Combined efforts behind new start at AF Borgen

AF Bostäder’s caretakers have a broad job description with responsibility for everything from ongoing maintenance, repairs and inspections to taking care of outdoor environments. But the most enjoyable – and most important – is the social responsibility. Caretakers at AF Bostäder are to promote social sustainability, help the students settle in and contribute to wellbeing and security in the housing area.

AF Bostäder is a foundation with a mission to provide housing for students at Lund University. The company is closely connected to student life and the students have considerable influence. The Academic Society appoints board members as well as the students’ own housing ombudsman – “bostadsombudsman” in Swedish and generally referred to as “Bomben”.

AF Bostäder’s Service Centre is at Sparta, directly adjacent to the company’s head office. Students visit the Service Centre to ask all kinds of questions about their housing. The Service Centre also manages procedures for keys in connection with moving.

AF Bostäder constantly looks for solutions to improve the housing experience and the range of services for tenants. Through cooperation with various partners, the company can find good ideas for services that suit the students. It is a customer group with certain specific conditions and interests – they work from home and rarely use a car.

When the outdoor environment at Ulrikedal was to be revamped, the students were invited to express their wishes – with fantastic results! Ulrikedal has become a verdant place for games, sport and socialising.

During the pandemic, AF Bostäder adapted operations at the Service Centre in order to increase security for customers and staff. Lessons learned during the pandemic have led to long-term improvements.

Every year about 3 000 students move in to AF Bostäder’s housing, and everyone is to feel that they are moving into good accommodation. Such a high moving rate requires meticulous planning, purposefulness, the right digital tools and a 100% customer relationship, so that everything synchronises smoothly on the move-in day. AF Bostäder’s caretakers coordinate all the aspects.

An increasing number of students are affected by mental health problems. AF Bostäder has run the Help information project since 2019 to help more people get the right support. The initiatives continued in 2021 with education, lectures and film production, as well as preventive leisure activities, which have rapidly become popular.

At AF Bostäder, the viewing of housing and the renting out process are conducted digitally on the website. To make things easier for students, new and better photos and films will be available to show the housing areas.

A bicycle is the best way to get around in Lund, and the students would like to fix their bicycles where they live. For that reason, AF Bostäder is opening more bicycle repair rooms.

As the students’ own housing company, AF Bostäder has a great responsibility to carefully manage the foundation’s funds. In general, the company is restrained regarding sponsorship, but contributes every year to events and activities that are significant for student life.

During the year, AF Bostäder remotely coordinated several much-appreciated corridor challenges with Easter, summer and autumn themes. The year ended with the traditional gingerbread house competition.

Mental health problems affect more than one in two students. AF Bostäder launched the Help information project to increase knowledge among students and staff and to offer assistance for those affected.

It is becoming increasing common for property owners to divide up the rent invoice into several component parts. Water, heating, electricity, TV, broadband and so on are specified – and measured – separately. Based on the customers’ wishes, AF Bostäder chose to go in the opposite direction.

Starting in 2020, all the bathrooms at Delphi will be renovated and the piping replaced. In parallel, the accommodation and corridors will be revamped, and all the rooms will have faster broadband. All the tenants will be moved to housing with newly renovated bathrooms, so that no one has to put up with the renovation work. All corridor friends have the opportunity to move together.

The demand for student housing in Lund was unchanged in 2020. Even though many other higher education institutions noted reduced demand for housing during the pandemic, Lund seemed to be unaffected.

AF Bostäder is a foundation whose purpose is to offer housing to students who are admitted and active at Lund University and also members of the Studentlund association. Being an “active student” means that the tenant is to study for at least 15 credits per semester in order to keep their accommodation or place in the queue.

Bikes are a key element in student life and many students want their own bike parking space. In newly-built areas almost everyone has their own space under cover, and now all the other areas are being upgraded.

The students are requesting more spaces for studies, activities and spending time together. For the past two years, AF Bostäder has therefore been setting up more and more get-together spaces. The caretakers are responsible for the design, as they are best placed to know what the students want. The students’ new activity rooms are very popular and more are being planned.

In September 2019, the newly built Marathon housing area was inaugurated with its very own race. The Marathon marathon is Lund-style marathon of 42 195 decimetres with a finish line at Athen in the AF Borgen building. The first race was organised in cooperation with LUGI Motion.

Every year, AF Bostäder strives to improve its customer satisfaction rating. A common wish from the students is more space for studies, activities and getting together. Now, AF Bostäder is focusing on providing more social spaces. In a collaboration between students and caretakers, nicely furnished spaces are emerging, intended for, among other things, lounge socialising, table tennis and studying.

AF Bostäder continuously monitors the student housing market in order to maintain a balanced rate of expansion. There are many actors involved and the student housing market is steered by supply, demand and the customers’ wishes. Lund attracts many people with its good housing and one of the world’s best universities. The sense of community in Studentlund – Sweden’s best student life – is equally important.

Broadband, heating and water are already included in AF Bostäder’s rents. Including electricity as well is both on the students’ wish list – and advantageous. Now the switch is being made, one area at a time, and Studentlyckan has become the first area where green electricity is included.

Mental health problems are increasing among students. For this reason, AF Bostäder has started an information project called "Help". The aim is to provide both staff and students with more information on mental health and better tools for helping those who are affected.

AF Bostäder has developed a new rent model based on the customers’ appraisals of their housing. The switch to the new rents began in 2019, after an agreement with the Swedish Union of Tenants (Hyresgästföreningen) and will take several years to complete. Due to a sensitive approach and thorough preparations, the change can be implemented with no hassle for customers.  

AF Bostäder started to certificate its contractors in 2008, in order to give students the calmest possible environment for studying in their homes and better conditions for the contractors.

Most corridors tenants really enjoy corridor life, but new students would prefer to live in apartments – if they had the choice. AF Bostäder is testing new ways to increase the feeling of home on corridors.

After many years of increasing activities in AF Borgen, it is now time for much longed-for and locally financed rebuilding work. AF Bostäder, of course, is involved and one of the financiers.

Lund University has a relatively high proportion of international students. One-fifth of AF Bostäder’s tenants come from other countries and the international students like to live – and thrive – on corridors.

Everyone is to feel equally welcome at AF Bostäder. The company has a clear position concerning everybody’s equal value and rights, and therefore participates in Lundapride.

AF Bostäder would like to play a part in reducing sedentary time and spreading the joys of exercise. In May 2018, a total of 500 students were invited to take part in the Lundaloppet fun run with AF Bostäder.

AF Bostäder has developed a new maintenance plan during 2017 to be used to predict, simulate, cost-calculate and plan forthcoming maintenance. Most important – carrying out the projects with retained customer satisfaction.

The AF Family and Studentlund offer student life that is unique in Sweden. The strong relationship with student life is a success factor and the sense of commitment is considerable.

The rents are set in two stages. The first consideration is that rental income is to cover AF Bostäder’s costs. The second consideration is how the costs are to be divided between the individual properties.

For many of the students, their AF Bostäder apartment is the first home of their own. Feeling secure is crucial for the experience of student housing – and a top priority for AF Bostäder.

AF Bostäder has its own student housing ombudsman, nicknamed “Bomben” in Swedish. The ombudsman is responsible for student influence on housing matters.

What is best for the students is the best for Lund. The students are our client and by continuing to strengthen our relationship with the AF family and Studentlund, we can continue to deliver good products and services.

To be eligible for our housing list, you have to be admitted at Lund University, and study actively (and preferably diligently). The annual study checks release a large number of housing places to active students.

In 2014, AF Bostäder received the honor of standing behind the carnival in the role of main sponsor. A pure pleasure for a housing company in the middle of student life.

Since 2005, AF Bostäder has been running the project Clean and Tidy - an ambitious effort to keep the well-being of the tenants in corridor housing at a top level.

We are something of a pioneer regarding housing rentals online and for many years the company’s rental activities and range of services has been close to 100 % digital. In 2015, the website received a welcome boost.

Every year, the tenants change at 3 000 apartments and corridor rooms. Such major and intensive administration requires the market’s best technology in order to offer the students the best possible service.

One important reason why students like to live in AF Bostäder housing is the high-quality IT infrastructure that has been in place for many years. That is why in 2013 we started to offer 1 Gbit per second – at no extra cost!