What do we mean when we talk about the physical assets of Sport & Culture? Joris: “There's actually quite a lot. You have to understand that we are one of the largest university sports centres in the Netherlands. Before the pandemic, we had approximately 20,000 members, a figure that has since dropped a little, but we are still very big. We have 38 student sports clubs and 15 cultural associations in the house, all of which need to be facilitated. When you consider this in terms of asset management, including the grounds, buildings and inventory, that is quite a lot to manage: from pitches that need to be maintained to ping-pong and tennis balls that are used in large numbers.”
What is characteristic of the Sport & Culture assets? “First of all, our facilities are used very intensively, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. During the day, there is teaching at the HAN University of Applied Sciences Academy of Sport and Exercise, while in the evening, the same part of the Gymnasion hosts student sports. And throughout the day, we offer our own classes and courses at the sports centre. HAN rents the inventory from us, which means these items are ‘double’ used.” Another characteristic of sports assets is that they are really consumed and even manufactured with the express purpose of being worn and broken down, Joris explains. “Our walls are made to be hit, for example when playing squash, and in group classes, the floor is there to be jumped on. So a floor is part of our primary process. That is very different from, say, an office, where the floor is a supporting structure: something to stand or sit on.” Intensive use and rapid wear cause sports assets, and some cultural assets, to depreciate at an accelerated rate. Joris: “This also allows us to move faster with innovations in the market. We are therefore an interesting party when it comes to innovation. Especially in the field of sustainability, which we consider very important.”
In asset management, you make trade-offs based on so-called ‘added values’. What values are important in Sport and Culture? Joris sees ‘hard’ values like safety and laws and regulations as self-evident conditions. “That is our licence to operate. So a climbing wall must be safe and comply with laws and regulations. The same is true of affordability, although affordable is not the same as economically viable. In culture and sports, we are still financially in the red after the pandemic, although we are slowly recovering. But we are completely dependent on the number of athletes who train with us, and because we are part of a public institution, we cannot be ‘commercial’.
What we can do is make a significant contribution to the vitality, health and well-being of young people, employees and partners on campus. That offers value that you can even turn into profit. I can show you figures on what sport and exercise contribute in terms of reducing absenteeism, preventing illness, or increasing labour productivity, or their effect on the learning performance and drop-out rate of young people. So profitable can also refer to the value something adds to society or to people's lives. There is a very important task in this for us, one to which our assets also contribute.” Joris talks about the importance of sports facilities for students. In fact, students have to rely on the campus, as their often changing activities means that they are not well served by citizen associations. Moreover, research shows that young people aged between 18 and 23 tend to sit significantly more and move less after they leave secondary school. So socially, the university has a role to play in getting these young people to exercise, and good facilities are part of that.
What are your ambitions for Sport & Culture and how can assets contribute to them? Joris would like to see the cultural spaces combined more with the sports areas, so the Gymnasion becomes a sports and cultural environment. Incidentally, this can also be done near the Gymnasion. He finds the image of the Gymnasion in ancient Greece inspiring. “The Gymnasion of Antiquity was an environment in which sports, culture and personal development came together. Hopefully, we will be able to do something similar at our Gymnasion in the future.” Another line is that he wants to bring sports and culture to the campus much more than now. “I see the campus as one big playground for people to get moving and engage in culture. I always joke that we don't need a climbing tower because we have the Erasmus building. My dream is that in future, every building on campus will have some kind of mini-gym for basic programmes, like in a hotel, and that people will come to the Gymnasion for next-level fitness. Also, several places will have nice kiosks or an open-air theatre where you can attend a performance. We call this project ‘Campus in Motion’, and we hope to run it for a few years.”
Changing environment
“Asset management also allows us to be adaptive. We want to tailor our programme to what young people and staff members need for their personal development. And that may be slightly different in five years' time than it is now. If your programme is adaptive, you have to look at your assets that way too. So you have to constantly look at changes in the environment, how student sports and culture are evolving and, based on that, determine what choices you need to make for your assets to be aligned with that. A great example is the current development of paddle courts.”
Living Lab
Asset management can be used as a ‘flywheel’ for innovation, especially when it comes to sustainability, says Joris. “We have very good quality football pitches, but if they have to be replaced in x number of years, I don't want the very best pitch. After all, we are not playing a Champion League here. I do want the most sustainable pitch. My ambition is that we become a kind of living lab where we can develop the most innovative and sustainable pitch together with our colleagues, for example from the Faculty of Science. That is what we are here for as a university, to develop that knowledge and expertise and translate it back to society, something that is now referred to as ‘valorisation’. That is why I am so enthusiastic about asset management. It is not just a business management model; it also allows us to contribute real value to society and to our mission to develop knowledge as a university.”