Lincoln centre opening

Press, 3 April 1987, Page 10

Lincoln centre opening

Farmers have been invited to the “special preview” on the opening day of the new $l4 million Canterbury Agriculture and Science Centre at Lincoln, next Friday, April 10.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Tizard, will open the joint D.S.I.R. and M.A.F. complex at 10 a.m. on that day and there will be an official inspection for invited guests afterwards. But as “clients” of the newly commercial D.S.I.R. and M.A.F., farmers will be welcome to look over the centre on Friday afternoon or to come on Sunday, May 12, to the public open day.

Most of the 300 re-

searchers, technicians and administrators who work in the new complex will be staging displays of their work during both days, The agriculture and science centre has been built to replace the 50-year-old buildings of the D.S.I.R. at Lincoln and to provide a new headquarters for MAFTech, the research and advisory division, in the southern central region.

The centre also boosts the agricultural and science presence at Lincoln, including Lincoln College, Wool Research Organisation and the Agricultural Engineering Institute, and a proposal has been made to turn the whole area into a

“science park.”

The M.A.F.-D.S.I.R. centre has 310 ha of land, , including cropping plots and. a new 117 ha research farm on the western side of Springs Road.

The 16,000 square metre building complex contains 35 laboratories and 130 offices as well as function rooms and cafeteria.

Some facilities can be shared between M.A.F. and D.S.I.R. staff, giving savings on the costs if each department built separately.

The former Minister of Works, Mr Quigley, first suggested that the D.S.I.R. and the M.A.F. collaborate with future building at Lincoln.