Which office space we are giving back
From 1 October, the entire third floor of the blue wing, part of the second floor of blue wing and some office spaces of the fourth floor of the green wing will be returned to Campus & Facilities. By doing so, we will surrender 23,5% of our office spaces and save around €660,000 annually. As the current occupancy rate of the Maria Montessori building during office hours (measurement 2024-2025) averages 32,5% and at peak hours does not exceed 40,8 %, this return is possible and sufficient workplaces will remain available. Important considerations for giving back precisely these wings included housing research institutes and programmes together as much as possible.
Smarter office space sharing and internal relocation
The return of the spaces requires an internal relocation of all employees and smarter sharing of workspaces. Everyone remains welcome to work in the Maria Montessori building; the return does not aim to make employees work more from home. The project group, in coordination with the managing directors of the research institutes, looked at what would be a logical layout so that, among other things, groups could stay together and collaborations can be encouraged.
The actual distribution of employees across the workplaces will be further worked out by the managing directors in cooperation with the department chairs. The programme directors will also be involved in this process. The distribution of workplaces for the Faculty Office will be further discussed with the heads of department.
Due to the summer period, this process cannot be completed before 1 September. The draftand then final layout will be shared with you around 1 September. The relocation will take place starting mid-September and be completed by 1 October. Team housing will supervise the move and facilitate you in providing, for example, moving boxes and storage of valuables. You will receive further notice of this process via the Weekly.
It is understandable that this notice may raise questions and perhaps disquiet on your part, given the upcoming holiday period. While it is preferable to take ample time for this process, unfortunately, given the faculty's financial situation, this is not possible and we need to act quickly to improve the financial situation.
On Tuesday 1 July next, the project coordinators and a delegation from the board will be ready to answer questions from 12 to 1 pm in the third-floor living room in the blue wing (MM 03.055). You may also email your questions, concerns or ideas at any time to thuis [at] socsci.ru.nl (thuis[at]socsci[dot]ru[dot]nl).