As one of the initiatives for social sustainability, AF Bostäder’s property developers have introduced security walks. Based on the housing areas’ Swedish Quality Index (SKI) ratings, the walks are to result in security enhancement measures for the outdoor environment. Internally, the initiative was named the best sustainability project of 2024.
“At AF Bostäder, we strive to improve our impact regarding all aspects of sustainability – environmental, social, economic and cultural,” says Rickard Wallin, Technical Manager and Project Manager at AF Bostäder. “It’s also our ambition for all parts of the organisation to contribute knowledge and ideas that help us reach our sustainable operational targets.”
At a workshop in 2023, it was proposed that AF Bostäder’s property developers would support the management process to further highlight the customers’ experience of security and well-being.
“Those of us working on property development can contribute with a sort of external perspective on our housing areas,” says Rickard Wallin. “Area managers and caretakers have a broad range of duties with everything from ongoing operations and maintenance to services and customer relations, often in cooperation with external contractors. Those of us working as technical managers and project managers are involved in more delimited projects and specific measures, such as designing different living environments. With our joint efforts, and often with simple measures, we can continue to enhance security for the tenants.”
The first security walk took place in 2023 at Klosterängen, and in December 2024 the concept was taken further with walks at Bokompakt and one of the quarters at Kämnärsrätten. The walks are based on AF Bostäder’s customer satisfaction surveys, and initially the focus will be on those areas that had the lowest scores for security.
“We go out after dark when it’s easier to identify improvement needs,” says Rickard Wallin. “The whole property development group walk together and get an overview of aspects such as lighting and the view at entrances, basement stairs and laundry rooms, paths to bulky waste stations, planted areas and bushes, and the properties’ burglary protection.”
“Each person writes down their impressions and suggestions, then we produce a compilation that we submit to the management process for assessment. The recommendations could be about fitting peepholes in apartment doors that face the outdoor environment, height recommendations for parts of bushes or stronger outdoor lighting. Security walks, which for now are conducted on a trial basis, have received a positive response and been praised internally. In time, the aim is to develop a procedure to provide ongoing support for the management process on security matters, and to formulate measurable sub-goals for the property development group regarding work on social sustainability for our customers,” says Rickard Wallin.
Latest update June 16, 2025