Masaryk University BioPharma Hub in Brno Already Going Up

For many months, it looked as if the initial station of the dreamed-of metro was incubating across the street from the the Masaryk University campus in Brno’s Bohunice district. The builders first had to remove more than 50,000 cubic metres of earth from the slope in order to start construction. Thousands of cubic meters of concrete have now flooded the construction site, and it is obvious that, instead of “Bohunice station”, a spatially generous building, namely the unique European BioPharma Hub, is being built here. The research facility for pharmaceutical, medical and natural science disciplines is being built by a construction association of IMOS Brno, Metrostav DIZ, PS BRNO and IDPS.

After demanding work on the foundations involving more than 250 piles and the excavation of more than fifty two-hundred-metre boreholes for the heat pumps, the most voluminous phase – the concreting of the monolithic structure – followed. Currently, the skeleton of the highest

of the three underground floors is being completed, and the building will soon be peeking above the future ground level. The concrete workers always proceed from opposite sides to the centre and work simultaneously at two height levels at the same time. All six aboveground floors should be completed by spring. The vast building has a volume of 133,000 cubic metres, the equivalent of hundreds of ordinary houses.

“The contract is in Design & Build mode, which means that our task is to deliver not only the building, but also the implementation documentation. In addition, we are building the project gradually and have to continuously fine-tune and coordinate all the professions. Advanced IT systems including 3D modelling help us a lot. The construction is incredibly complex in terms of the various installations. Just getting all the monolith-level penetrations right is a real challenge. I am all the more pleased that we have managed to proceed according to schedule so far,” said Vladimír Palát , project manager at Metrostav DIZ.

The BioPharma Hub will provide Masaryk University with unique European infrastructure for pharmaceutical, medical and life science disciplines. It will become home not only to the Faculty of Pharmacy, but also to the Preclinical Centre and the Centre for Molecular Medicine. In the building’s basement, a state-of-the-art IT data centre of TIER III standard will be implemented to meet the entire university’s needs.

Some areas will have extraordinarily strict requirements for maintaining hygiene, temperature, humidity and infection-free conditions. For example, the vivarium in the Preclinical Centre will be organically integrated into the scientific research axis existing at the Bohunice University Campus, thus completing the unique environment of a globally competitive centre for biomedical research. The MU Preclinical Centre will operate as an entity open to internal and external researchers and commercial partners. Technologically, it will be equipped with an airtight envelope, powerful cooling and air conditioning. The zebrafish facility for 30,000 fish in about 2,000 aquariums will in turn require almost 100% humidity and a constant temperature
of 28 °C.

The building excels in terms of its extremely low energy consumption. The primary heat source in the form of geothermal boreholes will be supplemented by the use of waste heat from the data centre. A photovoltaic power plant with battery storage will reduce electricity consumption from the public grid. The spaces above the staircase and atrium will be illuminated by skylights. Extensive greenery on the roof will help cool the building in summer. The rainwater drainage system will drain water from the roofs and terraces to a storage tank and, after treatment, it can be used for flushing. Thanks to the façade’s rational structure, only one third of the external walls will be glazed, which means that the building will not heat up as much. Further information on the project can be found at https://biopharmahub.muni.cz/.

The investor for the BioPharma Hub project is Masaryk University in Brno. Construction work began in October 2023 and should be completed by mid-2026. The contractor is a consortium comprising IMOS Brno, Metrostav DIZ, PS BRNO and IDPS. The investment costs of the construction project amount to almost CZK 3.2 bn excluding VAT, of which CZK 2.4 bn is covered by a European subsidy through the National Recovery Plan.

Contact details

Radim Mana
Metrostav Group Spokesman
Metrostav a.s. Koželužská 2450/4 180 00 Prague 8
T 266 019 715, M 601 110 376
radim.mana@metrostav.cz, www.metrostav.cz