“The new building is a landmark for the training of pharmacists in South Africa and, as we have some of the best lecturers in pharmacy in the country, this is the place where pharmacy students can achieve their aspirations and realise their dreams with quality education.”
This is according to the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Prof Awie Kotzé, during the opening of the new Pharmacy and Biological Sciences building (G23) on the Potchefstroom Campus.
The one wing of the building currently houses the School of Pharmacy, taking up four floors. The office of the director, Prof Sandra van Dyk, as well as the office of the undergraduate programme manager, the Postgraduate Office (MUSA), and a conference room are on the ground floor.
On the first floor are a Clinical Pharmacy group and a simulation laboratory. The second floor houses Pharmacy Practice, as well as four smaller lecture rooms, while the third floor houses Pharmacology and another laboratory.
The one wing in which Biological Sciences (Faculty of Natural Sciences) will be housed has not yet been completed. Tenders for the installation of offices and laboratories have only recently been requested. This installation cost will amount to approximately R50 million.
The vice-chancellor, Prof Dan Kgwadi, cuts the ceremonial ribbon of the new G23 Building on the Potchefstroom Campus, while the chief director for physical infrastructure and planning, Mr Joep Joubert (left), and the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Prof Awie Kotzé, look on.
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The new building provides modern facilities and an improved learning environment where the careers of pharmacy students can be honed.
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The Pharmacy and Biological Sciences building (G23) has been planned since 2011 and after negotiations to consolidate 10 plots on campus to make approximately 9 400 m² available, the demolishing of the houses started in 2013.
Mr Fanie Fourie, the project coordinator, says that the building was erected with 1,2 million bricks (enough for 26 medium-sized houses) and 670 tons of steel reinforcement in the concrete. “In the first four months of the building process it rained about 390 mm.”
Mr Joep Joubert, chief director for physical infrastructure and planning, says that they worked on 225 projects to the amount of approximately R663 million on the NWU’s campuses 30 months ago, of which 10 were large projects like G23.
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