Innovation to take place on the new campus in autumn 2018
The project of building a new campus in Kupittaa is taken to Turku City Council on 1 June 2015. After 20 years of waiting, the project has finally been given the green light. TUAS can soon move assets from walls to people and creating competence, Rector and President Vesa Taatila rejoices.
– The campus is a logical continuum for the concentration of the operations of Turku University of Applied Sciences, which has been going on for years. I'm very pleased with the future prospects, Vesa Taatila says.
– TUAS has emphasised the benefits of innovation pedagogy for about seven years, and it is strongly visible in our new strategy, too. We want our students to learn how to produce innovations in cooperation with working life, and now this way of action is coming more and more tangibly to Kupittaa. Business life is very welcome to join us in an area which will soon have modern premises and ways of action for top experts, Taatila states.
Goodbye to the gravel pitches in Kupittaa
It is proposed that TUAS Ltd launches the project of building a new campus in Kupittaa thus that TUAS purchases the plot in the end of ICT-City. There is currently a parking space on the plot. At the moment, the plot is owned by Kiinteistöosakeyhtiö Kupittaan Asemakulma and TUAS will purchase it with money which has been collected in the investment fund for years.
At the very least, special premises of the faculty of Technology, Environment and Business, currently located on Sepänkatu, and working spaces of the library and staff will move to the new campus building. The premises will be designed as flexible and multi-purpose, and they can be used as an innovative learning environment in the future.
The founding costs of the new Kupittaa campus building are about MEUR 40. To benefit the entire permitted building volume on the plot as efficiently as possible, TUAS will acquire a partner with which the design and building will be implemented.
The premises reserved for the use of TUAS will form an own entity of which TUAS Ltd will remain a co-owner with the amount of money invested in the project. The sum will be at least MEUR 7. The cost estimate of the premises reserved for the use of TUAS is about 46.5 MEUR (incl. the plot), and thus the ownership of the premises in question will most likely be transferred mainly to an external party. TUAS will hence operate in the premises on a long-term lease.
A win-win situation for TUAS and the City of Turku
In the campus information event on 16 April both the Mayor of Turku, Aleksi Randell, and the Deputy Mayor Jarkko Virtanen could not stop smiling. The reason for their smiles was obviously the win-win situation, and they were also happy because it seems that the long-term planning of the campus is finally given the green light.
– The City of Turku is strengthening its position as the most attractive university and student city in Finland, which is also mentioned in the city’s strategy. It also includes the development projects of the science park and campus areas seamlessly linked to the city centre. The operations of TUAS are hence located close to the business and innovation service activities of the region, says Mayor Randell.
TUAS Ltd will mainly operate in the premises on a lease and thanks to the arrangements, its rents will decrease and savings will be created because different supportive services will be combined.