Regardless if you are a regular in the gym or if you have never been, please help.

AlbaNova Gym risks being closed by needless bureaucracy in connection to the change in ownership of the AlbaNova building. Please sign the petition to let the people responsible know that you support keeping the gym as it has been throughout the years – a place for physical and mental health and a place for meeting new people.

Background:

AlbaNova Gym has been a health and training institution at AlbaNova for many years. It has always been a place for employees and students to wind down after a hard day’s work, focus on one’s health and fitness, and meet new people. It started out more than ten years ago through the donation of some old gym equipment. Over the years it has grown and with the addition of Viktoria who has run the gym over the last 9 years, taught classes, and given private consultations etc, the popularity of the gym has skyrocketed.

The AlbaNova building has recently changed owners resulting in KTH's Gemensamt verksamhetsstöd (GVS) and more specifically Fastighetsavdelningen having all the power when it comes to how to utilize the building. It has turned out that one person in charge there has got it into their head that they will close AlbaNova Gym no matter at what cost. Specifically without consulting the AlbaNova community.

Different excuses have been made as to why it is necessary to close the gym with the most common one being that it is not the job of KTH to provide a place where employees can work on their health and fitness.

A few dedicated gym goers and supporters have tried to fight against this baseless decision by acquiring the support from all the department heads at AlbaNova, and eventually laying out a proposal of having a student sports foundation pay the full rent of the gym. In this way we figured that there is no downside for GVS to just let the gym continue running as normal.

All of our efforts and proposals have been rejected and a few days ago we received word from GVS saying that it is their final decision to permanently close the gym – this time without any excuse at all. Nowhere in this decision process have the employees and students of AlbaNova been consulted.

This is why we now ask for your help. Even if you are not a gym goer you can still support your future possibility of trying it out, your colleagues’ right to continue working on their physical and mental health, and just the self-determination of the AlbaNova community being free from the oppression by aloof bureaucrats.

Please sign the petition to show your support!