Community is meant to attract highly educated people
In Ringkøbing, a renowned building, formerly used as a retirement home, has become the Career Campus – temporary accommodation for highly educated newcomers in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality
The Career Campus in Ringkøbing offers shared accommodation to highly educated people from all over the world. Today, the former retirement home has been restored, and new residents can become part of a community before determining whether to stay in Ringkøbing. The project is part of the long-term industrial policy in the municipality.
When Berit Mikkelsen decided to move from Horsens to Ringkøbing, the Career Campus caught her eye.
- I thought that staying here might be a great way for me to get familiar with the city. I knew that I wanted to live here, and it was appealing to me to meet other newcomers and figure out at a quiet pace where in Ringkøbing I wanted to settle down.
This idea fits very well with the general idea behind the Career Campus: To use one of the finest buildings in Ringkøbing, drawn by the Danish architect Ulrik Plesner, to create an environment where newcomers can familiarise themselves with Ringkøbing and create a social network before determining whether to stay.
The Career Campus was a success from the very beginning. All rooms were booked, the residents were happy, and local companies supported the project. But the building had seen better days. Among its challenges were a retirement home-like look, moisture problems, and a roof which was desperate to be replaced. On this basis, Ringkøbing-Skjern Business Council decided that the building needed to be restored.
Community is key
Here is the bigger picture: Since the local educational system offers only upper secondary education and academy profession programmes, many young people decide to leave the city to study for a degree – and most of them do not return. This is one of the reasons why graduates are in short supply in Ringkøbing-Skjern.
Therefore, the municipality is keen to attract and retain highly educated employees. There are plenty of jobs. Lene Hagerup Hindbo, deputy manager at Ringkøbing-Skjern Business Council, clarifies this from her office in Skjern. Through collaboration with universities, a service aimed at finding jobs for newcomers, and matchmaking between candidates and companies, she helps local companies get access to relevant labour.
At the Career Campus, residents are provided with a temporary, furnished room at a reasonable rent. A janitor makes sure that everything runs smoothly and attends to minor repair work and cleaning of common areas. In the bicycle cellar, former residents have left behind bicycles, which new residents can borrow. A private company has even put a car at the residents’ disposal. This can be rented on an hourly basis.
- In Ringkøbing, we have many interesting workplaces for graduates, but we know that people – whether they come from Aarhus or India – may feel lonely when they move to a new city where they don’t have a social network, Lene says about the idea, which arose back in 2009 when the municipality began developing a new settlement strategy.
In particular, the feeling of belonging to a community determines how quickly the newcomers settle in.
- Few graduates miss the dormitory life, but they enjoy having someone to eat dinner with. It’s about meeting likeminded people to talk to, go swimming with, or go to the cinema with. The social element cannot be overrated, Lene says.
A great place to start
Berit Mikkelsen secured herself a job as a senior quality engineer at Eagle Burgmann, and she says that it was first and foremost the great rooms and facilities as well as the nearby nature, public swimming pool, and fitness centre that made her want to move into a temporary room at the Career Campus. Her fellow residents were newcomers from all over the world – from Venezuela to Azerbaijan – and Danes who, like Berit Mikkelsen, needed time to decide whether and where to stay.
- It was my impression that staying at the Career Campus was an advantage to all of us, but especially to those who came here from the other side of the Earth. It is a great place to start, and I do not understand why only few cities have embraced the idea, she says.
The local companies are also pleased, and Ringkøbing-Skjern Business Council has a great collaboration with a wide range of local companies. One of them is Vestas. Here, Krista Faurby works as a Personal Assistant, and she is responsible for booking rooms at the Career Campus for new employees.
- At Vestas, we employ highly educated engineers from all over the world. To them, it is a great advantage to have inexpensive, temporary accommodation, where everything is as it should be. At the same time, they are able to quickly gain a social network, which is important in a city like Ringkøbing, where the streets are more or less empty after 6 p.m. We missed the Career Campus while it was being restored, Krista says.
A lasting result
The previous reconstruction took place in 1979. Back then, no one was afraid to touch the building. As a result, many architectural qualities were lost. To architect Rasmus Thrane, who was the adviser on the project, the main task was therefore to retrieve some of the atmosphere from the original building.
Specifically, the project consisted of an extensive restoration of 12 rooms with baths as well as of common areas. From the corner room, where the retirement home had a hairdressing salon, the sparkling, blue water of Ringkøbing Fjord can be seen. When the building was a retirement home, this was where the ladies got curlers in their hair, but the floor slanted a little.
- When you enter the building today, it is easy to see that some things have been changed. Not because we wanted them to change, but because someone before us erased the original traits of the building. We did not have the power to change that, but we could make sure to maintain all of the special peculiarities, use quality materials, and test technical solutions thoroughly. The result is solid, honest, and long-lasting, the architect points out.
Today, wide new plank floors have replaced the brown linoleum from the 1970s. Yellow ceiling sheets, another leftover from the 70s, are also gone, and aged, double-glazed windows have been replaced by glazing bar windows. The freshly painted, bright rooms are equipped with modern furniture from the company Hay. And new residents are ready to move in.
- Due to Covid-19, there was a period where six rooms were available because the new residents were stuck in India. Otherwise, we have had 100 percent occupancy, and about one third of the residents end up staying in the city, Lene Hagerup Hindbo says.
At the time of writing, restoration of the extension from the 1970s is well under way, so that a greater number of residents will be able to enjoy updated surroundings. When they open the front door and enter the upgraded Career Campus, a current resident will greet them and take them for a tour. In their rooms, fresh sheets and towels are ready for use. Welcome to Ringkøbing.
