The Faculties of Veterinary medicine and Forestry have been renovated and modernized

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine has been located in a building on K. Helmanis Street in Jelgava since 1964, and it consists of several buildings. At one time, the building was built especially for the needs of the faculty and several generations of veterinarians have already recognized it as their Alma mater. Although a modern Veterinary Clinic has been developed next to the faculty over the past decade, renovations of several of its teaching and research facilities have only been completed in December this year.

Since the beginning of 2020, purposefully combining various sources of funding, the A building of the faculty has been renovated, which mainly houses study premises and study laboratories, and the C building has been built, in which the new Clinical Research Center has been established. In total, 2.8 million euros have been invested in construction, improvement of energy efficiency, modernization of the study and research environment and infrastructure in various parts of the building.

In the historical building A, which is the main building of the faculty, significant energy efficiency works have been implemented in parallel with the improvement of the study environment - facade insulation, window and door replacement, plinth insulation, heating system reconstruction and heating unit installation, roof insulation and replacement, lighting reconstruction, ventilation reconstruction and installation of a fire detection and alarm system.

Building A houses study laboratories - Food Hygiene Study Laboratory, Osteology Laboratory, Histology Study Laboratories, as well as seminar and lecture rooms renovated for the needs of students, Museums of Osteology and Faculty. In turn, two scientific laboratories have started operating in the newly established Clinical Research Center in Building C - the Embryo Transfer Laboratory and the GHG Emission Research Laboratory. The last of them is a unique GHG emission measurement biocameras located in Latvia. There are also several rooms for animals in the center.

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine is one of the oldest faculties of the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, which was once founded in 1919 as part of the University of Latvia and was located in Riga. As the places and names changed, the faculty acquired its current home in Jelgava, K. Helmanis Street 8, in 1964. The faculty implements studies in veterinary medicine as a 2nd level professional study program and a doctoral study program. The faculty has been granted international EAEVE accreditation, and future veterinarians from all over Europe choose it as their place of study.

The building of the Faculty of Forestry on Akademija Street in Jelgava was built in 1957 and handed over for the needs of the then Latvian Academy of Agriculture (now the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies). The building of the Faculty of Forestry in Jelgava is the only place in Latvia where it is possible to obtain higher education in forestry, logging and woodworking. For several generations of forest specialists, this has been the starting point for studies and professional careers, but such extensive energy efficiency and study environment modernization works have been implemented in the building for the first time since its construction in the middle of the last century. For several decades, the interior of the building has been maintained, transforming it into a special symbol of the forest and woodworking industry, using wood as a material for interior elements and decorative elements indoors.

In November 2021, the building completed significant energy efficiency improvements and acquired a new appearance. In addition, significant modernization works of the study environment were implemented in 2020, thus convenient, modern and arranged study premises are available to the future specialists of the forest sector. The renovation works have been implemented by combining different sources of funding, and a total of approximately 1.2 million euros has been invested in the faculty since 2018.

Improvements to the building's energy efficiency have been made with climate change in mind to reduce heat dissipation to the environment, improve the building's energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs, increase the building's sustainability and quality, and improve the building's aesthetics and overall technical condition.

In addition, unique study laboratories have been created indoors during the renovation, which are unique in Baltic countries. One of them is the Husqvarna Power Tools Laboratory, which has been donated by Husqvarna Latvia. Other laboratories are also equipped with new equipment for study needs: Forest Protection Laboratory, Hunting Laboratory, Forestry Laboratory and Dendrology Laboratory.

All the faculty premises have undergone significant changes, including the auditorium named after Professor Alfons Grinfelds, the faculty information center - the library, the computer classroom and the conference room. The common areas of the faculty are also specially equipped for the needs of students, so that it would be convenient to perform the work necessary for studies.

The Faculty of Forestry is one of the oldest faculties of LLU, which was once founded in 1920 as the Department of Forestry of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Latvia and was located in Riga. As the places and names changed, the faculty acquired its current home in Jelgava, Akademija Street 11, in 1957. The faculty implements eight study programs at different study levels, the latest of which is “Sustainable Forestry”, which is intended for foreign students and is implemented in English.