Stuttgart/Augsburg, Germany, May 26, 2025. The medical campus of the University of Augsburg has been undergoing a transformation since 2020. The Bavarian State Construction Office (StBA) d Augsburg is having state-of-the-art teaching and research buildings constructed on an area of around 78,000 square meters to enable the university to offer cutting-edge, future-focused medical training. The first teaching building has been in operation since last October, and serves not only as a center for training, but also as a place where theoretical learning is closely linked with clinical practice. The focus right from the start is on integrating everyday clinical practice into students’ training, especially in the innovative human medicine model training course – and spatial proximity is therefore essential. Work is currently underway on the neighboring Institute of Theoretical Medicine (ITM), which will be completed in 2026. In close collaboration with the subsidiary m3 Bauprojektmanagement GmbH, the expert teams of Drees & Somme contribute their expertise to the university’s transformation project. The Stuttgart-based group specializes in construction, real estate and infrastructure consulting.
The school of medicine on the site will not only play a central role in the university’s continued development, but will also have a significant impact on healthcare provision in the Swabia region of Bavaria. The medical campus is being designed with the aim of creating a strong link between theory and practice – an aim supported by its close proximity to the university hospital in the west of the city. With 1,500 student places and 100 academic units, this will be an innovative training facility for a new generation of healthcare professionals, who are being very well prepared for the challenges of modern healthcare provision.
A Key Role for Smooth Operations
On a project of this size it is important that everything proceeds without a hitch and that everyone knows exactly what has to be done – and how, when and where. Daniel Müllner is responsible for technical project management at Drees & Sommer. He and his team members are experts in commissioning management: “We collaborate with several teams and stakeholders in order to ensure that all participants efficiently work together.
We align the schedules and coordinate all processes involved in technical commissioning management on and beyond the construction site. It is our task to ensure that the processes run smoothly. Our role here is to identify defects early, especially in the technical installations. One of the greatest added values of our work is that we provide transparency. In the critical phase, where some of the assembly schedules end and commissioning is usually just represented by a rudimentary bar, this is actually the key to success.”
Research and Teaching under One Roof
The around 6,400 square meter teaching building (LGB), which was completed in October, is particularly advanced and has a skills lab on the second floor in which emergency medicine can be taught under real-life conditions. The teaching building also accommodates the medical section of the University of Augsburg’s library, the office of the Dean of studies of the Faculty of Medicine, and the Department of Medical Education Augsburg (DEMEDA[MC1] ). This multi-purpose new building also has a reading garden with planting, which can be accessed from the upper floor of the library.
Technical Monitoring for Sustainable Operation
At Drees & Sommer, Daniel Müllner and his team are responsible for the technical monitoring and in charge of making sure that the technical systems can be operated efficiently and sustainably after the building’s completion. Daniel Müllner explains: “We are dealing with rooms that have ventilation systems as well as a sensitive heating and cooling system, which we will be monitoring continuously over a period of two years after completion. To do this, we will use measurements such as those from the technical building services’ sensors and counters, which, on a regular basis, supply data on operating points, temperatures, air quality and humidity. We evaluate a large number of data points and check first of all whether the equipment is doing what it should be doing and, secondly, whether it is energy-efficient. Values may change depending on the season, for instance: a typical example of something we commonly find is simultaneous heating and cooling in the cooling coils of ventilation systems or heating/cooling ceilings, which incurs unnecessary energy costs.”
The Institute of Theoretical Medicine (ITM), which is expected to be ready to move into by 2026 and is directly beside the teaching building, comprises 8,600 square meters and offers space for preclinical academic units, laboratories, practical training rooms, and a post-mortem and anatomy area. The layout of the building is dominated by two staggered interior courtyards. A glass-roofed atrium and a moss garden complete the complex. Here too, Drees & Sommer manager Daniel Müllner and his team of experts provide commissioning management services. Next year, after completion of works, they will also be in charge of the technical monitoring processes.
Creating Alternative Arrangements
Until the Institute of Theoretical Medicine is ready to move into, the university is making alternative arrangements to ensure that the teaching program runs smoothly: The former children’s hospital in Augsburg and some areas of the University Hospital of Augsburg have been converted for the purpose and adapted for the first students on the model medical training course. There is also almost 6,300 square meters of space for teaching and laboratories at four locations in Augsburg and Garching, which will provide a temporary solution.