Creates one of Stockholm's biggest centres for engineering expertise. Reduces rental costs.
The ÅF Group is to bring together most of its employees in the Stockholm region (approximately 1,000 people) under one roof in a new main office complex at Haga Norra in Solna. The ÅF Group currently has five offices in and around the Swedish capital (Stockholm, Solna and Kista).
Under an agreement with construction company Skanska, ÅF and Skanska will work together to develop the new offices. In accordance with the rental conditions already signed, Skanska will build and lease out the 18,000 square metre premises for a period of 15 years. Construction work will begin in the middle of 2006 and it is anticipated that the facilities will be ready for occupancy by October 2008 (subject to planning approval and building permission.)
There are several significant benefits of concentrating the ÅF Group's resources in this way:
- ÅF will have a single head office with a clear ÅF identity, distinguished by high standards of architecture, interior design, functional integrity and environmental adaptation.
- ÅF will have a head office with outstanding potential for ease and security of communications
- ÅF will have a head office with outstanding potential for building and maintaining the ÅF brand.
- ÅF will reduce its costs for renting premises, compared with today.
- ÅF will create one of the region's leading powerhouses of engineering expertise.
"We are extremely proud that ÅF, as one of the leading names in its field, has chosen Skanska as a partner to provide its premises," says Stuart Graham, President and CEO of Skanska.
"By concentrating our resources in purpose-built premises we can reduce our costs at the same time as we benefit from all sorts of synergies," says Jonas Wiström, President and CEO of the ÅF Group. "Bringing together our operations under one roof is fully in line with our strategy of increased internal cooperation.
"This marks the final stage in the process of disposing of the ÅF Group's property portfolio and leaves us free to focus all our energies on our consulting operations. The process has gone more smoothly than I could ever have imagined. Today we have a strong balance sheet and great opportunities to develop our consulting operations over the long-term. Historically speaking, it is these consulting activities that have given our shareholders the highest returns for their investments, not our properties," Jonas Wiström concludes.