Guide for Organisations [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

HYY provides its organisations with various facilities that they can use: meeting rooms, a banquet hall, a sauna and organisational premises. The facilities are located in the New Student House, Domus Gaudium and Mechelininkatu 3D. More detailed information on the facilities available to organisations as well as their current user guidelines and reservation instructions are available on HYY’s website. To see the reservation status of the facilities, please check the reservation calendar.

Many organisations also have their own premises that can be used.

You can reserve facilities offered by HYY by sending an email to HYY’s Services Office. The keys to the facilities are also picked up there. Please remember to take the opening hours of the Services Office into account.

HYY’s organisational premises

Organisational premises are premises assigned to organisations in the allocation of premises for use in their independent activities. This means that organisations are largely responsible for the condition, furnishing and maintenance of the premises themselves. HYY has not collected rent for using these premises – organisations have been allowed to use them for free. However, HYY requires organisations to form a body of some kind to deal with the administration of the premises as well as to create user guidelines and principles of safer space for it.

HYY usually conducts the allocation of premises every two years. In the allocation, organisations apply for organisational premises to use from HYY, and such premises are also awarded to most. The Financial Committee approves the principles for the allocation of premises in the spring of the year the allocation takes place, and the allocation itself is conducted based on these principles. The Financial Committee usually first makes an initial proposal, which the organisations may comment on. After this, it makes the actual proposal, which the Board then approves. If an organisation is founded during an allocation period or if it has not received premises in the actual allocation of premises, it is also possible to apply for premises in the so-called intermediate allocations of premises, held twice a year. The principles of the actual allocation of premises apply to these intermediate allocations.

Due to the limited nature of premises and the growing needs of organisations, it is practically impossible to provide organisations with premises where they could operate alone. For this reason, the premises have been divided into larger units called clusters. You should also take into account that it is not necessarily possible to offer organisations premises from the location they would prefer themselves – HYY also needs to consider the big picture of facility usage in the allocation of premises.

Tips for the users of organisational premises

HYY’s organisational premises are currently divided into larger units (‘clusters’), each of which is used by several organisations. The key to effortless use of the premises is cooperation, communication and interaction between the organisations. We recommend that you agree on and remind each other of shared practices and the administration of the premises at the beginning of each year, as the active members in organisations change. This is recommended even though the clusters have written guidelines and principles of safer space drafted by the users themselves.

All premises also have their own body in charge of the shared administration of the premises. Organisations using the premises are free to change the internal rules of their premises on their own terms (within the limits set by HYY’s User Guideline for Organisational Premises and the contract for organisational premises). However, the existence of rules and a body in charge of the administration makes it easier to operate in the premises and agree on matters. Discussing matters face to face is the best way to agree on shared ground rules and resolve possible problem situations with using the premises. However, this does not rule out other ways of operation, such as remote meetings or drafting documents using various cloud service platforms.

To make internal communication run smoother, it may be a good idea to set up a shared email list or some other group operating through social media or an instant messenger.

Even when several organisations are using the same premises, the responsibility for cleaning the entire facility complex lies with all organisations using the premises. The easiest way to keep the premises clean is to always clean up after an event. Even if you do this, however, dust, dirt and unneeded stuff tend to accumulate in the premises, often with nobody claiming responsibility for them. Cleaning also causes costs, which should be distributed among everyone using the premises in some way. You should discuss among all organisations using the facilities whether cleaning costs and possible cleaning shifts, for instance, need to be distributed evenly among everyone using the premises, or whether you could consider sharing the burden based on usage levels. Organisations that use the premises a couple of times a year are unlikely to dirty the premises as much as those that use them a couple of times a week. In many organisations, weekly cleaning shifts have been found to be a good way to ensure that the facilities remain in good condition.

When planning to make acquisitions for organisational premises, you can apply for HYY’s furniture grant.

Using and reserving Alina Hall

The Student Union has one festive space directly available to its organisations: Alina Hall. Alina Hall is very heavily used, fully booked for practically the entire academic year. Information on reserving Alina Hall and practices related to its use are available on HYY’s website.

Reservations to Alina Hall are distributed by HYY’s Student Organisations Committee. There are three reservation rounds: the advance reservation round, 1. reservation round and 2. reservation round. During each round, each organisation can apply for one reservation, with certain restrictions – mentioned when each round is announced – in place. HYY announces the reservation rounds on its website and in the newsletter for organisations as well as in separate bulletins if required. After the reservation rounds, you can inquire about any remaining time slots from HYY’s Services Office. However, you must always check the available time slots for Alina Hall from the reservation calendar, both during the reservation rounds and after them.

Organisations must complete user training for Alina Hall to be allowed to use the space. The training must be completed every year. The user training is organised at the beginning of the year and according to need in the autumn. The training is announced in the newsletter for organisations as well as separate bulletins for each training if needed.