The university's portfolio of premises must meet the needs of the organisation in both the short and long term, while balancing the needs with financial conditions. This means that the university must have the right premises at the right cost. Existing premises must be used efficiently, and the number of vacant premises minimised. For us to be able to continue to develop our activities and utilise our resources in the best possible way, it is key for us to have stable rental costs at a rent level that is sustainable in the long term.
To gain operational benefits, we also need to co-locate some activities that are currently located outside Frescati, i.e. outside the geographical area that extends from Albano in the south to Bergius Botanic Garden in the north. One way to enable this without increasing the university’s costs or climate footprint is by utilising the premises in the Frescati area more efficiently.
Last autumn, a survey was conducted among all activities within the university regarding the use of premises. It is now time to take the next step in this work and use the results of the survey to conduct needs analyses to inventory the needs of all activities and map out the existing conditions of the premises, such as rental agreements, maintenance plans and use of common/general areas. These needs analyses will then be used to develop alternatives for how the university's premises portfolio can be developed to best meet the needs of the activities and at the same time meet the goal of achieving a rent level that is sustainable in the long term.
If we want to achieve the goal of reducing the total amount of rented space by improving the utilisation of the premises portfolio so that we have a rent level with long-term sustainability, we need to work together. Such work will require everyone’s involvement. It does not help for a single department or division to vacate parts of its premises – this does not make an impact on the total rental costs, nor does it create optimal utilisation of premises. The plan is for the work on needs analyses to be completed by the end of 2023/24. After that, work on developing alternatives for the best possible utilisation of our premises will begin.
This text is written by Åsa Borin, University Director. It appears in the section ”Words from the University’s senior management team”, where members of the management team take turns to write about topical issues. The section appears in every edition of News for staff which is distributed to the entirety of the University staff.