Xamk’s Property Services evaluate the suitability of the facilities in continuous interaction with the users. The re-established campus working groups assist Property Services with this work.
Property Services co-operate with campus working groups
Each Xamk campus has a campus working group, which assists Property Services with the planning of maintenance and repairs. The working group meets 3–4 times per year. The working groups give feedback to Property Services on possible improvements, and this feedback is considered wherever feasible.
The feedback may be related to needs concerning furniture, fittings, workstations, classroom arrangements, etc. Property Services are responsible for the aforementioned within financial and operational constraints. The campus working groups also discuss indoor air-related questions and inform the different units about the work of Property Services.
The objectie of Property Services and the campus working groups is to provide the students and employees with a practical and pleasant working environment. The results of the co-operation have been encoraging: according to the workplace community development survey, the working conditions have improved every year. We naturally want this trend to continue.
Repairs with respect for the cultural heritage
Our campuses in Kouvola and Mikkeli are situated in a valuable cultural environment on old garrison grounds. Some of the buildings date back to the early 19th century. Maintenance and repair of these garrison buildings require understanding of and respect for cultural heritage. This particularly applies to preserving the building aesthetics.
All construction work is carried out in co-operation with the building inspection authorities and, if necessary, the Finnish Heritage Agency. In repairs requiring a building licence, the building inspection authorities ask the Finnish Heritage Agency for an opinion on the planned repairs.
Ageing buildings increase property costs
The continuous increase in property costs is mainly due to the maintenance backlog. As stated above, our buildings are old. The repair and modernisation of old buildings causes costs that must be incorporated into rents. This, unfortunately, means an increase in rental costs. On the other hand, our buildings are made more modern and user-friendly and, partially, also more energy efficient.
New buildings in Savonlinna and Kotka
In 2019, a new building for the Natural Resources Institute Finland was completed in Savonlinna. The building, called Kasvu 1 (‘Growth 1’) is a significant contribution to the forestry cluster of the Savonlinna Technology Park.
For several years now, the most significant new construction project of South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences has been the new Kotka campus, which is well located in the Kantasatama harbour, close to Maritime Centre Vellamo. The tendering process for the planning of the new campus has been completed, and the planning work began in 2019.