Campus development in Pilestredet

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Photo from campus Pilestredet

Campus development in Pilestredet

We now have several ongoing property development projects in Pilestredet. They are all part of the campus programme. “The purpose is to make funds available for education and research, and to prevent areas from not being used,” explains Acting Rector Nina Waaler.

The campus programme has made a long-term plan for OsloMet's real estate portfolio, which includes both existing leases in Pilestredet and future development projects. The plan shows that the university must expect a cost increase from around NOK 400 million to more than NOK 500 million a year, partly because of increased rental costs. At the same time, the Ministry of Education and Research has set clear requirements for the institutions regarding area efficiency and savings.

“We must compensate for this increase in expenditure. More than NOK 100 million annually makes up a large part of the budget and should rather be spent on initiatives to strengthen our education and research,” Acting Rector Nina Waaler points out.

“We therefore need to think in new and creative ways about how we utilize the areas and our infrastructure in the future. Not least in light of the pandemic, which has changed the work situation for many of us,” says Waaler.

“Many employees want to work from home a few days a week, which means that more people can use the same workstations and offices on campus. It is expensive and unsustainable to leave areas partially empty,” she adds.

Ongoing real estate projects

Within the campus project there are several ongoing projects with the aim of making better use of the areas in Pilestredet. The project working on co-locating the university libraries in Pilestredet 52 is one of the largest. This will also have a follow-up project to take care of those who have to move out of Pilestredet 52 due to the establishment of the new library.

Another large project deals with the area allocation in Pilestredet 46 and looks at the possibility of locating the entire central administration here. This mainly means relocating the Department of ICT to Pilestredet 46 to join most of the central administration which is already there.

Employee participation

The different development projects will investigate how workplaces can be designed in the best possible way, even if areas are reduced.
“In our work, we consider that employees have different tasks and areas of work, and thus different needs for solutions in the workplace. In addition, infection prevention must be maintained,” says Director of Digitalisation and Corporate Governance, Asbjørn Seim.

He emphasizes that the involvement of the employees affected is a high priority in all projects.

“We emphasize user participation, the working environment and co-determination in the work of designing our future workplace,” continues Seim.

During autumn, the campus programme will organise workshops with the units to uncover the functions, roles, and work tasks each unit has, and how this will define the need for the design of workplaces and adaptations to the work environment.

Propulsion

The various sub-projects within the campus programme have their own plans of progression.

The work continues through the autumn semester, and proposals for workplace concepts and principles will be sent for consultation in November.

The aim is to have prepared a comprehensive management plan for the areas in Pilestredet in December, and that the work of implementing the plan will begin shortly thereafter. The plan can be adjusted in line with decisions in the individual projects.