Add Payap University land as a site candidate

Payap University (Chiang Mai) is interested in leasing land to the
project; a pharmaceutical facility is under construction on the same land.

New docs/site-candidates.md puts the three options side by side (Mueang
Chi lease, Northern Region Industrial Estate, Payap) with the public facts
on Payap (Mae Khao campus on the Chiang Mai-Lampang superhighway, bought
as low-lying land, ~275 acres; Faculty of Pharmacy cosmetics production
facility tendered July 2024; RPAH cannabis/herbal bioreactor centre), why
it is attractive (5 km from the old city, a university partner with music,
pharmacy and labs, production already being built there) and the checks
that could rule it out, in order: zoning for pressing, boiler and later
electroplating; whether the university can lease to a company; the GMP
neighbour's sensitivity to our emissions (argues against biomass steam
there); flooding; plot fit; galvanics consent. Questions for the next
meeting listed. Nothing re-sited: model, RFQ and site code stay on
Mueang Chi until a plot is known.

README (intro, bullet, layout), roadmap item 9 and the lease fork in
project-timeline link to it.

README.md

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 # CNX Vinyl / Poy Records
 
 A vinyl record factory in planning for the Chiang Mai area of northern
-Thailand (site candidates include Lamphun and Lampang provinces). This
+Thailand (site candidates include Lamphun and Lampang provinces and, since
-repository is the source of truth for the project: planning documents and
+October 2026, Payap University land in Chiang Mai). This repository is
-cost data today. As the factory takes shape it will also hold the data and
+the source of truth for the project: planning documents and cost data
-software used to run it.
+today. As the factory takes shape it will also hold the data and software
+used to run it.
 
 ## Team
 
@@ -139,6 +140,10 @@ The detail lives in dedicated documents:
 - [Project timeline](docs/project-timeline.md): the calendar from today to
   first paying release, the BOI-to-machinery critical path, and where the
   float actually sits
+- [Site candidates](docs/site-candidates.md): the land options side by
+  side (the Mueang Chi lease, the Northern Region Industrial Estate, and
+  Payap University's offer of land next to a pharmaceutical facility under
+  construction) and what has to be checked before any of them is chosen
 - [Project scale](docs/scale.md): rough numbers for everything on one page:
   output capacity, building area, land, electrical demand, solar and
   storage, steam and fuel, headcount, and money cross-references
@@ -191,6 +196,7 @@ docs/
 ├── quality-automation.md  Stamper metrology and layered record QC
 ├── roadmap.md             Next steps in dependency order
 ├── scale.md               Rough project sizing on one page
+├── site-candidates.md     Land options and the checks before choosing
 ├── sustainability.md      Energy, water, materials commitments
 ├── traceability.md        Process logging and per-order traceability
 └── worker-safety.md       Training, clean rooms, PPE

docs/project-timeline.md

@@ -208,6 +208,11 @@ galvanics option alive.
 resolving before more design effort goes into the parametric model,
 because the model is only useful on one side of it.
 
+A further lease option arrived in October 2026: Payap University offers
+land in Chiang Mai next to a pharmaceutical facility under construction
+([site candidates](site-candidates.md)). Its zoning is as unverified as
+Mueang Chi's, so it adds a candidate without moving the critical path.
+
 ## The investor's CD and cassette request
 
 Adding CD and cassette to the plant has been raised by the main

docs/roadmap.md

@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ These three run in parallel and gate everything downstream:
    confirm the EPC (Solar Nicolo or other) warrants a mixed-vendor DC bus
 9. **Site selection**: candidate buildings/plots in Lamphun and Lampang
    (Northern Region Industrial Estate first for its shared effluent
-   treatment and licensing simplicity), screened against the
+   treatment and licensing simplicity) and, since October 2026, Payap
+   University land in Chiang Mai ([site candidates](site-candidates.md)),
+   screened against the
    [scale requirements](scale.md): 6 to 8 rai, 1,400 to 2,000 m² single
    story (including the workshop and visitor corridor), multiple tons per
    m² slab, 500 to 1,000 kVA connection, and a frame able to carry an

docs/site-candidates.md

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+# Site Candidates
+
+The site strategy is a long lease of raw land on which the purpose-built
+plant is constructed (business plan section 6.1, built from
+`business-plan/build/`). What any site has to offer is unchanged: ~4 rai
+minimum and 6 to 8 rai with expansion, truck access and turning, room for
+the cooling tower and a separated battery enclosure, a 500 to 1,000 kVA
+medium-voltage connection, a slab rated 3 t/m² and a frame able to carry
+the overhead crane ([scale](scale.md),
+[crane, workshop and tours](crane-workshop-tours.md)), factory permission
+for pressing with a steam boiler, and, for Phase 5, permission for an
+electroplating line ([galvanics and stamper prep](equipment/galvanics.md)).
+
+## The three candidates
+
+| | Mueang Chi, Lamphun | Northern Region Industrial Estate, Lamphun | Payap University land, Chiang Mai |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Status | Working candidate: the massing model, PV roof design and [construction RFQ](finance/phase1-construction-rfq.md) are sited here | Fallback | New lead (October 2026): the university approached the project and is interested in leasing land to us |
+| Lessor | Private owner | IEAT | Payap University (private, non-profit, founded by the Foundation of the Church of Christ in Thailand) |
+| Plot | 5-0-66.5 rai, 18.4708 N, 98.9642 E, narrow and skewed | Leased estate plots | Not yet identified. The main (Mae Khao) campus is at 18.795 N, 99.033 E |
+| Distance to Chiang Mai old city | ~35 km | Lamphun valley | ~5 km east, on the Chiang Mai–Lampang superhighway |
+| Zoning for factory use | Unverified (agricultural land) | Industrial estate; licensing through the estate | Unverified |
+| Galvanics effluent | Ours to permit; zero discharge | Shared central effluent treatment | Needs the lessor's consent on top of the permit |
+| Neighbours | Agricultural | Industrial | A pharmaceutical facility under construction on the same land |
+
+## Payap University (new lead, October 2026)
+
+**What we know from the conversation:** Payap University is interested in
+leasing land to the project, and a pharmaceutical facility is under
+construction on the same land. The plot, its size, the title, the term and
+the rent are not known yet.
+
+**Public facts.** Payap's main campus, Mae Khao, is at 272 Moo 2, San
+Phranet, San Sai district, on the Chiang Mai–Lampang superhighway. The
+university bought it in 1974 as about 120 acres of low-lying land and has
+since grown it to about 275 acres (~700 rai) with purchases across the ring
+road (Payap's own history page). Its Faculty of Pharmacy put the
+construction of a cosmetics production facility and co-working space out to
+tender in July 2024, and the university has announced a centre for
+producing active compounds from cannabis and medicinal plants by bioreactor
+(RPAH) with an industry sponsor. Whether either of these is the
+pharmaceutical facility on the offered land is to be confirmed.
+
+**Why it is worth pursuing.**
+
+- **Location.** About 5 km from the old city and 25 to 30 km nearer the
+  team, customers and the airport than Mueang Chi. The
+  [visitor corridor](crane-workshop-tours.md), the
+  [artist platform](artist-platform.md) and hiring all work better in town.
+- **A partner, not only a landlord.** Payap has a College of Music,
+  communication arts and business faculties (artists, mastering and
+  cutting trainees, the platform's first users) and a Faculty of Pharmacy
+  with analytical labs that could back the PVC material lab
+  ([quality automation](quality-automation.md)). A formal university
+  collaboration is also the kind of R&D and skills cooperation the
+  [BOI](boi.md) merit measures reward; confirm which measure applies.
+- **Production is already being built there.** If the pharmaceutical
+  facility has factory permission, the land may already have a path
+  through licensing and a medium-voltage supply nearby. Shared
+  infrastructure (MV connection, RO water, effluent treatment) is worth
+  asking about.
+
+**What could rule it out** (check in this order, before any design work):
+
+1. **Zoning.** The plot's colour in the Chiang Mai comprehensive city plan
+   and whether it allows a record-pressing factory with a steam boiler and,
+   later, electroplating. A pharmaceutical or cosmetics plant and an
+   electroplating line are different factory classes, so the neighbour's
+   permit proves little. Ask the provincial public works and town planning
+   office, as for Mueang Chi.
+2. **Can the university lease to a company?** Title type (Chanote needed),
+   university council approval, and whether campus land of a private
+   higher-education institution carries restrictions on commercial leases.
+   This is a question for Thai counsel, together with the lease terms the
+   business plan already requires (registered 30-year lease with renewal,
+   building ownership, mortgageable).
+3. **The pharmaceutical neighbour.** A GMP facility is sensitive to dust,
+   smoke and fumes. Ours: the boiler stack (biomass smoke next to a
+   pharmaceutical plant in town would be a hard sell, which favours
+   electric or LPG steam; see [biomass](biomass.md)), galvanics extraction,
+   PVC extrusion fumes, press noise and truck traffic. Agree emission and
+   buffer rules in the lease rather than after the first complaint.
+4. **Flooding.** Payap describes the Mae Khao land as low-lying when bought.
+   Check the plot against the 2024 flood extents; the design's floor, 1.2 m
+   above ground for the loading docks, helps but is not a flood
+   assessment.
+5. **Plot fit.** Shape and size against the 60 × 25 m building, the
+   detached utility yard and the phase 2 footprint (6 to 8 rai).
+6. **Galvanics on a campus.** Phase 5 electroplating needs the lessor's
+   written consent; the zero-discharge design
+   ([sustainability](sustainability.md)) becomes a lease condition, not
+   only a commitment.
+
+**Questions for the next meeting with Payap:** which plot (map, size,
+title deed number), its zoning and current use; what the pharmaceutical
+facility is, who operates it and when it opens; what utilities it brings
+(MV, water, wastewater); lease term, rent, renewal and building ownership;
+what collaboration the university wants in return.
+
+Nothing has been re-sited. The parametric model, PV roof study, RFQ and
+the fleet site code `lpn` in the [digital factory](digital-factory.md)
+stay on Mueang Chi until a Payap plot is known and has passed checks 1
+and 2.