# 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.