Property development

We carry out construction projects and develop the service networks of our campuses in cooperation with our customers. It is important for us that the end result serves the users not only today, but also in the future. We aim to ensure that our buildings are healthy, safe and comfortable for people and the environment.

Our customers also have their own sustainability goals, and we want to help them achieve them. Cooperation plays a significant role. With the help of the joint development process we have developed, we have been able to take a very customer-driven approach to the planning and design of premises with their users.

We understand the value of our properties and respect their cultural heritage. When changes in the focus of our operations, for example, lead to us selling properties, we find buyers who have the same respect for the properties and the desire to develop them as part of the urban environment.

Research and development

Our vision is to be the best campus partner. To achieve this objective, we actively invest in research and development. We want to understand the changes taking place in the world and their effects on our business, and make the latest opportunities available to our customers.

One change that affects our operations is related to the changing perceptions of learning. This involves a shift from lecturing to phenomenon based learning and learning by doing. This entails creating classrooms and lecture halls that support a more active role for students. At the same time, the perception of learning premises is becoming broader. Spaces such as lobbies, corridors and restaurants can be used as learning environments.

Product responsibility

Safe and healthy premises and healthy indoor air quality in all of our buildings are very high priorities for us. The indoor air operating model we developed in cooperation with the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health is used at all our campuses. We regularly evaluate the operating model for indoor air quality and the related development needs in cooperation with experts. We try to find potentially risky locations and structures in proactive inspection rounds and to rectify them before problems emerge. The indoor air quality in all our premises on the last day of the year is reported below.

Indoor conditions

Campus safety

More and more attention has been paid to the safety of campuses in recent years. In 2020, campus safety was characterised and even defined by the coronavirus pandemic. We work in close cooperation with universities to ensure the safety of university campuses. The goal of campus safety work is to fulfil all statutory requirements applying to both the owner and the tenant of the property. We are constantly developing our models of operation to be able to ensure a safe working and studying environment.

Together with the safety personnel of universities, we develop the procedures for addressing deviations, providing feedback and monitoring. The objective of compiling statistics of safety observations and monitoring them is to bring up observations, which in turn are intended for prompt the person analysing them to ask questions, to verify the effectiveness of safety work and to show the direction of developments.

A safety deviation is an event that has caused direct effects such as slipping, chemical exposure or equivalent. In 2020, there were a total of 83 such cases at the campuses.

A safety observation is an identified factor that could cause a hazard that has yet to materialise in practice. In 2020, a total of 282 such observations were made at our campuses.

A proactive measure means that there is a matter that may materialise into a risk in the future if it is not addressed. We try to efficiently identify these, thus preventing the creation of risks. A total of 35 preventive measures was taken in 2020.

Other reports that do not fit the previous three categories include a deviation observed in the documents or a car parked in a dangerous location. There were 11 other reports. The total number of all safety-related reports and cases in 2020 was 411.

Local communities

Local communities are important cooperation partners for us in connection with construction projects in Finland, for example. When there are active communities in the neighbourhood, they can be involved and express their views already during the design phase of the construction project. We want to take the local communities’ views into account as far as possible to achieve the best possible result when constructing new buildings or renovating existing ones.

In 2020, we also supported local communities internationally. Through company-level emissions compensation in the spring, we supported emission reduction projects in Panama, Uganda, Cambodia and Finland. In Uganda, cleaner kettles have been made available to families, and the need to burn wood has decreased. In Panama, diverse afforestation in a total area of 13,400 hectares has provided employment, in the cultivation of organic cocoa, for example. In the Cambodia project, wastewater treatment equipment has been made available to local people: in 2019, 41,661 pcs were introduced.

Responsible employer

As an employer, we aim to ensure a stable workplace for our employees. We are developing the organisation to support the success of its owners, customers and employees. As part of this development, we implemented a cooperation process for all employees in 2020. With this process, we carried out an organisational reform, one of the key objectives of which was to better serve our customers. To support the changes, we have developed our corporate culture by engaging all employees. Our new values launched in the autumn of 2020 – Speaking up and listening, Shared responsibility and The right attitude – will also support this development.

Sustainable development indicators

 

	2019	2018	2017	2016	Unit
Corporate responsibility
Corporate responsibility, charity	2 targets / year	2 targets / year	1 target / year	1 target / year
Personnel have created added value for stakeholders (e.g. volunteering to deliver lectures)	0,8	1	2,4	1,9	days/year/pers.
Taking stakeholders into consideration
Completed multi-user properties, new buildings	0	2	1	0	build.
Demo sites for universities	6	5	9	6	cases / year
The company’s employment effect in Finland, indirect	2420	2040	2350	2000	man-year
Safety
Number of personnel with first-aid training	15/31	16 / 30	16 / 35	16 / 32	participants / whole staff
Safety coordinator and guidance at SYK’s construction sites	100	100	100	100	%
Accidents at worksites	33				per million working hours
Near misses at worksites	26				cases
Employee competence development
Employee training days/year	8	4	4,8	3,5	days/year/pers.
Total number of employees and employee turnover	31/3	30/4	35/3	32/0	number / new hires
Well-being at work
Days spent on well-being at work/well-being training	1	2	1	0,5	days/year/pers.
Employee satisfaction survey score	-	-	-	3,9	(scale 0–5)
Response activity in the personnel survey	90	97	-	87	%
Performance reviews	100	100	100	100	Held for % of personnel
Persons on parental leave or sabbatical	1	2	-	-	person