By Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. 
Photo: Lars Horn

Staff and students at Aalborg University (AAU) are currently having to make do with less space so that more people share the different buildings. As a consequence of a tight economy, the university plans to cut around 40,000 square metres from its total building area by 2028 – this is approximately 16 percent of the total number of square metres.

Staff over bricks

"We work continuously to ensure that the university has the optimal framework and conditions for its research and education activities. Expenses for buildings are a heavy item in the overall AAU budget, so it is important that we constantly look at whether we are utilizing square meters well enough. We would rather cut back on bricks than staff," says University Director Søren Lind Christiansen.

He justifies the need for cutbacks in the building budget with rising rents, climate footprint and declining youth cohorts.

A large number of leases have already been terminated and several construction projects have been put on hold. The individual faculty and department prioritizes specifically how many and which square metres they can do without, and the cutbacks are done on their own initiative.

The university director points out that cutbacks are not only taking place on the building front. Campus Service is working on a plan for renovations of Fibigerstræde, Fredrik Bajers Vej and the campus in Esbjerg. In Esbjerg, a renovation of the ground floor of building A has already been done, and on the Copenhagen campus, an indoor climate project has been done in building B and renovations of several study areas. In addition, Campus Service is working on a new building – TECH Lab – in the Fredrik Bajers Vej area.

Students worried about the study environment

In an interview with P4 Nordjylland, the Student Society expressed concern about the prospect of fewer square meters. Political spokesman Oliver Pedersen pointed out that students already experience a shortage of seats for group work.

"Many students have given up the struggle to find space for their group. We find that more people go home to work after the lectures and thus don’t get the same help from teachers," he said.

Pro-rector Anne Marie Kanstrup emphasizes that the study environment, both now and in the future, is an important focus area in the development of the campus:

"This is a priority that will not become less important now that we are reducing our building inventory. I know that Campus Service is in continuous dialogue with the local student associations around campus, and this is also an agenda that we are concerned with in the Study Environment Council," says the Pro-rector.

Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs