HOCHTIEF Polska has signed a contract for the reconstruction and expansion of the SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre. The SOLARIS Centre operates at the Jagiellonian University and conducts research using synchrotron radiation. Construction work will take approximately 12 months from the signing of the contract.
HOCHTIEF Polska's order includes the construction of a new building and its connection to the existing hall, which will be partially rebuilt. As part of the contract, HOCHTIEF will also carry out the expansion of the external installations and the road system around the facility.
The new building will consist of a single-storey research part and a two-storey part with social and technical rooms. Due to the nature of the research carried out at the SOLARIS Centre, anti-vibration mats to increase protection against vibrations will be used.
After the expansion, the synchrotron hall will be more than 2 000 square metres in size and will house new research and measurement infrastructure. It will include a sample preparation laboratory for SOLARIS users, a National Cryomicroscopy Centre, as well as workshop space and new offices for the scientific team.
The SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre was built between 2010 and 2015 at the Jagiellonian University. It houses a synchrotron, a source of synchrotron radiation. This radiation is used for research in many scientific fields: from physics, chemistry and medicine to archaeology and art history. The centre in Krakow is one of several dozen centres with similar infrastructure in the world and the only one in Central and Eastern Europe.
The expansion and reconstruction of the Solaris Centre building is another project carried out by HOCHTIEF Polska for the Jagiellonian University. In the past, HOCHTIEF Polska carried out, among other projects, the modernisation of the university building at Reymonta 4 Street and the construction of the headquarters of the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science.
The seat of SOLARIS NSRC before start of construction works, (C) NCPS Solaris
