The results of central government’s space utilisation and costs for 2024 have been published: improved efficiency of office premises, rise in facility costs slowed despite record-high investments
The amount of office space was reduced in several agencies and institutions, with a total of 50,000 m2 of central government office space being reduced during the year. The efficiency of office space utilisation improved by one square metre compared to the previous year, i.e. -6.6%. At the moment, the space utilisation of central government office premises is 14.2 m2 per full-time equivalent. Space utilisation efficiency has been reported since 2014, when it was 26.6.
We are approaching the target level of 10 office square metres per full-time equivalent set out in the Government Premises Strategy. The transition of agencies to central government shared work environments promotes reaching the target. Space efficiency in the new strategy-based shared work environments is less than 8.
“Much hybrid and remote working continues to be done in central government and office occupation rates have remained low. Despite efficient space utilisation, there is still plenty of space in offices. Overall, central government still has surplus office space and we can continue to reduce the amount of office space that is no longer required,” says Minna Niittyniemi, Division Director at Senate Properties.
The agreed surface area of the property stock in use by central government fell to below 5 million square metres (4.97m m2) for the first time in 2024. Office premises accounted for 18.8% of the property stock.
Rise in facility costs slowed
In 2024, government facility costs rose by €31 million or 3.5% compared to 2023, when facility costs increased by 8.6%. This means the rise has slowed.
The increase in government facility costs is explained by the ongoing investment programme, which is particularly targeted at the premises of the security authorities and which has raised the level of government construction to a record high. A significant part of the increase in facility costs is also explained by the effects of inflation.
At the same time, facility solutions that have been implemented in agencies have delivered savings of around €25 million.
The data is also available on the Explore Administration website (in Finnish/English): https://www.exploreadministration.fi/government/premises/
