The (short) history of the PZH

Bringing university research and production engineering companies together under one roof, bundling competencies, creating synergies: This was the idea of the PZH pioneers at Leibniz Universität Hannover. All the institutes - six at the time - that were involved in production technology and logistics and were still scattered all over the city, shared this idea, as were numerous companies later on. Leibniz University then founded PZH GmbH in 2001, now TEWISS GmbH, which promoted the project, contributed one third to the financing of the PZH building as part of a public-private partnership with the state and federal government, and has been operating the building jointly with the university since 2004. In 2014, the Institute of Assembly Technology was newly established and Annika Raatz was appointed the first head of the institute. In 2019, the newly created Institute of Plastics and Circular Economy followed, headed by Hans-Josef Endres.

Meeting place

The PZH is the first construction phase of the mechanical engineering campus completed in 2019. It is located in Garbsen, near the A2 exit Hannover-Herrenhausen. The architect Günter Henn's building makes it very easy for the people working there to meet and work together: the central spine, a transparent hall, creates connections between all PZH facilities and to the lecture hall, library, and seminar rooms. Four laboratory and office wings are located there and three large halls for the experimental fields are adjacent. Total usable area: about 22,000 square metres.