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.
Delphi is in the northeast corner of Lund and is AF Bostäder’s most student-intensive housing area. The area offers housing for 1 300 students, with accommodation for 1 000 on corridors. The area was designed by Lund’s own Hans Westman and is known for its strong community spirit.
“Starting in the autumn of 2020, all the bathrooms in Delphi’s corridor accommodation will be renovated and the piping replaced,” says Rickard Wallin, technical manager and project manager at AF Bostäder. “The bathrooms will get new interior fittings, new surfaces and towel driers. In combination with the replumbing, there will also be a revamp of the accommodation including paintwork, new doors and new hat racks. The broadband cables will be replaced by a new faster model and the ventilation will be improved. Each corridor will be revamped with a new look and a nice hotel-feeling according to four tasteful themes – earth, forest, ocean and wind – and there will be new spotlighting.”
Replumbing may sound like it is solely a technical project. In actual fact, it affects all parts of the company – marketing, financial administration, rental, property management, property development and IT – there is a lot to synchronise. As everyone is involved anyway, AF Bostäder saw an opportunity through a joint working group to find a way to carry out the renovation as smoothly as possible for the company’s customers.
“In the working group, we concluded that the customers did not have to stay there during the renovation,” says Rickard Wallin. “Instead, all the residents are moved – corridor by corridor – according to a system in which each move is from a current corridor to a newly renovated one. Those choosing to move to the assigned housing can continue to pay the same rent. Neighbours living on an adjacent stairwell to an ongoing project are given a rent reduction for the weeks when the disturbance is at its worst.”
A number of questions may arise in connection with the renovation and move concerning everything from rents and contracts to fire safety and practical considerations. AF Bostäder has appointed an assistant project manager, whose dedicated role is to help customers get the answers they are looking for, so they don’t need to worry or feel uncertain about the situation.
“My task is to make the move as easy as possible for our tenants, inform them about all the details and be available to answer questions,” says Therese Månsson, assistant project manager at AF Bostäder. “Among other things, we have been careful to do everything in good time, so that the move does not come as a surprise. We contact the affected tenants about six months before the renovation so that everyone has time to prepare in peace. When the move is approaching, we arrange an information meeting, outdoors of course, in a Covid-19-secure way.”
“An important part of corridor life is living together,” says Therese Månsson. “We therefore place a great emphasis on as many as possible being able to retain the community spirit on their corridor. The customers have the choice of either moving with their friends on the corridor or moving to other housing. Most choose to retain the community spirit and move together. Those who choose to move to assigned housing can keep their place in the housing queue.”
“When it’s time for the renovation, we offer help with moving in the form of moving trolleys, barrows, moving boxes and help to cover the cost of registering a change of address. And, of course, we also give out pizza coupons, as it’s not a real move without pizza,” says Therese Månsson.
Latest update June 2, 2021