Many specific requirements for flexible, high-tech building

The new Imaging Centre will be six storeys high and will cover an area of approximately 16,000 m². Many specific requirements apply, partly due to the separate supply and discharge channels for gases and medical fluids for the various research laboratories. In addition, we must consider the adjoining hospital, which will continue to be used as usual while the work is ongoing; we are taking specific measures to prevent any disturbance and nuisance. In fact, this has somewhat become a standard practice for us.

The basement will house four cyclotrons, which are enormous machines that produce isotopes for diagnostics and research for cancer, brain disorders, cardiovascular diseases or other afflictions. Two of them are now used in another location, but they will be moved to the Imaging Center in due course. They will be moved separately, so the VUmc and other hospitals will continue to have available isotopes. We are building a robust and safe environment for them in the basement, included with 1.5 metre thick concrete walls. In order to be able to move the cyclotrons into the building, the 2 metre thick basement ceiling will be constructed of loose concrete elements. This will allow VUmc to move things around in the future.

The Imaging Centre at the VU medical centre in Amsterdam was one of the first research buildings in the Netherlands to receive the 3-star (Very Good) BREEAM-NL design certificate. The intended result is a BREEAM 3-star certificate (Very Good).