Finland. University Properties of Finland Ltd

The loan has been provided to finance investments in four new university campus premises in the cities of Tampere and Jyväskylä in Finland.

In Tampere, the loan will help finance new premises for the University of Tampere to support research in the natural sciences and medicine. The new Kauppi Health Research Centre will offer modern offices, teaching and laboratory services for the School of Medicine at the University of Tampere, the Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering at Tampere University of Technology and the Pirkanmaa Hospital District. The building will serve about 600 researchers and teachers and some 3,000 students.

A new service and office building for Tampere University of Technology (TUT) at Kampus Areena will help centralise its services for students and researchers. The building will have space reserved for private businesses with the intention of facilitating collaboration between academia and business. TUT will also install a solar power system that is expected to provide 52 MWh of renewable electricity annually.

A new building for the University of Jyväskylä will centralise several departments of business and social science studies in Mattilanniemi, Jyväskylä. This is expected to improve operational efficiency and facilitate collaboration among researchers. The building will have space for commercial enterprises that are expected to collaborate with academia.

Another new building for the University of Jyväskylä will put its Faculty of Education and the Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER) under the same roof in Ruusupuisto. This will increase the operational efficiency of the institutes and might also facilitate closer collaboration between the University and FIER.

The new Kauppi Health Research Centre in Tampere will help the University of Tampere and Tampere University of Technology to collaborate in new ways. For instance, the multidisciplinary research and education institute BioMediTech, established jointly by the universities, will centralise its research operations in the new building. The building is also expected to include a repository of samples from patients of the hospital district.

University Properties of Finland Ltd. constructs, maintains, develops and leases premises for the use of universities and polytechnics outside the greater Helsinki area in Finland. The company is owned by the universities outside the greater Helsinki area and the Finnish state.

Research and development and the skills of the labour force are among the most important determinants of labour productivity. New teaching and research infrastructure will lead to more efficient learning processes and facilitate innovation within and between academia and businesses. The construction projects financed by NIB therefore support human capital formation and innovation processes in the member area.

All four projects are in accordance with BREEAM, the leading environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings in Europe. This voluntary certification scheme evaluates the performance of buildings related to site sustainability, water efficiency, energy performance, building materials and indoor environmental quality. The BREEAM target level for the buildings will be ‘very good’.