Mikael about local costs at CBH
Head of School Mikael Lindström informs about the CBH School's rising local costs and what they mean for the operations.
As you read in the previous issue of CBH News, we are reviewing the local costs in Flemingsberg. Just as our financial statements for 2019 were done, we learned that the local costs for the institutions at Valhallavägen will rise from SEK 53 million to SEK 63 million. We also know that the rent compensation of SEK 1.7 million for KTH's operations at SciLifeLab will be removed and that AlbaNova will receive a new landlord this year.
The explanation for the rent increases on Valhallavägen is that quality factors and correction factors are now set to one for 2020. That is, everyone pays the same for the premises regardless of condition (quality factor) and we now have to pay more for the labs as the ceiling height (correction factor) is higher than for office rooms. The reason why all the factors were set to one is that the entire register for the premises must be reviewed and updated in 2020. In order to avoid unreasonable rent increases for individual departments, we will stick to the 3% increase to the cost of premises for the institutions on Valhallavägen that was communicated beforehand, and then put the difference at the top level and discuss this with KTH's university director. We have already started these discussions and we also need to monitor the development at AlbaNova.
Why is this important? Our operations consists of personnel costs and premises. CBH's personnel costs are in good order, but at present we have lost control of the local costs.
The total percentage increase for all KTH premises between 2013 and 2020 is 38 percent. During the same period, the state R&D base grant (with regular enumeration) increased by less than five percent. Thus, per state base grant, we have a cost increase of 33% only in the last 6-7 years.
We are now in dialogue with KTH's management and I will get back to you with more information.
Mikael