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Here is the press release issued by the Ministry of Finance and Science:
The following text has been machine translated from the German with no human editing.
With the two new construction phases, the goal of a total of around 1,000 modern and affordable student residences on the campus of Saarland University is within reach. As an investor, Saarland entrepreneur Edwin Kohl is realising affordable housing for students with his innovative NullplusNull concept, with the intended use of social housing subsidies from the state and federal government. This particularly sustainable energy and climate concept sets new standards for student housing in Saarland.
The two new halls of residence will be equipped with a particularly sustainable energy and air conditioning system. The NULLplusNULL concept developed by entrepreneur Edwin Kohl combines solar thermal energy, adsorption cooling, near-surface geothermal energy, a PCM storage system and a hybrid heat pump to create a virtually self-sufficient heating, cooling and hot water system. This significantly reduces external energy requirements and ensures that the project also sets new standards in terms of sustainability, energy efficiency and operating costs.
Science Minister Jakob von Weizsäcker: "The Campus 1000 project is entering the home stretch. This is good news for students looking for affordable housing. It is good news for the attractiveness of our campus and the competitiveness of our university. And it is a strong signal for the innovative strength of the Saarland. With the new halls of residence, the successful Saarland entrepreneur Professor Edwin Kohl is creating an innovative showcase project for sustainable air conditioning in social housing. Great things are happening here on a small scale.
Entrepreneur and investor Edwin Kohl: "Germany's first student residence hall, which will be heated and cooled at virtually no cost, is being built on the university campus. The war in Ukraine and advancing climate change require a rethink: we must move away from fossil fuels for heating, and we must cool buildings so that they can be inhabited as temperatures rise. For over 30 years, Kohlpharma buildings in Perl and Merzig have been heated and cooled sustainably. Proven technologies have been used here and sometimes combined in different ways to create an innovative overall solution. The same is now happening with the construction of the student residence. Proven solutions are being intelligently combined to create a new overall solution."
State Secretary for the Interior, Building and Physical Education, Torsten Lang: "The creation of affordable housing is a key issue for the state government. We have restructured housing subsidies and made the conditions more attractive and simpler for investors with the new guidelines. We have also made it much easier for students to access subsidised housing by requiring only proof of enrolment and no longer requiring any supporting documents for the BAföG student loans programme. For us, student housing is clearly part of housing promotion – and the ‘Campus 1000’ project fits in perfectly with this.
University President Ludger Santen: University President Ludger Santen: “With the additional student residences, we will be able to offer even more affordable housing directly on campus. This will help us attract talented students from all over the world to Saarland University. In view of the university's focus on sustainability, we are excited about the planned innovative building concept.”
Saarbrücken Mayor Uwe Conradt: “The state capital is the central university and education location within the Saarbrücken Eurometropolis. An attractive university campus with good infrastructure and modern, affordable housing is of central importance to the significance of the science location. I am delighted that the campus is increasingly becoming a lively place for learning and living together.”
There are currently 72 student residences on campus. With the three residences in the first construction phase, which are almost complete and offer 234 places, and the second construction phase, which is currently in the approval process and will offer 306 places, the total number of places will be 612. The additional 300 to 400 dormitory places now planned are expected to increase the total number to around 1,000, although the exact number still depends on how high the buildings can be constructed.
The new capacity will also make an important contribution to making Saarbrücken even more attractive as a place to study for young people: those who come to Saarland to study should not first have to face the hurdle of finding accommodation, but should find good conditions for a successful start from day one. The project will bring student life back to the campus and strengthen Saarbrücken as a university city.