Millions of investing in one of the historic barracks buildings in Assen to establish a safety campus to strengthen the Johan Willem Frisokazerne. More government services to Drenthe. And Drenthe stands ready for Defense Orders for the industry in Emmen, aimed at sustainable strengthening of defense in Drenthe.
Province of Drenthe, the municipality of Assen, the ministries of Defense and the Interior and Educational Institutions University of Groningen, NHL Stenden and DC Terra have made agreements about this this afternoon. The strengthening of the barracks in Assen is concrete, and must lead to a reclassification plan of the barracks complex at the end of this year.
The redevelopment plan for the Kazerneterrein also contains a government-wide meeting and training center for government services, intended for internal training and multi-day sessions. In addition, there will also be a central production kitchen that provides all government services in the north with food. The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for this.
In the first place, the parties want to strengthen the Johan Willem Friso barracks in Assen and make it more future-proof, and compensate for the job loss at the Ministry of Defense in Assen. Because even though in 2023 an imminent closure of the barracks in the provincial capital was declined for the third time in a row, the Schoolbataljon Noord with the training of 500 soldiers was relocated to the barracks in Havelte. The result is more vacancy on the barracks, and the loss of 150 jobs.
To strengthen the barracks and to improve employment in the region, there has been a lot of negotiations between the parties lately. Quite soon the Thorbecke Academy came into the picture for a place on the barracks. The Thorbecke Academy, part of the NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, settled in Assen in 2022 with the Integral Security and CyberSafety courses, things that also occupy Defense. The Academy has been housed far too tight in the center, and would like to go to the barracks. The plan is now that next year with 250 Student Safety Science in the Kazerngegebouw Emma, that is the middle one in the list of the three monumental barracks along the Vaart.
The training is already working closely with Defense, as a potential employer for HBO students for security science. In the meantime, the Thorbecke Academy is also involved in training reservists. MBO training DC Terra also draws with the VEVA training, safety and craftsmanship, in the Kazerneregebouw. And the University of Groningen also steps into the safety story, with a special prior education and research group European safety and geopolitical issues. The courses together form the safety campus.
The intention is that the safety campus will be established on the barracks area in the short term. But that is in a temporary building, a rear wing of the historic Emma barracks. Province of Drenthe and Assen also have a resilience center on their wish list, with room for crisissimulation and crisis training. Furthermore, the campus should become part of a European network.
A year ago, the educational institutions were already assigned the official status of Safety Campus from the University of the North, with the aim of concentrating all safety training courses in Assen. At that time, the wish was also expressed to center the security training in one place, and in one of the historic barracks.
The province of Drenthe also sees opportunities for more employment by Defense Orders. For example, the Ministry of Defense has enormous tasks for the future because of the changed security situation in the world, and millions are ready for investments in defense equipment.
In addition, the province focuses in particular on the Emmen region, where the manufacturing industry is in particular. Furthermore, the provincial administration at the NOM, the Northern Development Agency, wants to use someone who helps Drenthe entrepreneurs to do concrete business with Defense.