Mould shuts down parts of South Campus over the summer

The mould problems continue for students and staff at South Campus.

The University of Copenhagen (UCPH) is now launching an extensive remediation effort, which means that the entire ground floors and first floors of three buildings will be cordoned off over the summer break.

The buildings in question are 21, 22 and 27, where workmen will move in during the holidays to tackle the mould problem.

This is according to a release on KUnet.

The problems with mould at South Campus began in December and have since spread from individual offices to several classrooms and student cafés on campus.

READ ALSO: Mould spreads at South Campus, forcing University of Copenhagen students online

Focus on auditoriums and student cafés

The UCPH Buildings unit expects that the entire mould remediation will not be completed before students return in September.

As a result, priority is being given to the most central spaces.

»We’ve chosen to focus on rooms that are hard to replace elsewhere on campus. Like auditoriums and the student cafés. They can’t easily be relocated to other locations. That’s why we’re taking them first,« says Deputy Director at UCPH Buildings Karen Dilling in the KUnet release.

READ ALSO: Students are juggling Zoom classes, exams — and mould risk

The affected rooms will be locked and inaccessible in July and August. This also applies to student cafés and areas that had previously remained open.

It was a minor mould case — then it escalated

Mould was first detected at South Campus in December 2024, when the Danish Technological Institute found mould between the linoleum flooring and concrete subfloor in an office in building 21. At the time, the university considered it an isolated incident, but new tests quickly revealed that the problem was more widespread.

In spring 2025, mould was also found in several classrooms, and in April the University of Copenhagen had to close a number of rooms in buildings 21, 22 and 27. For students at the Faculty of Humanities, this meant the remainder of the spring semester had to be conducted online.

Extensive testing has since been carried out in the buildings, and it is on this basis that this summer’s remediation is now taking place.

Teaching to be relocated — but not off campus

UCPH cannot guarantee that all teaching spaces will be ready by the start of the semester in September. But section head of room administration, Kåre Nielsen Wangen, confirms that teaching will continue at South Campus — although students and instructors can expect to move between different parts of the campus complex.

»We’ve tried, as far as possible, to maintain teaching at the originally announced times, so both lecturers and students can rely on the plans for the upcoming semester,« he says.

He also encourages everyone to keep an eye on their schedules, as room numbers may change during the semester.

UCPH hopes the student cafés will be ready in time to welcome new students in September, but it cannot be ruled out that some start-of-semester activities will have to be held elsewhere.

UCPH Buildings expects to be able to give an update on the remediation work in early September.