Greetings from the retiring CEO

2019 saw the tenth anniversary of University Properties of Finland (SYK). The time has been a clearly unique journey, involving the establishment of the company, the creation of its nature and actions in a unique operating environment.

SYK was born from the university reform implemented in the late 2000s. In ten years, our operating environment has undergone a profound change, which is why the last year of the decade was marked with the initiation of strategy work.

The progress of strategy work was slightly slowed down by the changes in our organisation in 2019. The early part of the year started with reorganisation of the Board of Directors because the previous Chairman suddenly passed away late in the previous year. The reorganisation was also partly interlaced with the change of CEO later in the year.

Operatively, the year progressed as planned for our projects. Approximately 200 projects were in progress in 2019. The goals of sustainable development set in previous years were particularly highlighted in them during the year. Our investment activities remained at the previous year’s level.

During the year, the biggest investment in our history, the Aurum built for Åbo Akademi University and the University of Turku, progressed on schedule and in line with the budget and overall plan. The project was started in 2018 and will be completed in 2021.

In 2019, the overall situation in Finland was evidenced by a cautious attitude towards investments in business premises . There was a particularly prominent difference between the Greater Helsinki region and the rest of the country – elsewhere in Finland companies are clearly less active than in Helsinki and its neighbouring municipalities. The Hervanta campus in Tampere is an exception, as technology companies have expanded in our premises there.

This trend will increase the importance of corporate service concepts over the next few years. The services contribute to the cooperation between educational institutes and companies and lower the companies’ threshold for moving to campus areas.

A higher threshold for new investments was also observed outside the Greater Helsinki region. Consequently, it should be possible to use the existing buildings as efficiently and ecologically as possible. The development of infrastructure is also compliant with the objectives of sustainable development, as the requirements for returns on new investments increase.

Finland and the whole world are, in 2020, very different from what they were when the company was established in 2009. SYK’s new vision and strategy must be defined carefully, because the field of national economy and lifelong learning will also pose entirely new challenges and prerequisites for the company’s operations. For that work, I would like to wish the new CEO and the Board of Directors of SYK the best of luck and success for the future.