INCREASINGLY DIVERSE SERVICES ON CAMPUSES
We provide a growing range services to support the operations of our customers, both universities and businesses. We also developed our service business during the year by expanding our restaurant operations and lobby services.
Our campuses are located in Hämeenlinna, Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lappeenranta, Oulu, Rauma, Rovaniemi, Savonlinna, Tampere, Turku and Vaasa.
In addition to universities and universities of applied sciences, the tenants of our campuses include businesses, an upper secondary school, primary schools and day-care centres. We provide premises for businesses that want to operate in close proximity to universities. Our strengths include our premises’ locations on attractive campuses and our cost-effective pricing.
In addition to providing business premises for our corporate customers, we also increasingly offer a range of additional services to make their day-to-day operations easier, such as restaurant and catering services, conference rooms and hair styling services. Kampusklubi at the Hervanta campus in Tampere brings together businesses, researchers and students. These encounters create new ideas and innovation. The themes of Kampusklubi’s most popular member events in 2018 were artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Campuses attract businesses
The business premises market was characterised by a high level of supply and intense competition in 2018. Nevertheless, we were able to provide good premises, locations and services. We increasingly rented out premises to non-university tenants.
We invested heavily in developing our service business as part of our organisational renewal. We strengthened our resources and expertise during the year by recruiting account managers. The account managers are responsible for customer relations and services as well as new customer acquisition in their respective areas: Western, Central, Eastern and Northern Finland. We will continue to put our new operating model into practice and develop it further in 2019.
We also expanded our partner network. We increased our expertise in cooperation with our service partners, such as maintenance and cleaning service providers. Our aim is to maintain long-term relationships with high-quality partners.
More multi-user buildings and campuses
The tenants of the Medisiina D building commissioned in Turku in May include the University of Turku, Turku University of Applied Sciences and the Hospital District of Southwest Finland. The building also has premises reserved for businesses.
The operations of Etelä-Hervanta school, from early education to secondary school, involving some 1,000 people, were relocated to the Hervanta campus in Tampere starting from August. A private day-care centre began operating on the Hervanta campus in January 2018.
New facilities were completed at the Oulu campus for the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Education. This makes it possible to vacate premises at the northern end of the campus to free up space for the Oulu University of Applied Sciences’ arrival at the Linnanmaa campus.
A genuine multi-user campus has been developed in Lappeenranta’s Skinnarila district, used by the university as well as the university of applied sciences, primary school and pre-primary school. Late in the year, space was also renovated on the campus for a private day-care centre, which will start its operations in early 2019.
Our occupancy rate in 2018 was in line with our target at 94.9 per cent (2017: 93.2%). Vacant premises accounted for 5.1 per cent of the property portfolio.
10 largest customers
University of Eastern Finland
University of Jyväskylä
University of Lapland
Lappeenranta University of Technology
University of Oulu
Tampere University of Technology Foundation
Tampere University
University of Turku
University of Vaasa
Åbo Akademi University
Increasing focus on services
“Our playing field is changing as more space on campuses is made available for the business sector. Businesses, in turn, need services. When the customer already has walls, a ceiling, light and heating, the focus shifts to making the premises comfortable and day-to-day operations as smooth and convenient as possible.
We provide our customers with the services that businesses need, including lobby services, conference rooms, cleaning services and employee restaurant services. There is also a growing demand for community-oriented spaces for collaboration.
We look for partners who can help us introduce new services to campuses that support the business operations of our customers; for example, advertising agencies and legal firms.”
Samuel Koivisto
Director, Customer Relations and Services
“The majority of the students who have participated in Kampusklubi activities have graduated and found jobs quickly”
Effective cooperation between the university and enterprises is important for science and the business sector.
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