Universitair Ziekenhuis Leuven, often shortened to UZ Leuven, is an academic hospital in Leuven, Belgium, associated with the university KU Leuven. It consists of five campuses as of 2016; Gasthuisberg, Lubbeek, Pellenberg, Sint-Pieter and Sint-Rafaël. The hospital has 1,995 beds and over 9,000 employees.
Campuses
Campus Gasthuisberg
Literally translated 'guest house hill', its name has become synonymous with UZ Leuven. It is the biggest and most well known of all the campuses. It houses many facilities of the university among which research laboratories, auditoria of the faculty of medicine and faculty of pharmaceutical sciences, a manual procedures training center, a library and a student restaurant. Aside from the KU Leuven, the UCLL also has teaching facilities on the Gasthuisberg campus where nursing and computer sciences are taught. Still expanding, this campus is known for being almost permanently under construction since the start of its construction in the early 1970s.
Campus Lubbeek
Located in Lubbeek, about 11 km from the city center, it is the furthest from the city of all campuses.
Campus Pellenberg
Campus Pellenberg is located in the district of Pellenberg, about 8 km from the city center of Leuven. It is located in a more rural area and is most known for being a recovery clinic. As of 2017, UZ Leuven is relocating several services from the Pellenberg campus to the main campus, Gasthuisberg.
Campus Sint-Pieter
Sint-Pieter is the oldest campus dating back to the year 1080. It is located in the city center. By 2019, all operations in this campus were halted as the move to the Gasthuisberg campus was completed. Demolition of the buildings is ongoing since 2020.
Campus Sint-Rafaël
Sint-Rafaël is located next to campus Sint-Pieter within the inner city of Leuven. There are some older auditoria and laboratories which are still in use. The human dissections of the faculty of medicine take place here.
History
1080: Sint-Pietersziekenhuis is built.
1426: Courses are taught at the Saint-Peter's Hospital.
1836: The city of Leuven and the university decide to build a new Saint-Peter's Hospital.
1928: The university builds the Saint-Rafael campus. This is the official start of UZ Leuven.
1958: Sanatorium Saint Barbara in Pellenberg, for the treatment of tuberculosis, is now part of UZ Leuven.
1970: After the split of the university into a French- and a Dutch-speaking part, UZ Leuven in its current structure is founded, accommodating the new, autonomous Dutch-speaking faculty of medicine. While the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven takes over the infrastructures in Leuven, French-speaking staff and faculty leave the city and move to the newly built UCLouvain Brussels Woluwe campus in Brussels, where the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc are built.
1971: A site just outside the city, known as Gasthuisberg, is found to be the ideal location for a new campus for the university hospital.
1975: Phase I of the new project, a pediatrics department, is now in use.
1989: the start of phase III. Some departments from Pellenberg and Sint-Rafaël are moved to Gasthuisberg. The Centrum voor Menselijke Erfelijkheid is now housed in Gasthuisberg together with other laboratories.
2001: A phase IV project should move remaining departments from Sint-Pieter to Gasthuisberg.
