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Payap also wants to work closely with the project on new student programmes: audio engineering (mastering, lathe cutting), IT, business administration and more. New docs/payap-partnership.md: why it fits (mastering/cutting engineers are the hardest hires; Payap has music, IT, business, communication arts, an English-language International College and pharmacy labs; the plant has a lathe, production data and a real factory application), programme areas mapped to the docs they draw on, and what it changes: a reason to bring the cutting room (roadmap item 27) forward, a cutting engineer before the students, lacquer and stylus cost of teaching, pre-release security for customer audio, student access and safety, IT work on staging only, the link to the Payap land, BOI R&D merit. Suggested form: MOU, internships, short certificate courses first, degree tracks later; what to settle in writing and questions for the next meeting. Links from README (bullet, layout), site-candidates, roadmap item 27, the supplier map's open training item and the BOI open items.
6.3 KiB
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,
crane, workshop and tours), factory permission
for pressing with a steam boiler, and, for Phase 5, permission for an
electroplating line (galvanics and stamper prep).
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 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, the artist platform and hiring all work better in town.
- A partner, not only a landlord. Payap also wants to build new student programmes with us in audio engineering (mastering, lathe cutting), IT and business administration; that strand has its own page, Payap partnership. Its Faculty of Pharmacy has analytical labs that could back the PVC material lab (quality automation), and a formal university collaboration is the kind of R&D and skills cooperation the BOI 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):
- 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.
- 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).
- 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), galvanics extraction, PVC extrusion fumes, press noise and truck traffic. Agree emission and buffer rules in the lease rather than after the first complaint.
- 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.
- Plot fit. Shape and size against the 60 × 25 m building, the detached utility yard and the phase 2 footprint (6 to 8 rai).
- Galvanics on a campus. Phase 5 electroplating needs the lessor's written consent; the zero-discharge design (sustainability) 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
stay on Mueang Chi until a Payap plot is known and has passed checks 1
and 2.