LABORATORIES will soon be transferred from the Main Building to a new facility being constructed along Padre Noval Street.
The soon-to-rise Central Laboratory will house the laboratories of the College of Science, College of Rehabilitation Sciences and Faculty of Pharmacy, and will be opened next academic year.
“The reason is very simple: the [Main Building] is very old,” Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. told to the Varsitarian in an exclusive interview after ending his stint as Rector.
“[A] laboratory that uses chemicals can actually compromise the integrity of the building.”
According to the public notice posted at the site of the new laboratory center, the project, which is handled by IronconBuilders and Development Corp., started on Sept. 21, 2015 and would be completed this Sept. 14.
UST’s laboratories are managed by the Laboratory Equipment and Supplies Office, headed by Ross Vasquez. The Main Building houses almost all laboratory rooms of UST, specifically on its higher floors.
“The University, considering this as a heritage site, decided to build another structure prioritizing the laboratories, which also comes in the best interest, to provide its students with world-class laboratory facilities in line with the current curriculum,” Facilities Management Office (FMO) Director Fr. Rolando Castro, O.P. said in an interview.
The new laboratory building will be parallel to the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex and adjacent with the FMO building.
It will also house 32 teaching laboratories at the second to sixth floors, a 200-seater lecture hall and a Central Laboratory Equipment and Supplies Office at the top-most floor, and a loft-type roof deck with solar panels.
After the laboratories are moved, the vacant spaces in the Main Building will be converted into function rooms.
Dagohoy ended his first term as rector a month ahead of schedule last March 31. Vice Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. assumed the post of Acting Rector (see related story on page 2). Julius Roman F. Tolop and Jerome P. Villanueva
