation of the historic headquarters of the science faculties, close to the San Salvario district. A total of EUR 50.2 million will go to interventions exceeding EUR 1 million and EUR 21.3 million will be earmarked for plans below EUR 1 million, for a total of 91 building interventions. This involves not only building renovation and redevelopment, but also the creation of new spaces for teaching, research and libraries.

The Zero Conference, which took place in mid-February, "marks the start of a structured process of updating and monitoring, with thematic and territorial working groups, approval of the interventions by the academic bodies and periodic communication of the progress made," a note from the University highlights. It is a commitment that aims to combine planning, architectural quality, environmental sustainability and responsibility in the management of public resources, strengthening the role of the University of Turin as a cultural and scientific infrastructure at the service of the city and the territory.

'The Zero Conference on Building,' says Cristina Prandi, Rector of the University of Turin, who will preside over the inauguration of the new academic year on Monday, 23 February, 'was created with the aim of transparently sharing the structure of the University of Turin's building stock. University spaces are not mere containers, but infrastructures that directly affect the quality of teaching, research, work and academic life. With this conference, we intend to offer a snapshot of today's university and what it governs: a broad, complex and articulated system, which represents the concrete basis from which to start every reflection and subsequent choice."

Work on the Grugliasco Science Campus, the future Science City, is at an advanced stage of construction, with the aim of starting the transfer phase of the first activities in the autumn. "It represents one of the University's main infrastructural investments and will house the Departments of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Systems Biology, for a total of 228,600 square metres, of which 22,000 will be used for teaching, 47,500 for research, 7,300 for sports activities and 7,200 for social activities.