Property management, local government, 2009

The local government’s total building space was 27.7 million square meters; equivalent to 5.7 square metres per capita. Of this, the local government owned 26.3 million square metres, whereas about 1.3 million square metres was rented from external sources. The municipalities utilised 23 million square metres, whereas the county municipalities used 4.7 million square metres.

In 2009, the municipalities and county municipalities transferred slightly less than 3 million square metres of building space to their consolidated companies. These square metres are incorporated into the gross area for the local government.

Expenses for maintenance increase

The local government’s net operating expenditure for property management per capita was NOK 3 700, compared with NOK 3 400 in 2008. This increase corresponds to about 8 per cent. This could reflect the fact that the municipalities’ prioritised property management in 2009 compared to the previous years. One explanation for this can be the government’s stimulating package, which was reinforced to stimulate employment in the Norwegian economy. A large portion of this went to the local government sector including the maintenance of buildings.

Expenditure for the maintenance of buildings has specifically increased from 2008 to 2009. The municipalities increased their expenditure on maintenance from NOK 84 per square metre in 2008 to NOK 122 per square metre in 2009. The county municipalities also had a higher increase in maintenance expenditures. The increase was from NOK 79 per square metre to NOK 122 per square metre in 2009.

School buildings have the most gross area

Of the six building types the municipalities have reported the gross area for, school buildings consist of most square metres. In 2009, the municipality school buildings had 10.6 million square metres; equivalent to 17.8 square metres per pupil attending public schools. The nursing and care institutional buildings comprised of 4.9 million square metres and accounted for the second largest gross area. The municipalities also had 2.4 million square metres in administration buildings, and kindergartens accounted for 1.6 million square metres.

The County municipalities had 4.4 million square metres in school buildings; equivalent to 25 square metres per student attending county municipality upper secondary schools. The administration buildings of the county municipalities had approximately 280 000 square metres.

For more detailed data on property management refer to the data for KOSTRA.

Tables:

• Table 1 Property management in the municipalities and municipal enterprises, gross area square meter
• Table 2 Property management in the county municipalities and county municipal enterprises, gross area square meter