Together with higher education institutions, we develop the knowledge environments of the future. Get a quick overview of who we are and what our properties look like around the country.
That our campus areas develop and provide higher education institutions with the right conditions over time is crucial for us as a company. The key to success is to find close and good forms of collaboration with our customers where we can translate visions into concrete development and action plans.
Our knowledge environments are dynamic places where the core focuse is on education and research, but also on entrepreneurship and innovation. We have modern labs and offices for rent at several of our campuses.
Akademiska Hus is one of Sweden's largest real estate companies. Our mission is to provide universities and colleges with the right conditions for their activities through future-proof and appropriate knowledge environments.
Together with higher education institutions, we develop the knowledge environments of the future. Get a quick overview of who we are and what our properties look like around the country.
That our campus areas develop and provide higher education institutions with the right conditions over time is crucial for us as a company. The key to success is to find close and good forms of collaboration with our customers where we can translate visions into concrete development and action plans.
Our knowledge environments are dynamic places where the core focuse is on education and research, but also on entrepreneurship and innovation. We have modern labs and offices for rent at several of our campuses.
Akademiska Hus is one of Sweden's largest real estate companies. Our mission is to provide universities and colleges with the right conditions for their activities through future-proof and appropriate knowledge environments.
Together with higher education institutions, we develop the knowledge environments of the future. Get a quick overview of who we are and what our properties look like around the country.
That our campus areas develop and provide higher education institutions with the right conditions over time is crucial for us as a company. The key to success is to find close and good forms of collaboration with our customers where we can translate visions into concrete development and action plans.
Our knowledge environments are dynamic places where the core focuse is on education and research, but also on entrepreneurship and innovation. We have modern labs and offices for rent at several of our campuses.
Akademiska Hus is one of Sweden's largest real estate companies. Our mission is to provide universities and colleges with the right conditions for their activities through future-proof and appropriate knowledge environments.
Together with higher education institutions, we develop the knowledge environments of the future. Get a quick overview of who we are and what our properties look like around the country.
That our campus areas develop and provide higher education institutions with the right conditions over time is crucial for us as a company. The key to success is to find close and good forms of collaboration with our customers where we can translate visions into concrete development and action plans.
Our knowledge environments are dynamic places where the core focuse is on education and research, but also on entrepreneurship and innovation. We have modern labs and offices for rent at several of our campuses.
Akademiska Hus is one of Sweden's largest real estate companies. Our mission is to provide universities and colleges with the right conditions for their activities through future-proof and appropriate knowledge environments.
Akademiska Hus has an important mission – to provide universities with the right environments for their activities. Together with academia, business, and society, we develop long-term sustainable campuses. This is how we help strengthen Sweden as a knowledge nation. In total, we manage approximately 3.4 million square meters. We are fully state-owned and have a total market share of about 60 percent in our segment, and we own properties in a total of 15 university locations.
In Sweden, higher education institutions are in the vast majority of cases public authorities. Their task is to conduct research and education and work to ensure that research results benefit society. They will also plan for their future provision of premises, and Akademiska Hus will contribute with experience and expertise. There are over 200 property owners who rent out premises to colleges and universities in Sweden, but we are the single largest player in the market.
Akademiska Hus in brief
"Akademiska Hus shall own, develop and manage properties for universities and colleges with the main focus on education and research activities and conduct activities compatible therewith. The business shall be conducted on a commercial basis and generate a market-based return through a rent setting that takes into account the risk of the business. Akademiska Hus will work for the long-term sustainable development of university and college campuses. The company's focus includes the construction and management of student housing." The clarified assignment was established by the Swedish Parliament in December 2013.
We are mainly organised from three units: the project unit, the property unit and the technology and service unit. It is an organization that makes it possible to quickly and efficiently introduce successful solutions from one part of the country to another and thus be able to meet our customers' needs in a good way, no matter where in the country they are. Our local presence in the form of our property areas is also crucial.
Our properties provide colleges and universities with the conditions for education and research. This includes a number of different types of premises. The largest three largest categories of premises are teaching premises, offices and laboratories. We are the single largest property owner in our segment and we currently own about 60 percent of the total market. Our national presence and our long experience in knowledge environments allow us to transfer good examples from one part of the country to another.
The majority of our cash flow is reinvested each year in projects that develop our campuses around the country. Our robust financial position creates stability and a long-term perspective for our customers.
As one of Sweden's largest real estate companies with operations almost all over the country, it is natural that our business arouses the curiosity of both customers and the general public. Some questions come up often. Here we list the answers to the most common ones.
Akademiska Hus has a market share in Sweden of about 60 per cent. This means that we are the biggest real estate owner and landlord for HEI (higher education institutions) and research in Sweden. Today there are about 200 other property companies besides us that rent premises to the higher education institutions in Sweden.
The grant from the Swedish state to the higher education institutions is adapted to cover the cost of premises, which accounts for approximately 12 per cent of the total costs that colleges and universities have, regardless of who is the landlord.
Part of Akademiska Hus’ remit is to charge market rents, which means that they are on a par with other landlords for universities and colleges in Sweden for comparable premises. The rent level is affected by, among other things, location, type of property, condition of the premises and contract period.
If a state-owned property company were to start subsidising rents, the result would skew the competition in relation to other private property companies, which cannot deviate from market rents in their operations. This in turn would affect the many higher education institutions that do not rent from us. Such skewing would also be in violation of current competition law.
Our rental model has been discussed with representatives from universities and colleges for many years, and we are transparent about how our rental model works. The rental levels in our agreements with universities and colleges are evident in the Swedish National Financial Management Authority's compilation of all governmental lease contracts, which can be accessed here.
Like most property companies, we have a clause in our rental agreements that entails an increase in rental prices based on inflation measured in the consumer price index (CPI). Between 2010 and 2021, when inflation was low, the rent increase based on the CPI has averaged 1 per cent. The increase in inflation since 2022 is having an upward effect on the levels for Akademiska Hus’ rental prices, just as costs and price levels are affected in society at large. The October CPI 2023 was 6.5 percent and that is the figure used as the basis for rent indexation for 2024.
The rent that Akademiska Hus charges the centres of education is usually divided among the various departments of the colleges and universities within each centre of education, along with other expenses for facilities, which are not charged by Akademiska Hus.
The departments are then charged an “internal rent” that often also includes costs for central premises such as common areas, cleaning, and security. The internal rent that departments pay per square metre can therefore be higher than the price per square metre that Akademiska Hus has agreed with the centre of education.
At present, public authorities, as the majority of the country's universities and colleges are, generally cannot own property. The state's property supply is instead based on authorities renting premises on the open market.
In connection with the Provision of Premises Reform and the reorganisation of state-run property management in the early 1990s, it was determined that property management should be separated from use of premises and land, which would provide a more accurate picture of costs for land and premises in the state budget. Moreover, property management must also be conducted, as far as possible, with a market return requirement, property management should be conducted in separate profit centres and the Swedish state should have a dedicated ownership role. These guidelines have been confirmed on multiple occasions since then, in both government inquiries and bills.
The centres of education receive grants from the State to cover rental costs including an annual upward adjustment. Akademiska Hus, in turn, shall clearly charge rent based on market terms, while taking into account the risk associated with the rental relationship. This is clear and in accordance with the property guidelines approved by the Swedish Parliament. The lack of a profit-generating component also skews the playing field against the competition.
Akademiska Hus owns and manages over three million square meters of premises area. A key part of our efforts towards climate neutrality is to reduce the actual energy demand of our properties. Our goal is to halve the amount of energy delivered by 2025, with 2000 as the base year.
Akademiska Hus has chosen to take overall responsibility for the energy used in our buildings and not just focus on the energy used for property management. This means that we count the tenant's energy for computers and lighting in our energy goals. The work to reduce energy use and environmental impact is something we want to take place in collaboration with the tenant. A great deal of effort is also being put into influencing the energy system towards a more sustainable energy supply and demanding and creating new renewable energy.
In collaboration with our customers, we want to clearly inform about energy use and its environmental impact in order to change consumption patterns. Our goal is to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on how we can work together more efficiently and consume less, to the benefit of us all.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you want to know more about Akademiska Hus' sustainability work.
As an individual, it can be difficult to see how you can influence an entire campus's energy consumption, but the fact is that with a few simple rules of memory, we can make a big difference together.
Keep in mind that:
Do not hesitate to contact us if you want to know more about Akademiska Hus' sustainability work.
In Akademiska Hus' construction process, it is close to the customer. We have a well-developed construction process and concrete planning programmes that involve the right skills and are based on customer requirements and the complexity and size of the buildings. We have developed this way of working together with our customers for many years.
The process varies depending on the type of project and the form of contract. Collaboration contracting involves greater collaboration between Akademiska Hus and the contractor. This leads to greater efficiency in the projects and also helps to make use of the contractors' knowledge and experience. In general, the construction process consists of the following different phases:
In the early stage of the construction process, case preparation and investigation take place. This is initiated by the fact that a need for premises has arisen. To define which premises are needed, a business description and overview of the functional requirements that exist in the new premises are made, in order to map both the customer's needs and the property owners' requirements for the property.
CASE | Veterinary and Animal Science Centre (VHC): Discussions had been held for a long time between Akademiska Hus and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) about their need for new premises, where the big question was whether to renovate or build a new one. Finally, a decision was made on a new building. A parallel assignment was announced among a number of architectural firms, where Nyréns Arkitektkontor was judged to have the best proposal.
During the programme phase, programme documents are prepared for the project, where, for example, basic decisions are made about the building's size, technical standard and design in general. The programme documents are a summary of the prerequisites for a project and constitute the overall basis for decisions on continued planning.
CASE | VHC: SLU started the programme work and after about a year, Akademiska Hus was involved and the programme documents were completed.
At this stage, the technical systems and materials that constitute the optimal solutions for the project's requirements are investigated. The system documents provide a picture of the planned building, its structural design, technical installation systems and form the basis for a cost estimate for the upcoming work. The project's environmental plan and work environment plan are also established at this stage.
CASE | VHC: The work on the system documents was relatively complicated because the buildings are very special and contain laboratories, stables and other special premises. During the work, there was great commitment from the organisation, which contributed to a good collaboration between Akademiska Hus and SLU. The system documents were completed in March 2010.
Based on the system documents, construction documents are prepared, which are the execution instructions that the contractors use to produce the tender price. Procurement of contractors is then made.
CASE | VHC: Since the project concerned a complex building and process, the decision was made to use a collaborative contract. An inquiry went out, and after an evaluation that largely consisted of interviews with prospective project members, Skanska was contracted for the assignment. A collaboration agreement was signed and negotiations and planning regarding budget, timetable and financial follow-up began. The construction documents were compiled in the form of packages, which formed the basis for the procurement of subcontractors and materials. Skanska participated with comments during the design phase.
During the construction production phase, the physical production of the project's buildings and facilities takes place. Great emphasis is placed on testing of technical functions, so-called coordinated testing, before the final inspection that concludes the construction production phase.
CASE | VHC: During the production phase, regular construction meetings were held on production planning and the like, as well as regular steering group meetings with representatives of Akademiska Hus and Skanska, where quality, environment, work environment and staffing were important issues, among other things. During the course of the project, a number of changes were also implemented, which were handled jointly by Akademiska Hus, Skanska and SLU.
After the project is completed, the premises are handed over to the customer, and the building is transferred to management. Follow-up meetings are held, to sort out any unresolved issues and take advantage of the opportunities for experience feedback to future projects.
CASE | VHC: After the customer's work on furnishings and equipment at the beginning of the year, occupancy began in May 2014. The evaluation of the project shows that all parties were very satisfied. Above all, the success factors consisted of a very good collaboration between SLU, Akademiska Hus and Skanska, in adherence to the schedule and cost budget, and in a delivery that was permeated with high quality.
This means that most of our procurements will be advertised publicly and that Akademiska Hus will open up to European suppliers to a greater extent than has previously been done.
