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Paderborn future project: Two new, sustainable university buildings are being built!
The University of Paderborn and BLB NRW are laying the foundation stone for two sustainable new buildings that will create modern teaching and research spaces.
Paderborn future project: Two new, sustainable university buildings are being built!
On September 30, 2025, a significant step in university architecture was taken in Paderborn. The construction and real estate company of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (BLB NRW) and the University of Paderborn laid the foundation stone for the new buildings Z1 and Z2. This symbolic act marks an important milestone in the construction phase of the two new buildings, which replace the aging buildings P1 and P4-P7 from the 1960s.
The two new buildings are connected by a multi-story connecting corridor and offer a total of more than 42,000 square meters of modular laboratories, lecture halls, seminar rooms, workshops and offices. The redesign is intended to create optimal conditions for students and researchers and promotes interdisciplinary exchange as well as flexible usage options, especially for the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Institute of Electrical and Information Technology.
Sustainability concept
Sustainability is at the heart of this construction project. The planned measures include the use of photovoltaic systems, green roofs and the use of waste heat from the supercomputer “Noctua”. In addition, the aim is to use materials in a circular manner. The new buildings will be built according to the Efficiency Building 40 standard (EG40) and are aiming for BNB Silver certification, which further strengthens their environmental friendliness. University of Paderborn reports that...
Particular attention is also paid to regional resource conservation. The excavated excavation, consisting of clay and limestone, is recycled; Limestone is processed in the nearby cement works. The materials flow directly back into the construction process and are also used for other regional projects. Around 180,000 tons of earth and rock material were generated throughout the project, which corresponds to approximately 100,000 cubic meters.
Logistics and transport
At peak times, up to 15 transport vehicles were on the move at the same time to cover the necessary material requirements. A total of around 4,250 transports were required to prepare around 80,000 tonnes of rock excavation for recycling. What is particularly noteworthy is that the transport distance has been reduced from over 30 kilometers to just 3.5 kilometers, which contributes significantly to reducing CO₂ emissions and traffic pollution. BLB NRW emphasizes that...
Another technical aspect is the connection of the new buildings to the university's high-performance computing center via an underground media route. The waste heat from the data center is used to supply heat to the new buildings, which makes an additional contribution to energy efficiency.
The architecture of the two four-story new buildings comes from agn Niederberghaus & Partner GmbH. With the construction of buildings Z1 and Z2, BLB NRW intends to strengthen the competitiveness of Paderborn as a science location in the long term and at the same time create a modern, sustainable living space for future generations of students and researchers.