Luke’s cooperation negotiations ended

The cooperation negotiation process of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) aimed at reducing premises costs and curbing the growth of premises expenditure has ended. As a result of the negotiations, Luke will divest its location in Paltamo and seek a cooperation model for experimental fish research. The use of the office buildings in Suonenjoki and Haapastensyrjä will be made more compact and their operations will be reduced and partly relocated. The Ruukki barn will be divested. The fieldwork bases in Kannus and Parkano will be closed and their operations will be relocated to Seinäjoki and Ruukki. With these measures, Luke seeks net savings of roughly EUR 1.2 million in its facility costs. A decision on Enonkoski will be made after the Government session on spending limits in April.

Regarding these decisions, the rearrangements concern 49 people in six locations. Employees will be offered jobs in Luke’s other locations. Luke supports its personnel during these changes through remote working solutions, by providing further training for new tasks and by compensating for any costs arising from moving to a new location.

In addition to reducing facility costs, the measures produce operational benefits. The Haapastensyrjä laboratory will be relocated to Jokioinen and the Suonenjoki laboratories to other laboratory hubs. As a result, a sufficient number of employees, substitute arrangements and high-quality harmonised activities can be ensured in these operations. In addition, the operating rate of laboratories will increase. More cost-effective options will be sought for experimental flowing water research and beef cattle research. 

To cut costs, Luke also decided to divest part of its research forests and fields. The area of the eight research forests will decrease by 7,300 hectares and that of the research fields by 218 hectares. With these measures, Luke aims to make savings in the annual rents paid to Metsähallitus and Senate Properties for the research forests and fields. Luke will still have 18,000 hectares of research forests and 850 hectares of research fields. 

To reduce facility costs, Luke made its office more compact in Helsinki, Jokioinen, Mikkeli and Tampere during 2023. The use of jointly used facilities is appropriate from the financial perspective. We are investigating the opportunity to move into the government’s jointly used work environment on the Viikki campus in Helsinki in 2026.

Luke requested statements on its plans from stakeholders and regional partners and took them into consideration as possible.