Real Estate Annual Finland 2016

NORDICUM Give ’em Espoo Goes Recharging Helsinki Underground Turku Real Estate Annual Finland

Urban Proof Who’s Designing Your City?

UX Marks the Spot Joe Pine Breaks Down Experience Economy

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Highest possible status (AAA) with Newsweek Magazine has ranked The largest sector of the the global credit rating agencies Finland as the world’s best country Finnish economy is services at 65 %, followed by manu- Fitch Ratings and Moody’s and AA+ on the basis of criteria emphasising facturing and refining at 31 %. by Standard & Poor’s. the environment, education and quality of life.

Finnish startup spirit is personified by super tech-event Slush which again brought together 15,000 attendees (including 1,700 startups) in November 2015.

Helsinki was declared the

number one Corporation tax was lowered to 20% at the beginning of 2014 Smart City (from 24,5%). Finnish game series Angry in the world (Fast Company). Birds has been downloaded more than three billion times, making it the most downloaded freemium game series of all Espoo-based Aalto University is an time. "Innovation University" through-and-through. Combining business, design and hi-tech, Aalto was ranked among the five rising stars of the international academic community by MIT.

Helsinki placed second (after Labour costs are lower in Finland London) in the Financial Times’ FDI compared to the other Nordic Intelligence European Cities of the countries. Future 2014/2015 ranking which measures the ability of areas and cities to attract foreign direct investments (FDI). Helsinki was ranked second in World Economic Forum's 2013 Human Capital Index.

Finland has the highest Research & Finland has the best availability of Development scientists and engineers in the world intensity of all 28 European Union (WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report member states (Eurostat). 2014–2015).

Tandem Graphics 2016 AAA status “is underpinned by sound Finland’s main industrial public finances, a solid external position, products are paper and board, high income per capita, demonstrable electronics and metal products. political and social stability and an Biggest Cities: impeccable debt service record”. Finland has world-class Helsinki (613,000) expertise in cleantech, forestry, Espoo (261,000) Finland’s education system has metal and machinery manufac- Tampere (220,000) turing, ICT industry and consistently achieved outstanding Vantaa (208,000) results (PISA). services, and health and wellbeing. Oulu (194,000) About a third of Finland’s working Turku (182,000) population has a degree or higher qualification.

Helsinki is ranked third (behind New York and London) in the global The capital area in detail CITIE Index 2015 which studied governmental support of entrepreneurs among cities.

Vantaa

Espoo

Kauniainen

Helsinki The Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport offers the best connections from Europe to Asia. The Fund for Peace (FFP) ranked Tampere Finland the most stable country in the world for the second consecutive year in 2014. Pori

Rauma Uusikaupunki Vantaa Espoo St.Petersburg Turku Helsinki

Oslo Tallinn

Stockholm HELSINKI Pori 51 km Rauma 50 km Uusikaupunki 71 km Turku 165 km 58 km Hyvinkää 126 km Tampere

Growth Corridors Going Strong

Copenhagen NORDICUM

Real Estate Annual Finland

Publisher Service 2.0 PubliCo Oy Pälkäneentie 19 A ‘Service’ is not what it used to be. These days, the word is becom- FI-00510 Helsinki ing synonymous with ‘disruption’ as new service concepts are Finland turning the world upside down. Phone +358 20 162 2200 [email protected] www.publico.com Take Mobility as a Service (MaaS), for instance. Already hailed as the ‘Helsinki Model’ around the world, MaaS means Editor-in-Chief that you buy mobility services based on consumer needs instead Jussi Sinkko of buying the actual means of mobility. This calls for mobility solutions that integrate intercity transportation and local transpor- Editorial Coordinator tation, as well as last mile solutions. The Helsinki Model aspires Liisa Hyvönen to upgrade the service level of transportation by harnessing the Project Manager capacities of both public and private actors. Paul Charpentier

Sonja Heikkilä, the ‘mother’ of MaaS, explains this in a Contributors rather straight-forward manner: let us first merge underground, Merja Kihl bus, train, tram, taxi, ride sharing, and city bike services into one Ari Mononen Sami J. Anteroinen application in a smart phone – and then let companies compete Lutz Ehrhardt on who provides the total service to users fastest or cheapest. Language Editor The City of Espoo is on to something similar with School Dialog Designs as a Service (SaaS). SaaS revolves around shared resources, as well, adding flexibility and a good degree of planning into the Graphic Design Riitta Yli-Öyrä way schools use real estate and other assets today. Instead of looking at school as a ‘product’, one must glimpse beyond at Sales the service it offers – and could offer. Finland Mr. Paul Charpentier Aalto University is working on a sister concept to SaaS Phone +358 20 162 2220 and going corporate with its offering. ‘Building as a Service’ Sweden Mr. Johan Lindberg (BaaS) means that companies start thinking more and more in Phone +358 20 162 2280 the terms of service they receive and less in terms of ‘traditional’ Germany real estate. One indicator of this change is the rising popularity Mr. Lutz Ehrhardt of co-working; in the USA alone, there are currently 3.5 million Phone +49 40 367 311 people using co-working solutions. Cover Photo Strategic Horizons LLP And what is the next ‘as-a-Service’ (aaS), you may ask? Well, we don’t know exactly – but there’s probably something Printed by brewing with regards to the Six City Strategy. Targeting open and PunaMusta, January 2016 smart services, the six largest cities in Finland – Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Turku and Oulu – have joined forces with the Photographic and advertising material is sent at the owner’s risk. NORDICUM accepts no liability for goal of creating new know-how, business and jobs. loss or damage. NORDICUM promotes Baltic Sea area cooperation and free markets. NORDICUM is The strategy aims to not only produce service innovations, not affiliated with any political party or financial institution. but also to promote competitive business and employment. It’s based on open operating models that let the entire city commu- ISSN-L 1236-3839 nity participate in the development work – a very Finnish idea ISSN 1236-3839 (Print) if ever there was one. ISSN 2242-9603 (Online) www.nordicum.com So: until we hit Service as a Service (SaaS II), keep those innovations coming!

Sami J. Anteroinen Editor-at-Large

PubliCo Oy is a member of The Finnish Periodical Publisher’s Association 2 Nordicum Selection of references Annual Convention DEC 2015 NOV 2015 of Property Investment sold Prospects 2016 approx. 38 % in sold two ofﬁce properties in Espoo rd 3 November for approx. € 190 million to to Hämeenlinna, Finland

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sold sold a 35,000 sqm office a 70,000 sqm office and complex in Leppävaara, production property Espoo in Oulu Register at to to propertyinvest.fi Advisor to the seller Advisor to the seller Registration fee

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a € 652 million joint a portfolio of 1,200 venture company apartments The meeting point for with to decision makers in the real estate industry in Finland Advisor to Kesko Advisor to the seller

Market participants have voted Advium the #1 real estate investment bank in Finland in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005. - Euromoney Real Estate Awards

Advium Corporate Finance is the leading advisor in major real estate transactions in Finland.

For more information: +358 9 6817 8900 www.advium.ﬁ YIT is giving Central Pasila a beauty treatment that runs more Reaching for the sky, SRV is building landmark towers in both than skin deep. Pages 14–16. Helsinki and Espoo. Pages 24–25.

02 Editorial

06 Real estate sector needs to move from goods and services to experiences and authenticity

10 What is the relevance of Experience Economy in terms of real estate

12 The making of attractive city environments is not an exact science

14 YIT is seeking to re-energise Central Pasila with unprecedented retail reach

17 The Pasila – Vallila – Kalasatama “axis of growth” leads the urban revolution in the pocket-sized metropolis

22 Pasila: Common Agenda, United Front

23 ]THE ANGLE by Deputy Mayor of the City of Helsinki for City Planning and Real Estate, Anni Sinnemäki

24 Solidifying the urban structure is one way to build a more sustainable metropolis

26 Espoo is finally launching its long-awaited metroline

30 Powered by networks, Peab builds Business Gardens fully integrated into the community

32 Shopping centre Iso Omena – the commercial anchor of the surrounding Matinkylä community and beyond

33 ]THE ANGLE by Deputy Mayor of the City of Espoo, Olli Isotalo

34 The heart of Espoo Innovation Garden - Tapiola-Otaniemi-Keilaniemi area is standing

on the brink of a brand new era

36 Tapiola is returning to its former glory as a wave of new construction hits Tapiola Centre

38 Laboratory for Learning – Opinmäki glimpses into the future of school

40 Espoo is championing a new ‘School as a Service’ concept

4 Nordicum Peab is changing the conventional business park mentality with Reshaping its communities, Vantaa is well on its way to becoming a more holistic outlook. Pages 30–31. the best Airport City in the world. Page 56.

42 Aalto University has an ambitious plan to change the way we use of space in an academic setting

44 New Growth Corridors call the shots in tomorrow’s competitiveness game

48 European Core Corridors – The Making Of

49 E12 Growth Corridor really gives Valkeakoski a powerful reach

49 The Growth Corridor has attracted logistics players to the Hyvinkää area

50 Turku, Uusikaupunki, Rauma and Pori are pushing regional growth – together

52 Turku is poised to capitalise on emerging opportunities

54 Driven By Science, Powered by Business

55 In trying times, can Airport Cities help the economy to take off?

56 Vantaa is building the blueprint for a next-gen Airport City

57 ]THE ANGLE by Deputy Mayor of the City of Vantaa, Hannu Penttilä

58 Technopolis is spearheading the cause of smart real estate management

60 Wood could revolutionise the construction business

65 Eye on Transactions

66 Eversheds’ Real Estate Investor Day in Helsinki attracted a good crowd of industry professionals

68 The Finnish real estate investment scene is gaining in popularity

69 Aulanko Goes Digital

70 Company Business Cards

Nordicum 5 The Hunt for the Big Experience

Real estate sector needs to move from goods and services to experiences and authenticity, says Joe Pine, co- discoverer of the Experience Economy.

6 Nordicum Photo: Strategic Horizons LLP hen the book The Experience W Economy (1999) came out, one critic wrote “this book scared the hell out of me”. And no, it was not by Stephen King, but, instead, by two business gurus, Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, who perceived a paradigm shift to end all paradigm shifts just around the corner. The book identified and described a crucial progres- sion of economic value from commodities to goods to services, and then to experiences. Seventeen years after the book launch, Joe Pine recalls that the work did open some eyes to a brand new reality. “There were still many that were decrying the loss of manufacturing jobs and the shift into the Service Economy, and now they had to face a new threat to old sectors and ways of doing business,” he looks back. The Experience Economy showed how businesses should embrace theatre as an operating model to stage unique experiences – like a modern take on Shake- speare’s line “all the world’s a stage,” if you will. What this means is that companies must learn how to go beyond goods and services, and hit their customers with experience.

Going Digital Still, as the book came out just prior to the millennium, the authors themselves called Experience Economy as “nascent,” “forth- coming,” and “growing.” It was not there, not quite yet. But by the time the updated edition came out in 2011, there could be no doubt – experiences had become the pre- dominant economic offering, and the primary source of economic growth, new jobs, and innovation. How did this happen? Well, between 1999 and 2011 the digital bomb dropped and took experience to another level. Joe Pine points out that digitalisation has pushed itself into just about all arenas, particularly because of the development of the smartphone where anyone could visit vir- tuality at the touch of a finger. But while some industries have made experience their life’s blood, other industries are more conservative. In terms of urban development and building new communities, just how relevant is the Experi- ence Economy? Joe Pine replies that experiences are absolutely essential to the real estate business, too. “It is the authentic experience that turns a house into a home, a space into a place, and a neighbourhood into a community,” he says, adding that architects, designers and developers would do well to seek authenticity at all times, for it is something that resonates strongly with people – and, on the other hand, people can smell fake and instinctively steer clear of the inauthentic.

Nordicum 7 Photo: Pekka Rousi to be perceived as phony is to do something antithetical to your heritage, to repudiate who you are. So you must understand that heritage – your origin plus your history – to figure out the key elements to bring forth and stay true to.” Pine adds that for development projects this means not just the company itself, but the locale of the development, for authentic places must be “rooted in the ground”. “In being what you say you are, the easiest way to be perceived as phony here is to advertise something you are not, which companies do all the time.” In fact, Pine is in the habit of telling companies to stop advertising, and, instead, to start creating places where people can directly experience who they are. “In real estate, therefore, you must recognise the primacy of place – the venue plus the event that happens there. So recognise it is not just about the buildings or the environs; it’s about the experience that real, live, individual people have in those venues.”

Smart Me Up But how exactly does the digital component fit to all of this? After all, Smart Cities are a rising theme in Finland and around the world – are we heading for ‘Smart Experi- ence Economy’? – Pine reveals that he has been working with some colleagues in the MIT Media Lab on this very same issue. He feels that Smart City initiatives are very much about the lived experience people have in the city and how it can be made more engaging, of greater value, and more per- sonal. To make it work, a Smart City has to “go big” on experience, but there’s another force at work here, as well. Pine explains: Smart City resonates very strongly with ideas arising from his first book, Mass Customization (1992). In his mind, this is exactly what the Smart City must do – mass customise the infrastructure, environments and city services to deliver unique value to the individual citizen and visitor. And while mass customising a good turns it into a service and mass customising a service turns it into an experience, we still can’t get away from Experience Economy even if we wanted to, it seems. “That’s where the Smart City should really be aimed – at mass customising everything possible to help citizens and visitors lead the most productive lives possible, contribute to the quality of life of others, and achieve their dreams and aspirations,” Pine sums up.

Retail Renaissance Get Real According to Pine, the two key standards of authenticity in the book are simple enough: Another example of the Experience Not surprisingly, this issue gave rise to being true to yourself and being what you Economy is the reinvention of shopping another book by the name of Authenticity: say you are. centres and malls around the world. While What Consumers Really Want (2007). “For the first standard, the easiest way you can get whatever you want online, retail 8 Nordicum Photo: Sini Pennanen

must find ways to mobilise people in new ond, Pine has done a lot of work in the coun- Travelling Man ways. Joe Pine believes that if there is any try over the past 15 years, including being at magic left in shopping malls, at the core of the birth of the Lapland Experience Organi- And that’s not to say that Pine hasn’t been it must be the experience. zation in Rovaniemi and working with such travelling outside the US very much – in “The key battle in this shift into the companies as Finpro, Elisa, Tekes, Nokia, fact, just about the opposite is true. In 2014, Experience Economy is the battle for time, and, in real estate, Kiinko. he travelled over 170,000 miles, and 2015 the currency of experiences. Goods and ser- “I love the place,” he grins. “It’s beau- was not that far behind, including two visits vices are being commoditised everywhere tiful, and the people are warm even when the to Finland and hitting three new countries, because consumers want to buy them at the climate is cold.” Malaysia, Thailand and Morocco, respec- lowest possible price and greatest possible In the experience department, Fin- tively. His unofficial motto for the road is convenience – which in both cases increas- land has not gone unnoticed either. Every ‘Have audience, will perform’. ingly means online – so they can save their year Joe Pine and his partner Jim Gilmore Apparently, the only thing that makes hard-earned money and time on the experi- give out an Experience Stager of the Year Pine frown on the road are four-hour dinners ences that they enjoy.” (EXPY) award to a company that stands which generally start at 7 or 8 pm – which According to Pine, the only reason head and shoulders above its competitors – means that it’s normally around midnight to go to a mall today is for the experience, and in 2014, the award went to Ilkka Län- when you can check your e-mail and pre- whether that is as minor as seeing, touching, kinen, the Managing Director of SantaPark. pare for the next day. and using goods before the purchase, as tra- “First, he deserved it alone for the But then there was that one time in ditional as people-watching, or as engaging wonderful Santa Claus experience that is winter-time Lapland where the dinner as the many thoughtfully designed experi- Joulukka, but when he and his wife Katja stretched to about eight hours – but you ences that fill the more pioneering shopping took over SantaPark a few years ago, they won’t hear Mr. Pine complain about that. centres today. really turned around what was a fairly dead Hosted by the Lapland Experience Organi- experience into a lively one, with wonder- zation up in Rovaniemi, the “super dinner” started with a sleigh ride, ended in a sauna Experiencing Finland ful workers and a great theme of ‘Christ- mas Every Day.’” – with no dull moment in sight. A little known fact about Joe Pine is that he As SantaPark was honoured, this “I loved every minute of it – and didn’t has a very strong connection to Finland. For marked only the second time the award went even think about checking my e-mail.” O one, his wife is half Finnish, hailing from out to a European company (after LEGO near the Swedish border up in Lapland. Sec- in 2002). Sami J. Anteroinen Nordicum 9 Enter: Eventification Urban grassroots activism is spreading – and real estate players need to adjust

What is the relevance of Experience Economy in terms of real estate or, more simply put, space? When one looks at space not as a production system but as a valuable stage – engaging various producers, intermediaries and consumers – it becomes more than mere territory. Value is created not only from the mobility of goods and knowledge but also from the mobility of consumers. Ultimately, it’s the voting with your feet that wins the day.

esearcher Doreen Jakob put her own And of course, very little of this would the storm pretty well – just as long as they’re R spin on Experience Economy by have been possible without social media. located downtown. introducing ‘eventification’ which is Kostiainen notes that the internet has given “There are many factors at work here, defined as the process by which consump- us simple tool for communication and coor- with urbanisation and the rise of various tion and space are turned into events. The dination which are vital issues from the city lifestyles being among the most nota- problem, however, is that the events them- viewpoint of grassroots activity. ble ones. People flows concentrate in the selves are not always as ‘inside-out’ as one “In a way, we have discovered that we city centres and that’s where retail is head- should hope – meaning, in essence, that do are able to do things – and that we’re allowed ing, too,” Kostiainen says, pointing out that not come from the community, but are intro- to do those things – and when we put our car ownership, for example, is not as “cool” duced from the outside. minds to it, we can move pretty fast, too,” as it used to be – or even that necessary. Juha Kostiainen, Senior Vice President Kostiainen says, adding that trend favours On the background, Kostiainen per- (Urban Development and Corporate Rela- rough-and-ready planning – if something ceives a transition towards expertise-based tions) for YIT Corporation has long studied doesn’t work, you make adjustments on service economy where the boundaries the theme in depth. He points out that the the fly (with no committee memorandums). between living, consuming, leisure and whole concept of Experience Economy has working get blurred. For real estate, this been revitalized by citizens, as local, grass- Punk Attitude Trending means that in lieu of traditional functional roots events have emerged as a response to urban planning, a more ‘mixed use’ type of According to Kostiainen, ‘participation’ mega-events. approach is encouraged. has come a long way from its entry to aca- “Eventification means that various “Instead of creating strictly separate demic debate 20 years ago. Back then, the happenings can take place anywhere,” he functions, you bring them all to one place, focus was on getting involved on political says, adding that the phenomenon is rooted preferably within walking distance.” decision-making – whereas now you could on the element of surprise – quite like a say that it’s one big party out there (that has flashmob in its fascination, eventification Birds of a Feather nothing to do with politics). Instead of wait- comes from the community and resonates ing around for the officials to do something, The creative class does not want to work in strongly with the natives. it’s the citizens that are taking action. a sterile office cluster or “engineer reserva- Going Viral Kostiainen notes that the prevailing tion” – as Kostiainen puts it – put, instead, attitude is very “punk”: get active, do some- they want to be where there’s people, action One example of this trend is Restaurant Day, thing, ask no permission from anyone. Cit- and ideas. For those working on the “future a Helsinki food carnival when anyone can izens are boldly going where no one has office” concepts of today, this poses a chal- set up a restaurant, café or a bar for a day. gone before – and they’re been followed, lenge. It can happen anywhere, too: at home, on a too. Companies are keen to steal a page or The old adage states that nothing street corner in the park. Invented by three two from the citizen activists’ playbook and attracts a crowd like a crowd. Kostiainen local food enthusiasts longing to see some the various e-ways of sharing, for instance, points out that when you have a big enough buzz in the culinary department, Restaurant are spreading from the citizenry to the pub- concentration of people in any given space, Day featured 45 pop-up restaurants in May, lic and corporate sector. services will emerge – and given time, they 2011, despite the fact that the event was very “Sharing Economy is embraced by become more and more tailored. When you hastily put together. Today, less than five companies, too – just look at the joint use achieve that critical mass, also productiv- years later, Restaurant Day is the world’s of public/private space or HUB spaces made ity will increase with specialised services. biggest food carnival, taking place world- available to outsiders.” “When one talks about solidifying the wide four times a year. urban structure, the conversation usually Doing the numbers sounds more like Retail Fights Back revolves around the environmental view- industrial operations than pure citizen fun: points, but the boost to competitiveness is so far, Restaurant Days have launched about Tied to all this is the future of retail. On-line important, too.” O 23 600 one-day restaurants by over 95,000 shopping is making retail players rethink restaurateurs, with almost three million cus- their strategies. Kostiainen believes that tomers served in 73 (!) countries. shopping centres, for instance, will weather Sami J. Anteroinen

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Transactions Our real estate team in Finland advises clients Saara Raitala in matters involving real estate, construction Partner, Helsinki and environment. Our clientele consists of saara.raitala@eversheds.fi major players in the real estate sector T: +358 40 567 1955 - a testimony to our uncompromising approach and prominent expertise. We are known for Construction Ilkka Koivisto our in-depth experience and of our solution- Partner, Helsinki oriented approach. ilkka.koivisto@eversheds.fi T: +358 50 511 4051 Latest reference cases at www.eversheds.fi Environment Pekka Kokko Partner, Helsinki pekka.kokko@eversheds.fi T: +358 500 708 240 eversheds.com

From left to right Terhi Tikkanen-Lindström, Teemu Holopainen, Timo Kärkinen and Jorma Mäntynen.

Building the urban communities of the future is no trivial matter. According to the consultancy WSP Finland, “going urban” is a good move from the point of view of the environment – since solidifying the city structure brings down carbon footprint – but, also, from an economic perspective.

erhi Tikkanen-Lindström, Business a relatively young phenomenon in Finland, and realised as an independent entity, this T Area Director, Environment and Archi- it’s not exactly a huge surprise that devel- does very little for the holistic outlook,” he tecture, points out that urban planning opment is lagging behind. says. has only recently gained sufficient scale and “In many ways, we still hold onto the scope to really live up to its potential. post-war 1950’s societal structure.” Still, Silos-R-Us “Urbanisation relates to economy in the times they are a-changin’: Holopainen various ways, for example, by increasing notes that as everybody is carrying a smart- Timo Kärkinen, Head of Transport Consult- supply and demand and related business phone in their pocket now, also urbanisation ing Unit at WSP, says that urban planners activity,” she says, adding that there’s a lot receives a significant boost: the word goes have become very skilled at building silos: to be achieved in this field as more links out in real-time, if there’s a pop-up restau- various functions are meticulously identified between urbanisation and economic growth rant opening its doors or an impromptu fes- and then split up into their own respective are unearthed. tival at the beach. camps. Instead of pigeon holing, the plan- “As the city centres are becoming more “The city is struggling to keep up with ners would do well to shake things up a bit: compact, there will be more services and these changes, but the effort is paying off – “Urban planners should be able to put jobs available. At the same time, the very if slowly.” different functions together, to really mix nature of work is shifting.” Jorma Mäntynen, Director of the new them up – but it’s not happening.” Community Development and Growth Ser- WSP Sales Director Risto Jounila New Kid on the Block vices function argues that the failure to see points out that zoning officials need to the “big picture” has resulted in mosaic-like upgrade their thinking and methods to bet- Teemu Holopainen, Head of Urban Archi- city structures. ter suit 21st century: tecture at WSP says that since urbanisation is “When each property is planned out “The zoning process must be retooled

12 Nordicum pävaara, Tapiola, Matinkylä-Olari, Espoon- lahti and Espoo Centre, each of which is the equivalent of a medium-sized Finnish city. WSP dove into the project, trying to uncover, first of all, what is urbanism in this context? And what potential does it hold for the future? According to Terhi Tikkanen-Lind- ström, a whole range of things come together when one is assessing the vitality and appeal of city centres. For instance, traffic, commercial and residential consideration all impact the final outcome, but – increasingly – the attraction is something less intangible than real estate or infrastructure. From left to right Terhi Tikkanen-Lindström and Risto Jounila. “In the end, we’re talking about the power of stories here: stories of the past, to make way for a better system from the tors just like traffic capacity did in the 20th those of the present and – most significantly point of view of the citizens. Urban solutions century. – those of the future. No place is without are, after all, what the people want,” he says. “Through city boulevards, the environ- a story.” Terhi Tikkanen-Lindström says that ment favoured by the new economy would zoning has often been too one-sided: urban be significantly enhanced. Even more sig- Make It Big? planning should encompass more than just nificant is the fact that these new economy residential production. She feels that due to jobs will not arise in the Helsinki Metro- Teemu Holopainen adds that while big com- cyclopean zoning policies, a considerable politan Area at all, if the boulevards are not munity development projects have kicked chance has been missed: implemented,” says Holopainen. off around Helsinki, for instance, attraction “Urbanism can provide competitive Still, even as many things are changing is not created via scale of a project alone: edge in a tough economy. So far, we have – even dramatically – some things stay the there are plenty of examples from history not explored this opportunity in Finland.” same. Jorma Mäntynen feels that economy where ambitious visions failed to resonate and technology are the key drives in usher- with the citizens. Core Competence ing in this new era, but for every action there “If one wants to increase the urban is a reaction of some kind: appeal, project management must be taken WSP has plenty of expertise in this “Attitudes take time to change, and so into another level entirely,” he says, calling field, having, for instance, won the 2015 do infrastructure and means of mobility such for a true paradigm shift here. Municipal Engineering Achievement Award as cars. This means that we can not only Jorma Mäntynen is concerned that if for its work ‘A goal-oriented impact assess- look at what’s new or being developed right Finland does not improve its track record ment of city boulevards’, which relates to this moment, but, instead, take full inven- in the urban arena, it will fall behind in the Helsinki’s city master plan. Timo Kärki- tory of the existing resources and optimise international race. nen observes that developing city centres their proper use.” “As people travel from one country to is, indeed, challenging, if traditional ways the next more than ever, it is clear that the of thinking are followed. Moreover, in cur- Engaging Espoo bar for urban environments is set high,” he rent traffic assessment practices, there are says, adding that e.g. Central European city “a number of shortcomings” in assessing the Another example of WSP Finland’s urban milieus offer fine benchmarks, but Finland meaningfulness of measures that change the prowess is its recent cooperation with Espoo does not have to settle for copycat practices. community structure. which is eager to enhance its urban appeal. “For one, utilising nature in the urban “In the impact assessment, we ques- Espoo has an urban policy that revolves framework could be a distinguishing fac- tioned the traditional mindset and began to around its five city centres, namely Lep- tor.” O apply traffic modelling ‘backwards’ using the so-called back-casting method – show- Photo: WSP ing, in the end, what measures are required for the successful development of city centres,” says Kärkinen. Teemu Holopainen says that in the impact assessment, one planning objective is to increase population numbers and economic vitality, which will also increase employment, cultural attractions and the region’s attractiveness. “Traditional assessment is not able to take this into account. For this, we had to develop our own assessment method and the concept ‘urban capacity’ alongside traditional transport capacity,” he explains. Boulevard Boost What’s more, Kärkinen and Holopainen maintain that urban capacity will boost operating conditions for 21st century growth sec-

Nordicum 13 Tripla Rising YIT is seeking to re-energise Central Pasila with unprecedented retail reach

If you’re in real estate business, you know this much to be true: A great location is a terrible thing to waste. With this in mind, the construction company YIT took a good look at Central Pasila in Helsinki and saw the tremendous upside inherent in the neighbourhood.

n connectivity, the area is second to none: the future. Encompassing three city blocks, land in terms of the number of retail spaces. I It is in the heart of the most densely pop- the total area of the Centre will be 183,000 The leasable floor area is over 85,000 square ulated region in Finland, at the intersec- floor square meters. metres for a total of 250 tenants. tion of every imaginable mode of transpor- Tapio Salo, YIT Senior Vice President tation from trains to trams to cars to bikes. In Targeting 2019 charged with the development of Tripla, says the vicinity, there is a sports arena, fair cen- that the Mall of Tripla will bring something tre, national media cluster… but what has To get things going, YIT is building the Mall quite unprecedented into the picture. been missing is a true commercial anchor. of Tripla, a next-generation shopping centre. “Our vision is not to launch only a All of this is about to change. The Scheduled for grand opening in the Christ- shopping centre, but something that is part emerging Tripla Centre will link both East mas season 2019, the Mall of Tripla will of the whole community and fully inte- and West Pasila, fully upgrading the area for become the largest shopping centre in Fin- grated into the urban structure. This means

14 Nordicum Photo: Ari TalusenPhoto: Ari which will provide tremendous opportuni- ping mall and the parking facility with the ties in this area,” Salo says, pointing out that property company (that is owned by the joint this Food Market concept encourages diver- venture) in spring 2016. sity: there’s room for both fast food and fine The building permit for the first imple- dining here. mentation phase – the parking facility – has “Conceivably, the Mall of Tripla can already been granted, and the excavation feature restaurants that are destinations in work is underway. their own right.” “Actually, we started doing the pre- Food Market will be complemented by paratory work on the site already in spring Mall of Tripla’s very own market hall, Mar- 2015, but now we have moved into excava- ket Zoo, which will be anchored on authen- tion works,” Tapio Salo confirms. ticity and original flavours. Tripla Trending Million Strong But while the launch of the next-gen shop- Vice President Seppo Martikainen from YIT ping centre is still almost four years away, agrees that the Mall of Tripla will be quite there is already a definite buzz in the retail special in its accessibility: You can easily market. It appears that this type of a com- walk, bike or drive to Mall of Tripla. More mercial superhub is exactly what the doc- than 500,000 local residents can reach Tripla tor ordered, even during trying economy. in 10 minutes, and over a million people are Approximately 20 % of the retail space in within a 30-minute reach. Tripla has been leased already, and interest “Every train in the metropolitan area towards the premises has been quite high. stops in Pasila – and now that new Ring “We have witnessed a strong signal Rail Line was launched in summer 2015, from the market, as many players are obvi- we can expect volumes to keep growing. ously interested in the premises,” Salo says, All of his bodes well for the Mall of Tripla,” adding that while the word on Mall of Tripla he sums up. went out about 18 months ago, the company has done very little to promote the venture. Tripla Alliance “We have been honing the commercial concept in order to make sure that it works to Carrying out these ambitious plans takes perfection, including the tenant mix,” Salo broad shoulders. On December 17, 2015, adds. “Therefore, we set no real targets for it was announced that YIT has succeeded the number of tenants while the conceptu- in putting together a coalition to raise the alising was ongoing – but all the while, we Mall of Tripla. YIT led Etera Mutual Pen- could see the interest level rising.” sion Insurance Company, Onvest Oy, Fennia Mutual Insurance Company and Fennia Life Follow the Master Plan Insurance Company in signing a letter of intent on the establishment of a joint ven- Seppo Martikainen agrees: the commercial ture for the implementation of the Mall of concept must come first, and then various Tripla and its parking facilities. retail players can fulfil their roles. The overall value of the shopping mall “With regards to tenants, we have a and the parking facility is approximately clear roadmap in place and are proceeding EUR 600 million – which is quite remarka- according to the plan,” Martikainen says. ble, even by YIT’s standards. Kari Kauniskangas, YIT’s President “This is the biggest single construction and CEO, characterised Tripla as “a unique project in the history of the company. We project” which plays a key role in the exe- have built communities, over a long period cution of the company’s strategy. Further- of time, or participated in large road con- more, Tripla is significant also in national struction projects – such as the E18 highway scale and scope, as the employment impact (From left to right) Seppo Martikainen, – but nothing that can quite rival this,” Tapio of the project is nearly 10,000 person-years, Vice President, Head of Transactions at Salo comments on the scale of the project. and the indirect impact even greater. YIT and Tapio Salo, Senior Vice Presi- dent, Tripla, YIT. Finalise the Deal Finnish Formula YIT’s share of ownership in the joint venture Salo and Martikainen believe that Tripla is will be 35 %, Etera’s 35 % and Fennia’s and something that has never been seen before that Tripla will be big on city culture,” Salo Onvest’s 15 % each. The intention is to sign in Finland – and even internationally speak- promises. the final project agreements in early 2016. ing, it’s not easy to find a place where all the “We’re looking to seal the deal in Q1,” pieces fit together so effortlessly. In prepara- Get Eventified! confirms Seppo Martikainen. tion for the massive undertaking, YIT looked According to the letter of intent, at international success stories, too, but the YIT’s playbook in this arena borrows a page around half of the construction of the shop- recipe for the Mall of Tripla is one of a kind. from ‘eventification’ – a shopping centre is ping mall and the parking facility will be “We wanted that international flavour a great place for various concerts, pop-ups, funded with capital investments by the own- for this project and collected feedback from movie nights and other cultural happenings. ers, and the other half with credit. YIT aims experts along the way to make sure that the “For instance, there will be 10,000 to conclude the credit negotiations and sign end product is as cutting-edge as possible,” square metres reserved only for restaurants contracts on the implementation of the shop- Martikainen says.

Nordicum 15 YIT Mall of Tripla Little Manhattan 4 floor.

“But the entire concept here rises from Martikainen. “With regards to offices, the investor alliance is now in place – with ten- the unbeatable location: we are building the area can feature as much as 50,000 square ants jumping to climb onboard. best possible shopping centre for this par- metres of office premises.” There’s room for “I would say that from commercial and ticular location and for this demographic.” both corporate headquarters and ultra-mod- legal viewpoint we’ve dealt with the biggest ern business parks here. challenges – what remains is the construc- Forget Downtown? tion,” Martikainen says. Going Up Admittedly, since the Mall of Tripla is Ready for the Challenge organically located on the top of the prime Over-all, the construction project also cov- artery in the land, the expectations run very ers the Pasila station and the adjacent pub- That part won’t be easy, Tapio Salo admits: high indeed. Will Tripla have the power lic transport terminal. The City of Helsinki “Looking at land construction, it’s to eclipse even the downtown Helsinki in has designated the former railway yard to among the most demanding sites in Finland, terms of attraction? – Only time will tell, the north of Tripla for residential blocks, but we have our best people on the case and but Central Pasila certainly seems like a real which will have apartments for 3,000 resi- are confident that the result will be tremen- contender in the race. dents. Named the Railyard Quarters, the res- dous.” One issue that needs to be dealt with It looks more than likely that during idential area is rooted on modern, environ- is building – in part – on top of the rails the coming years, Pasila will emerge as “the mental solutions. which continue to be active. second city centre” for Helsinki – and an The City is eager to add also high-rise Salo also credits the City of Hel- even a more important transportation hub, buildings into the mix: on the southern side sinki which is committed to realising since the neighbourhood is expected to dou- of the Mall of Tripla, there could be several Tripla Centre in a big way. Great collabo- ble its resident and job numbers by 2040. towers with serious verticality. ration with the City – as well as the other Following on the heels of the Mall of Tripla, Retooling old railyards for commer- local land owner, the state-owned Senate there will be office space, apartments and cial use can be tricky, but Salo and Marti- Properties – is key in a project of this mag- a hotel. kainen say that the project has been able to nitude. “The hotel is the next thing on our list. overcome all obstacles so far: the zoning “We have been working together to In 2016, we will begin talking with operators procedures and building permits have been make all this happen and are very moti- about the realisation of the hotel,” reveals cleared in schedule (or faster, even) and the vated to keep going forward,” Salo says. O

16 Nordicum Helsinki All-Stars The Pasila – Vallila – Kalasatama “axis of growth” leads the urban revolution in the pocket-sized metropolis

You can look all around Europe, and you’d still be hard pressed to find a metropolis more dynamic than Helsinki. Right now, Helsinki is in the middle of a massive transformation that will totally rewrite the script for Jaakko Stauffer is in charge of the plots and properties of the City of Helsinki. the city. study came out in October 2013, it became elsinki’s recent fine form has not apparent that Helsinki, in fact, is Europe’s H gone unnoticed internationally. For number one in this department. instance, Helsinki was ranked third The perception survey, carried out (behind New York and London) in the in 79 European cities, asked the citizens global CITIE Index which studied govern- of EU capitals, just how satisfied they are mental support of entrepreneurs among cit- with public transport in their respective cities in June 2015 and Financial Times’ FDI ies. As many as 89 % of Helsinki residents Intelligence European Cities of the Future were pleased with the local public transport, 2014/2015 placed Helsinki as the runner-up while such noted public transportation cities after London in a study which measured the as Amsterdam (80 %), Stockholm (80 %), ability of areas and cities to attract foreign Berlin (77 %) and Copenhagen (77 %) were direct investments. Kari Pudas is responsible for the left trailing far behind. But why is it that Helsinki is suddenly construction of the new neighbourhoods “Everyday living is surprisingly easy the “it” city in Europe? Well, one key trigger of Helsinki. here, and the cultural and sports offering, for for this present scenario was the exit of all instance, is world-class,” Pudas says. local port operations from central city areas ”From the point of view of international to a new port in Vuosaari, east from down- investors, Helsinki is attractive since it pro- Enter: Axis of Growth town, in 2008. As Helsinki “reclaimed its vides the perfect mix of economic, social and Crucial to the City’s future plans is the shores”, the field opened up for ambitious ecological sustainability,” Stauffer believes. emerging Pasila – Vallila – Kalasatama axis. waterfront and inland construction, with res- “Openness of business and adminis- Many of the most exciting things now under idential, commercial and office construction tration – and society as a whole – is a key way concentrate in this Axis of Growth– and kicking off around the city. element in Helsinki. Everybody plays by the City wants to make sure that the syner- the same rules and the game is fair,” says gies between the three districts are explored Growing Up Stauffer. According to studies, Helsinki is to the fullest. light on red tape and heavy on green inno- Furthermore, the City is also taking full Jaakko Stauffer and Kari Pudas assess vations – as bureaucracy is kept to a min- advantage of inland opportunities and creat- that the task of the City is to create a “growth imum, it’s easy enough to start/run a busi- ing new neighbourhoods further away from platform” for citizens and companies alike ness, often with a cleantech twist. the sea. Jaakko Stauffer, Head of Helsin- – and with each of these areas, there are Urban Development Manager Kari ki’s Real Estate Office, says that as Helsinki business opportunities as well as residen- Pudas points out that international compa- keeps growing, one must be able to facili- tial aspirations. nies flock to Helsinki, since the “pocket- tate this growth by introducing new city dis- “If you look at Pasila, for instance, it sized metropolis” is enjoyable for present tricts – as well as upgrading existing ones. has that logistical edge that can’t be matched workers and a good recruiting ground for anywhere. Vallila is being redeveloped with future ones. many high profile projects already com- “Companies tend to go where there pleted – and Kalasatama combines high- is educated, skilled labour available. Add rise construction with seaside views,” Pudas to that, Helsinki has a great recipe for the observes. ‘good life’ – it’s safe, close to nature, no pol- Stauffer adds that for foreign inves- lution or traffic jams, the education system tors, these areas feature plenty of options: is world-class…,” Pudas runs down the list. “Especially Central Pasila and Kala- Let Helsinki Move You satama – both being communities that will be shaped for many years to come – hold It is no secret that Helsinki boasts a public great potential,” he says, adding that the City transportation system that’s hard to beat. As has plots available for ventures both large the results of the ‘Quality of life in cities’ and small. Nordicum 17 Kalasatama is constructed next to the city centre by the seashore.

Smart Kalasatama “We have the opportunity to do some- It was announced in December 2015 thing different here – and we’re fully explor- that Kalasatama’s programme for fast exper- Internationally speaking, Kalasatama – Hel- ing our options. The key is in nurturing a imentation has selected its first participants. sinki’s model district for Smart City solu- culture where you can pilot various innova- The five pilots are aimed at introducing tions – is perhaps the most famous of the tions and services pretty quickly – and learn resource-efficient services to the burgeon- trio, having been singled out by urban sci- what works and what doesn’t quite soon,” ing neighbourhood, and, of course, boosting entist Boyd Cohen “as a blueprint for future Asikainen explains. the local business scene, as well. living”. By the beginning of the 2030s, Kala- The new pilots will explore, for satama district will offer a home for approx- Think Quick instance, how people’s choices for mobility imately 20,000 residents and jobs for 8,000 can “go green”; how e-bikes can be charged people. To push these pilots, during 2015–2017 up via solar energy; and how food waste can ”Currently, there are almost 3,000 Smart Kalasatama is also part of a 6Aika be reduced via ID tags. people living in the area,” says Hannu Asi- spearhead project of the City of Helsinki. kainen, Kalasatama Project Director. He The 6Aika Six City initiative is a strategy for Ready for the Big Time calls Kalasatama “an experimental innova- sustainable urban development carried out tion platform” which is aimed at co-creat- by the six largest cities in Finland (Helsinki, Veera Mustonen, Smart Kalasatama Pro- ing smart urban infrastructure and services. Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Oulu and Turku). gramme Manager from Forum Virium, says

18 Nordicum Energy Edge Various smart development activities have been realised in Kalasatama earlier on, too. Perhaps the most far-reaching and ambitious among them is the smart energy project – carried out by Helen, ABB and Fingrid – which will turn the district into a testbed for ambitious smart grids. As part of the smart traffic agenda, the use of electric cars is encouraged in Kalasa- tama and other new solutions with regards to smart transportation and traffic will be tried out here, too. In line with the green ideology, Kalasatama also features an underground waste collection system. The Kalasatama Spirit Hannu Asikainen and Veera Mustonen note that Kalasatama will be different from similar international projects, since the dis- Hannu Asikainen is responsible for the trict will not rely on a single technology or construction of Kalasatama. scheme – but, instead, the master plan is to develop Kalasatama comprehensively into a highest tower reaching 132 metres). The smart city district on broader basis. towers will be complemented by a versa- “We know we’re doing things a little tile commercial centre as well as a nearby differently in Kalasatama – and the City is social and healthcare centre. fully committed to making sure that it turns According to Hannu Asikainen, REDI out great,” Asikainen says. will be a strong anchor for the community. Effective public transport – spear- The idea here is that the commercial func- headed by the Kalasatama metro station – tions will go well beyond what people and the central location add to Kalasatama’s expect from a regular shopping centre – pro- appeal. And the sea is right there, too: if you viding the patrons with more than a glimpse fancy a stroll, there is a six-kilometre prom- of Experience Economy. The concept, cre- enade by the shore. ated by the developer SRV, will combine “The sea is already a big part of the seaside atmosphere, high-rise buildings and Kalasatama identity and we’re looking to superb connections. expand on that,” Asikainen promises, adding With REDI serving as the beating heart that while the area is still being developed, of the new neighbourhood, Kalasatama will there’s already a strong community spirit have convenient access to just about all – an atmosphere of doing things together. types of services. “This is well in line with the City’s High Times plans, since the vision of Kalasatama is to become so resource-wise that residents will Kalasatama will also bring plenty of vertical gain an ‘extra hour’, so to speak, every day and visual appeal. The Kalasatama Centre, – since everything is close at hand, there’s known as REDI, will consist of eight tower no time wasted on transport,” Asikainen blocks which will feature 20–35 storeys (the sums up.

The heart of Kalasatama is the experience, housing and shopping centre Redi. that these pilots represent only the tip of the iceberg – in total, there were 52 high-quality applications to the project. “We can clearly see now that the vision of Kalasatama as an innovation platform is starting to bear fruit,” Mustonen says, adding that the best ideas of those entries not making the cut will be processed further on. “We look for smart solutions that provide scalability. We can invent and develop it here and take it out to the world,” says Mustonen. The first five pilots will be carried out in early 2016, as the services will be tested in the authentic urban environment in Kalasatama, working together with the citizens.

Nordicum 19 to bring a good degree of diversity to the companies, is setting up shop in Vallila. As neighbourhood,” says Maarttola, adding that StartUp Health Finland will co-locate in within a period of five years, especially the the Health Innovation Village, the brand of residential side will be bolstered signifi- ‘Silicon’ Vallila was reinforced a great deal. cantly. To start things off, StartUp Health Finland Another sign that bodes well for the will select five Finnish health tech startups district is the fact that major banks keep to its StartUp Health Academy, a long-term moving their operations to Vallila – “fol- entrepreneurial coaching program. low the money” may not be such bad advice. Minna Maarttola hopes that Vallila can Get Wired In attract more businesses and investors. The Silicon Vallila There are also other reasons why SMEs Reinventing Vallila Furthermore, there’s plenty of ICT jobs have flocked to Vallila. The rents are lower in the neighbourhood and health and life here, but you’re still “wired in” to the urban Going west from the Kalasatama shores for sciences industries have a remarkably strong action; in fact, many professionals of the a couple of kilometres, one finds an enter- profile, too. In fact, with GE Healthcare tak- creative industries prefer older, industrial prising district that is already firing on all ing the lead, there’s even a dynamic “Health environments to shiny new premises in any cylinders. The Vallila District is a favour- Innovation Village” for healthcare startups case. Red brick and rough concrete seem to ite of companies both big and small, since located right here. provide that final seal of authenticity that accessibility here is exceptional: trams and Maarttola cites Health Innovation Vil- many actors in the fields of media, design buses form the backbone for public trans- lage as one example of the local progres- and architecture appreciate. port and the Pasila railway station is just a sive mindset: smaller companies benefit There’s also a common will to develop little stroll away. from being in the vicinity of the big indus- the district further on. The key property City Development Manager Minna try players as networking and joint projects owners in the area have been working on Maarttola comments that Vallila has become easier. ‘Vallila Vision’ together with consultancy increased its appeal of late, with big com- “Companies are finding new ways to WSP Finland and assisted by the City. Own- panies such as Amer Sports settling in the collaborate – that’s part of doing things the ers are making initiatives to improve the area newly zoned Engine Shed (Konepaja) area. ‘Vallila way.’” via zoning arrangements, for instance, and “All of Vallila area is really shaping Furthermore, it was announced at Slush the City is listening to them very intently. out well, and is a good example of the local 2015 in November that StartUp Health, a “We all share the same goal here: to demographics: we are combining business, global health innovation company with the make sure that Vallila is able to reach its offices and residential solutions in order world’s largest portfolio of digital health full potential.” 20 Nordicum Get Connected in Pasila and construction activity will simply trans- completed in 2016, with construction kick- And then, last but never least, Pasila. Pasila form the area – ensuring that Pasila is fully off to follow in 2018. In addition to ambi- is already the reigning traffic hub in the upgraded for the future. tious residential solutions, there will also be nation: all the trains stop here and trams “The City is committed to turning Cen- plenty of business here, as about 25 % of and buses very much congregate in the area. tral Pasila into a new kind of urban centre the area is reserved for office and commer- Located 3.5 kilometres from the downtown, for business, service and housing. Rooted cial construction. Pasila is truly a force to be reckoned with. in superb connectivity, Pasila will become “We’re very pleased to introduce a The logistical reach is second to no a real blueprint for the future’s superhub,” new community that will combine residen- one: the brand new Ring Rail Line (launched she says. tial with business in a highly attractive pack- in July 2015) connects Pasila to the Hel- age,” Puumalainen says. sinki-Vantaa International Airport, and the Tripla Under Way Number three on the list in Pasila is the creation of the Pasila Tower Area. There are upcoming City Rail Loop, once completed, The “Ground Zero” for all of this will be plans for as many as ten towers in the area, will link up Pasila, downtown Helsinki, a next-gen traffic/commercial hub – called with plenty of office, commercial and resi- Hakaniemi and Töölö in a more effective Tripla Centre – which will be built in the dential space. The idea is to kick-off tower manner. There is even a reservation for a railway yard area freed up in the Central construction from the west – next-door to future metro station. Pasila area. Building rights of approximately Tripla – thus maximising synergies. Pasila is also known for national con- 190,000 floor square metres will be zoned ventions, state agencies, corporate head- in the area, and the total value of the project quarters, a powerful media cluster and the is approximately EUR 1 billion. Design-Build Competition biggest sports arena in the land. There are Just north off the Tripla Centre, there To realise this vision, the State and the already 25,000 jobs and over 12,000 inhabit- will be a residential component, too, as the City are seeking a developer for the Pasila ants here – and plans for much, much more. emerging Railyard Quarters will add 3,000 tower area via an international design-build residents and 1,000 jobs into the equation. As Big As They Come competition in 2016. The area in quvestion Totalling 170,000 floor square metres, this could comprise 150,000–200,000 m² of floor The coming decade will see the building compact neighbourhood will also have its area. of close to half a million square metres of share of tall buildings (5–16 storeys). “We feel that Pasila is a great place new office and commercial space in Central In accordance to the strategy formu- for high-rise construction, giving a signa- Pasila. To put that fully in perspective: The lated by the State and the City, Railyard ture look to the area,” says Puumalainen. Central Pasila development is twice the Quarters will be developed sustainably, with The upcoming Helsinki High-rise size of new One World Trade Center in an over-all guiding vision of a Garden City. competition is a design-build competition, New York. This undertaking, coupled with For example, greenroofing is the standard in which the party submitting the highest concurrent development in the larger Pasila here and rain water is utilised where appli- quality plan solution will have the right and area, will double the district’s jobs to 50,000 cable. obligation to procure the building rights for by 2040. Aiming High the start-up area specified in the competi- Niina Puumalainen, Project Director tion – as well as develop and construct the for the City, says that the new traffic plans The zoning for Railyard Quarters is to be start-up area (40,000–65,000 square metres).

Pasila is a key area in the development of Helsinki and Finland.

Nordicum 21 Antti Kari represents the landowner of the Keski-Pasila area, the government-owned enterprise Senate Properties, and Niina Puumalainen is in charge of the Pasila project at the City of Helsinki. Pasila: Common Agenda, United Front

entral Pasila is a strategic priority for take shape gradually – targeting the best pos- “Collaboration with the City has been C the City of Helsinki – but also the sible outcome. The “heavy lifting” – creat- solid from day one. We have a common State. As the two actors own all of the ing of the crucial infrastructure to the tune of interest to make it work – and to make it land in Central Pasila, it has been easy to € 300 million – has already been conducted. great.” enough to focus all energy and effort into The most recent development is that new rail helping Central Pasila achieve its full poten- construction kicked off in December 2015. Ahead of Schedule tial. While the developer of Tripla, YIT, “It’s quite noteworthy that we’ve Niina Puumalainen, the City Project Man- shares the same vision, the redevelopment already made significant investments into ager for Pasila, confirms that the collabora- of the area is getting started under highly the area to make sure that the neighbour- tion so far has been very smooth with both favourable circumstances. hood is attractive to investors. The table is Senate and YIT – and that the project is roll- Antti Kari from Senate Properties con- set, so to speak,” Antti Kari says. ing along ahead of schedule. firms that the State and the City are very “We were expecting to have the zon- much on the same page when it comes to Dream Project? ing plan approved by summer 2015, but the redevelopment of the area: The huge project should also quiet the crit- the plan went into effect already in March “Central Pasila is a key area not only ics who complain that Finnish development 2015,” she says. from the viewpoint of the metropolis, but projects are too small-scale to attract big- Antti Kari and Niina Puumalainen from the national perspective as well,” he time international investors. Central Pasila also believe in a “domino effect” where the says. redevelopment caters to the hopes and retooling of Central Pasila will kick off rede- Biggest One Yet wishes of even the most demanding indus- velopment in the neighbouring areas, too. try players, Kari believes. “This is certainly the case if one looks Senate Properties is a government owned Internationally speaking, it is quite rare at areas such as North Pasila and Ilmala,” enterprise under the aegis of the Finnish that owners and other key players have been Kari comments. Ministry of Finance, acting as the govern- able to come together and agree on the rede- Another driver for the future is the ment’s expert on the working environment velopment with such ease. Trying to take a Ring Rail Line which provides a direct link and working premises. Out of Senate’s sev- railway yard and turn it into a success often to the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport. eral large-scale planning projects around the runs into trouble as there’s too much bureau- Ring Rail makes two stops in the area, in country, Central Pasila is the biggest cur- cracy, too many actors and too many con- Central Pasila and in Ilmala. rent project, with as much as 600,000 floor flicting interests – the list is woefully long. “The importance of the Ring Rail Line square metres in the plans. This is not the case in Central Pasila, will only grow in the years to come,” Kari Realised in phases, Central Pasila will says Kari. adds. O

22 Nordicum THE ANGLE

By Anni Sinnemäki The writer is Deputy Mayor of the City of Helsinki for City Planning and Real Estate Helsinki drives growth

sinki is a city that encourages open democ- racy; the City has, for instance, an open data interface which provides free access to the information concerning the City’s decision- making, procurements and expenditure. So far, 1,200 City data sets have been opened up for the public – to be used by citizens and companies as they please. This reflects a strategic choice for the City: openness and transparency are key elements of Finnish society, but public administration has not always lived up to this. City officials are now pushing themselves to establish a new type of partnership with the citizens, with information – in all its myriad forms – serving as a driver for this change. In addition to data, Helsinki turns to design in its quest for innovation. As 85 % of Finnish design companies are located in Helsinki, the capital is quite uniquely posi- tioned: by seeking collaboration with design industry players, the City can achieve so much. ‘Design thinking’ can help remove red tape and streamline old, outdated processes. The City is actively deploying Ser- vice Design tools to re-energise its operations and services. Another thing that the City is looking to nurture is the people’s sense of community. In recent years, grassroots activism has really blossomed in Helsinki. Take Restau- rant Day, for instance: having started out as a fun invention by three friends in 2011, Res- taurant Day has become the world’s biggest food carnival, taking place four times a year. So far, the pop-up restaurants have spread to 73 countries, with over 23,000 one-day citizens’ restaurants participating. And new ideas keep coming, since Helsinki is a youthful city and will stay that way, too. The numerous local universities are filling the streets with students and elsinki keeps growing. According to The year 2050 is far away, but already young energy; and after students finish their H estimates, there will be 860,000 people today we are making the decisions that will education, it is likely they seek employment living here by 2050. The City is pres- get us there, using ways that are both smart here, start families right here. ently figuring out how it can add 250,000 and sustainable. Urban living in Helsinki But let’s go back – or forward – to that inhabitants in the coming 35 years. Accord- involves – more and more – energy-efficient year 2050. The City has a big dream of linking to zoning plans, the private real estate housing, smart grids and low-carbon traffic ing Helsinki and Tallinn by building a tun- investments could reach EUR 45 billion by systems. Yet no community is defined by nel under the sea. As the Rail Baltic venture 2050. The required investment for infra- its technological prowess, but by its people. is steadily rolling along, Helsinki is looking structure and traffic is EUR 10–12 billion. It’s the people who will transform the city for ways to integrate into Central Europe in At the core of our growth concept, one through their actions – both individual and more effective ways. finds a compact city structure: in addition collective – to make it more human-scale. After all, the Helsinki metro went to the vibrant downtown area, Helsinki fea- There’s a lot to build on, too. The new under the sea to reach neighbouring Espoo, tures plenty of smaller-scale urban commu- housing and working areas currently under and the western connection will be launched nities which are linked together via Europe’s construction make Helsinki one of the fast- this year. Surely by 2050, we can hop a train best public transportation system. est growing metropolises in Europe. Hel- to Tallinn? O

Nordicum 23 Stay on Tracks SRV is looking to score big along the metroline

Solidifying the urban structure is one way to build a more sustainable metropolis. In the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, this has been largely achieved by building effective rail transport and launching new communities along the tracks. The two key projects in the metropolitan area are Ring Rail Line and West Metro. The Ring Rail Line – launched in July 2015 – reaches from downtown Helsinki all the way to the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport; West Metro will extend the current ‘Helsinki-only’ metro service to Espoo in August 2016.

he real estate developer SRV has been apparent than in Helsinki’s Kalasatama and has been working steadily to push the T very active in pursuing rail-related where SRV is taking a brownfield scenario venture forward. Today, there are already opportunities in the region. Jouko Pöy- – a former harbour area – and turning into almost 3,000 residents in the neighbour- hönen, Project Development Director for a beautiful seaside neighbourhood, with a hood – but the goal is set at 20,000 peo- SRV, comments that participating in pro- first-class shopping centre and impressive ple by 2025. jects which solidify the city structure is a high-rise construction. Kalasatama will feature also a state-of- strategic choice for the company. Connectivity here is outstanding: thanks the-art health and wellbeing centre, built by “In addition to bringing down the car- to its very own metro station, the community SRV and sold to a special fund managed by bon footprint, the more compact structure is mere minutes away from downtown Hel- Deka Immobilien in August 2015. The cen- improves people’s quality of life, as services sinki. All and all, Kalasatama is SRV’s big- tre is expected to be finished in late 2017. become readily available,” he says. gest development project to date – and the “This deal is one example of the pow- company is determined to make it great. erful appeal of Kalasatama,” Laine com- Mix It Up ments. Rewrite the Future Partly for this reason, SRV is also a firm Ready for REDI believer in mixed-use: Markus Laine, Director, Real Estate Trans- “Bringing both residential and com- actions and Investors for SRV, believes that The anchor for Kalasatama, however, will mercial development into an area will usu- Kalasatama is a real game-changer in the be the shopping centre REDI which will be ally give the best result. We look for the way we look at our urban communities. the focal point for local community, business right balance in all of our projects,” Pöy- “Kalasatama is giving us a taste of and services. Featuring over 60,000 square hönen says. what life will be like in the future,” Laine metres of retail space, REDI promises to be Sometimes achieving that balance is says. SRV signed the agreement on the almost double the size of the shopping centre a real juggling act. Nowhere is this more development of Kalasatama already in 2011 Kamppi, another SRV success story. 24 Nordicum as a significant centre for the Helsinki core Looking West area in the east, a real landmark,” Laine says. Combining high-rise construction and resi- Hit the Ground Running dential development is something that is taking place at the other end of the metro tracks, Construction work at the REDI site began too. This high-profile “vertical” project in in April 2015, and the work continues to the works is Keilaniemi, Espoo, which is the proceed smoothly. Excavation work on the very first place where the new metro will parking facility is already nearing comple- enter this year, as the western line becomes tion, and a start has been made on the foun- operational. dations and framework. Keilaniemi is already an area of leg- “We’re moving full steam ahead,” endary business status – with an iconic sky- Laine confirms. Furthermore, the leasing of line of corporate towers – but residential the shopping centre’s premises is progress- functions have been missing from the picture ing simultaneously, and advance marketing so far. ”With four new high-rise buildings – of the first residential units will begin in ear- the Keilaniemi Towers – SRV is looking to nest in early 2016. diversify the area,” says Jouko Pöyhönen. On 15 December 2015, the agreements “The metro station is crucial to this on the plots for REDI were signed by the development, since it makes it possible SRV-led development consortium and the to add also residential construction into a City of Helsinki. In addition to SRV, the neighbourhood known for its corporate REDI consortium consists of Ilmarinen image,” Pöyhönen says, adding that also Mutual Pension Insurance Company, OP- the seaside views from the towers will be Pohjola Group, LocalTapiola Mutual Life something quite special to behold, as the Insurance Company and Local Tapiola Gen- buildings will be 32–40 storeys tall. All and eral Mutual Insurance Company. The agree- all, the quartet of towers can house thousand ments have a total value of EUR 40 million. people.

Tower Dominance Green Light from Espoo As the REDI project advances, a total of None of this, however, would be possible if eight towers, of which six are residential not for a decision by the Espoo City Council towers, will ultimately rise at Kalasatama. on 21 December 2015. The Council decided The tallest tower will reach a height of 132 to build a deck construction over Ring I road metres. in connection to Keilaniemi metro station, “Construction of the first two residen- and to fund the venture with sales from the tial towers is expected to begin in 2016, once first two tower plots to SRV. The terms for the construction of the shopping centre has the deal were decided already in November. With REDI, SRV is looking to upgrade advanced far enough,” Laine reveals. The Now the marching order is clear: the the concept of a modern shopping centre – first tower is expected to be completed by City will get to work on covering the Ring and has spent years in preparation to take on the end of 2018. I already in January 2016, and SRV will this challenge. As a consequence, SRV’s top All eight towers are expected to be follow-up with the construction of the first design teams have been planning, from day completed by 2023, depending on market tower. one, to make REDI a great place to meet conditions – and will, ultimately, feature as “We will kick-off construction of other people, to hang out and have a great many as 1,200 apartments. The total revenue the first tower in early 2018 and complete time. of the shopping centre, parking facility and it by 2020,” Pöyhönen lays down the time- “Opening in 2018, REDI will emerge towers is expected to exceed EUR 1 billion. line. O

Nordicum 25 Rock the Rails Photo: HKP Architects Spearheading sustainability, Espoo is finally launching its long-awaited metroline – and the more conventional tracks on the ground are doing fine, too

The future of Espoo lies underground – so to speak. The western metroline is almost complete – with only a few months to go to the grand opening of the Espoo metro in August 2016. The stations along the 14-kilometre metro line – running from Helsinki to Espoo – will be located in Lauttasaari and Koivusaari on the Helsinki side, and in Keilaniemi, Otaniemi, Tapiola, Urheilupuisto, Niittykumpu and Matinkylä in Espoo.

nd that’s just for starters. The exten- expertise and equipment available – and dur- that this means that the building of the metro A sion of the metro line is already ing tough economic times, a project of this stations will only intensify from now on: underway, promising to add five new magnitude serves as a sort of “national stim- “We are putting the finishing touches stations within seven kilometres of the line ulus package.” on the stations now,” he confirms. by 2020. The new stations will be Finnoo, Launching of the metro shows clearly Kaitaa, Soukka, Espoonlahti and Kivenlahti, Working on a Dream that Espoo is serious in pursuing a more as the line keeps reaching west, towards the compact urban structure that is based on city limits. In fact, as the Government gave the green rails. For example, Espoonlahti – a key sta- Therefore, the “biggest infrastruc- light to “bonus” project – by promising to tion along the extension line – is already a ture project in the country” is actually just compensate up 30 % of the construction bill city centre of 55,000 residents and will ben- halfway done. Matti Kokkinen, Managing – this also meant securing jobs for 4,500 efit tremendously from better connectivity. Director of Länsimetro Oy, says that as the people. The same goes for all communities located original project is coming to an end, it made “Right now, the first phase of the metro along the metroline: the City expects that perfect sense to keep going. Continuing the is in great shape – we completed laying the development and redevelopment efforts in project on-the-fly means that there’s labour, tracks on 4 December,” says Kokkinen, adding the vicinity of the 11 metro stations will con-

26 Nordicum A sketch from the Northern Leppävaara project Photo: JKMM architects

tinue to be very active for years to come and In fact, as the City of Espoo is updat- Photo: HKP Architects providing real estate investors and developing its climate programme, one of the aims ers many possibilities to participate. is – eventually – to run the West Metro with The metro extension is a good fit for renewable energy. And not just the metro, state’s Climate Change agenda, too. Finland but also the connecting feeder traffic could is committed to bringing down the volume be free of emissions – via the use of electric of CO2 emissions and two big culprits in buses. Espoo aims to significantly increase this arena are traffic and living. By build- the number of electric buses in the future. ing a “green to the core” mass transportation Espoo Mayor Jukka Mäkelä has envi- system and launching smart, sustainably-ori- sioned the metro line as a “test platform” ented communities around the metro stations of sorts for electric buses and renewable is a very environmental move, as well. energy, turning the “e-tube” into a remark- able cleantech reference even on an inter- Take the Green Pledge national scale. In a recognition of its responsibilities, Tracking Success Espoo became the first city in Finland to join the Society’s Commitment to Sustain- Deputy Mayor Olli Isotalo points out that the able Development in summer 2015. Coor- City has a great interest in turning the west dinated by the Finnish National Commis- metroline into an “urban growth corridor” sion on Sustainable Development, the com- for people and businesses, but it’s hardly the mitment aims to enable a good life for all only game in town. The more conventional future generations. western rail connection – running from Hel- Espoo is taking part in the commit- sinki to Turku via Espoo – has proven to be ment with its city-level sustainable develop- quite attractive as well. ment programme. This involves the develop- “If one looks at the Leppävaara City active of Espoo’s centres, often character- ment and introduction of new ways of act- Centre, for example, it is clear to see that ised as “a city inside a city”, with plenty of ing that support sustainable development. the rail connection has encouraged the com- action all around the neighbourhood. The The work is conducted from the viewpoints munity’s growth, even during an economic heart of the local community is the Sello of a sustainable lifestyle, a networked city, downturn.” Shopping Centre – one of the largest in the nature and the environment, the fight against Leppävaara is situated along the Ring Nordic countries – which offers over 170 Climate Change, new energy solutions and Road I as well as the western railroad. With services, department stores and shops, res- sustainable mobility. 65,000 people, it is the largest and most taurants, cafés, cinemas, a hotel, banking

Nordicum 27 services and a charging point for electric rise of the office complexes continues to be Running the Hub cars. intense. Rantala points out that Leppävaara Heavily favoured by citizens and com- has been busy building offices through- Arrival of the metro and the new bus termi- panies alike, the Leppävaara area is devel- out the recession – while elsewhere in the nal will provide the approximately 40,000 oping rapidly. The area is characterised Helsinki Metropolitan Area, the construc- residents of Matinkylä with great public by business park complexes with several tion efforts have been much more modest, transport connections to Helsinki and all buildings: NCC Alberga, NCC’s and Lem- at times. parts of Espoo. Since Matinkylä is the final minkäinen’s joint venture Polaris and Harte- “We have the makings of a great hybrid stop for the new line, it is a crucial feeder la’s Quartetto. Also SRV’s new headquarters city here, one that features both offices and traffic hub which is estimated to serve over is located in the neighbourhood. residential assets and is active 24/7,” Ran- 35,000 passengers daily. In fact, based on tala says. passenger forecasts, it will be the busiest Who Needs A Car? station of the new line. Matching Matinkylä At the very core of things, NCC In the autumn 2015, Leppävaara became the Property Development and Citycon are mak- “rail capital of Espoo”, as the Turku-bound Another community that is linked by rails ing a genuine “metro centre,” conveniently trains will stop only here and nowhere else and powered by retail is Matinkylä, the end linking the metro station, bus terminal and in the City. The increased connectivity has of the line – for now – for the new metro- the shopping centre. Markus Saari says that attracted a lot of young professionals into the line. The dominant feature in Matinkylä is the top level of the new metro centre will be neighbourhood that wouldn’t think of get- the shopping centre Iso Omena, the fifth reserved for municipal services: the City will ting a car – Leppävaara has all the services biggest shopper’s paradise in the land. The have as much as 6,000 square metres of pub- available within walking distance. Matinkylä metro station is being developed lic services here, including a large library Mika Rantala, City Project Manager at the southern end of the shopping centre. and the health centre. The development will for Leppävaara, says that about half of the The arrival of metro is expected to open to public in August 2016. households here don’t have a car – and are attract both new businesses and residents Also, the environs of the station will doing just fine. ”The community has a ded- here. Markus Saari, Project Director for the be developed into a services/wellbeing park icated pedestrian mindset and “walkability” City of Espoo, sees great things waiting for which will feature a lot of “grey power”: will only be enhanced in the future,” Ran- the neighbourhood. As per the Matinkylä – according to Saari, the City is committed to tala promises. Olari development vision, the area will be providing solutions that will make the area “We are expanding the pedestrian city developed from the viewpoint of commu- enjoyable especially to senior citizens. centre area and adding a more urban feel, nity, providing high quality accommodation, “We want to launch our new ‘senior especially to the northern side of the city new jobs and well-being for all citizens. In living’ concept right here, complete with a centre.” the future, this city centre located between full range of services,” he says, adding that Walkability extends to going to work, the sea and Espoo Central Park will feature as the population of Finland keeps aging, it turns out. Almost 10,000 people are even more services, recreational activities someone has to be a pioneer in the field of employed within the community, and the and well-being focus. providing smart residential solutions for the elderly. Photo: HKP Architects

Senior Support The “senior zone” will focus around Tynnyripuisto (Barrel Park) which promises to combine leisure and services in a novel way. There are plans to realise a swimming hall and educational centre at Tynnyripuisto – and even a hotel, and all this would be completed in 2020. According to Saari, the Matinkylä “personality” lends well to people of all ages – but the senior citizens are clearly a key demographic. The key word here is ‘support’: the City wants to enable the living arrangements of various special groups, ranging from the elderly to the handicapped. Saari explains that the City’s concept focuses on community-orientation: with many different generations living side by side in Matinkylä, there is a lot of potential here to build something really significant. “And we’re not forgetting the corporate world, either. Matinkylä is a great fit for, for example, service companies and those with active research and development pur- suits.” Corporate Appeal The success in Matinkylä has not materialised overnight. In fact, the area has under-

28 Nordicum Photo: Cederqvist & Jäntti Architects Ltd.

Finnoo Gets Going The Last Shore gone strong growth in commercial and residential construction since 2001. The cor- Beyond Matinkylä, there is the seaside The new-and-improved Finnoo is also look- porate world is keen on the area as well: hi- neighbourhood of Finnoo. From the Espoo’s ing to fully utilise its access to the sea in the tech company Outotec built its head office point of view, Finnoo is very special, since south. Presently, there is already an active right here – which makes perfect sense, since it is the last remaining significant seaside boat harbour – while accommodating 1,100 every fifth employee already lives either in area that is open for development. With out- boats, it is the largest of its kind in the met- Matinkylä or neighbouring Olari. There are standing connections and excellent location, ropolitan area – and the harbour concept will still free plots available that are suitable for expectations for Finnoo are high. Residen- be fine-tuned, as well. building office facilities within walking dis- tial and mixed-use developments will be The City is zoning a marina-type hous- tance of the metro station. available for mid to large-scale developers ing arrangement here, which means a high- “Matinkylä is important in the sense and investors who value involvement in sus- quality, vibrant area, with a fly-bridge cruise that it provides a solid foundation for all tainable development. through channel surrounded by boardwalks sorts of activities. The area has a strong According to Mayor Jukka Mäkelä, with restaurants and cafés. There will even profile and it’s playing to its strengths, as the new Finnoo community will become a be an artificial island with condominiums. it keeps on expanding,” assesses Deputy “sustainable, green maritime city of inter- “We really want to make the Marina Mayor Olli Isotalo. national standards” for all Espoo inhabit- area into something which hasn’t been seen A big part of the City’s plans is Län- ants. The City is also most eager to pro- in Finland ever before,” Leivo says, adding siväylä (Main Road 51) which serves as an mote pedestrian and bicycle traffic, as well that there’s a lot of purchasing power in the entry and exit artery in the Finnish metropol- as energy efficiency and carbon neutral prac- neighbourhood, which should go a long way itan area. In fact, one of motivational factors tices. Furthermore, the City is looking into a in realising this “super shoreline”. behind the decision to build the metro was LEED or BREEAM certification for the area to ease the rush hour traffic on the motor- to make sure that no stone is left unturned Taking Charge way – with the advent of the metro, a good in this quest for a green city. chunk of the office-bound traffic will go Project Director Kimmo Leivo is in Talking about the entire metro project, Olli underground. charge of raising a community which could, Isotalo observes that the massive overtaking In the future, Länsiväylä could also be ultimately, accommodate as many as 17,000 has hit the halfway mark: covered by a deck at Matinkylä to enable residents. The new metro station will be “We have five years behind us, and more cohesive building and smoother ser- located in the area of the current water treat- five in front of us, so in a way it’s a good vices. Similar deck is in the cards for Lep- ment plant and there are plans to build a time take stock of what we have accom- pävaara, as well. According to Markus Saari, high-rise centre by the metro station: the plished so far,” Isotalo says, confident that deck construction would make the whole highest of these towers could reach 30 sto- the autumn launch of the metro will make package more compact: reys, offering fantastic views. Espoo mobile like never before. “The deck would give us ways to “Finnoo could feature as many as “We are solidifying the city structure renew the look of the area, probably includ- 10,000 apartments by 2040,” Leivo says, and boosting connectivity at the same time ing some green construction as well as resi- adding that most of the residential build- – and will continue to do this for a long time dential buildings,” he says. ings would be ready by 2030. to come,” he promises. O

Nordicum 29 Delivering the Total Package

Construction company Peab has taken the making of business parks into a new level entirely. With its brand of hi-tech, all-inclusive Business Gardens, the company is combining productivity and wellbeing in a way that is unprecedented in Finland – but Peab is looking to do so much more.

e feel that what is needed now, Eventes was sold to German Union Invest- “The marketing for the second phase of “W more and more, is that business ment Real Estate GmbH. Eventes has just started and we’ve received parks are developed in closer According to Planning Director Peter a lot of contacts regarding the project,” collaboration with the cities and integrated Lindeberg, the Business Gardens are a great says Peter Lindeberg, adding that the com- into the community and the local infrastruc- fit for a corporate headquarters, as was the ing metro is clearly something that excites ture more effectively,” says Project Devel- case with Outotec. Nevertheless, the busi- companies. opment Director Sirpa Lindholm from Peab. ness park concept can accommodate other One of Peab’s partner cities is Espoo types of scenarios as well: Enter: Fluentes which is eagerly awaiting the launch of the “Our concept takes into consideration But wait, there’s more. Peab has also put West Metro in August 2016. The end of the the lifecycle issues and can provide excep- in a planning reservation for another site in line for the metro line is Matinkylä where tional flexibility, as the needs of the tenants Matinkylä, with plans of raising yet another Peab sensed a great opportunity emerging change and evolve along the way.” Business Garden here. years ago – and raised the ultra-modern “Fluentes Business Garden has been Business Garden Eventes in the neighbour- Just Warming Up designed to support and enhance modern, hood. Located right next to Länsiväylä road Sirpa Lindholm adds that while just about vibrant community environment,” explains and shopping centre Iso Omena, Eventes is any developer will claim that they offer flex- Sirpa Lindholm. As the City of Espoo will located a stone’s throw away from the metro ible solutions, with regards to a Peab Busi- create a new Tynnyripuisto (Barrel Park) area station. ness Garden, this is not just marketing talk. in Matinkylä, Fluentes would complement the All Eyes on Eventes “For instance, premises can be broken new community with its jobs and services. down to smaller units very easily indeed.” According to Lindholm and Linde- The commercial attraction is there, too. And as Outotec has made its nest in berg, Peab has given a lot of thought to pro- The Finnish listed company Outotec leased Matinkylä, also other companies are eyeing ject so far and is eager to collaborate with the out the entire Business Garden – with three the neighbourhood with growing interest. As City already in the zoning phase. As Peab office buildings and a parking house – and a consequence, Peab is moving ahead with had also a prior plot reservation here, the moved in in 2014. Already two years before, the next phase of Eventes: company has made substantial investments

30 Nordicum in the project, working together with the City idea is to make sure that all workers get the into a Business Garden for a long time, but zoning department. support they need every day. now we’re finally doing it,” smiles Sirpa “We are quite familiar with the site and “As people are able to cope better Lindholm. its significance in the area – and believe that at work, also careers are longer and more it’s a great place to launch Fluentes,” Lind- enjoyable,” she adds. Come Together holm says. And as for the premises themselves, If there’s one word that sums up the “Ultimes Peab believes that multispace is here to stay: Spirit”, that word is collaboration: Lindholm Concept is King the office must feature different types of explains that Peab leans heavily into round- space solutions for different types of activ- Collaboration with the City of Espoo is the ing up best practices as well as best partners. ities – and moods, even. key element here, says Peter Lindeberg: “In order to provide a great service “People are exploring the new ways of “The City is launching Tynnyripuisto package for the tenants, you have to find work and we are committed to giving them as means of improving the wellbeing of the great partners that are able to deliver,” she more options in and out of the workplace,” citizens, and that line of thinking goes hand says. Lindeberg sums up. in hand with what we’re trying to do with ”We have been very active on that front all of our Business Gardens.” and feel that we’ve succeeded well in build- The Business Garden concept calls Lead with LEED ing new types of networks which boost pro- for the “perfect marriage” of people, space ductivity and people’s wellbeing.” and technology. Peab believes that a high- Still, this new ideology has taken years in quality premises go a long way to secur- the making. For Peab, the new wave of busi- Platinum Dreams ing high-quality results: as the personnel is ness parks commenced in earnest with the It comes as no surprise that Ultimes will go satisfied with the workplace, they’re more launch of Moveres seven years ago. Located LEED, too – but this time around, Peab is committed to the employer, more commit- in Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki, Moveres Business aiming for Platinum. ted to the team…and good things will come Garden went on to grab LEED Silver Certif- “There’s a whole range of sustainabil- from all this. icate – the very first LEED in the land. After ity issues that go into the making of a LEED “We have a service concept with a that, Peab has stayed on the LEED path and certified building, and Platinum is the tough- holistic attitude, looking at the physical, the “medals” keep getting brighter: Eventes, est of all. But that’s what we’re going for,” mental and social wellbeing,” says Sirpa for example, was awarded with LEED Gold. Lindeberg confirms. Lindholm. After Eventes, the next Business Gar- den to open its doors will be Ultimes, located And while Fluentes is still only in the Make it Fun! along Vihdintie road in Pitäjänmäki. The planning phase, the Peab duo already knows 10,000 square metre Business Garden will what type of a Business Garden they want As a result of this, Business Gardens offer be completed in the spring of 2016 – and to raise: wellbeing programmes which involve e.g. Peab itself will be one of the tenants. “When the time comes, Fluentes will measurements, analysis and guidance – the “We’ve been talking about relocating go for Platinum, too.” O

From left to right Peter Lindeberg, Sirpa Lindholm, Mattias Lindfors and Isto Juntunen. Photo: Ari TalusenPhoto: Ari

Nordicum 31 square metres reserved for all types of res- Building on Success taurants. Get It Right the First Time That’s not to say that putting all this together has been easy. Yliniemi admits that when you’re adding a considerable expansion to existing real estate, there’s so many things that can go wrong. “This is why we really did our home- work well and focused on issues such as the right customer flow and balanced service offering,” she says. According to Risto Seppo, finding tenants for the expansion part hasn’t been particularly hard, even with the recession winds Capitalising on metro access, blowing. “Iso Omena´s occupancy rate is now in January 2016 over 80 % and negotiations are Citycon pulls all the stops to expand on-going,” he says, adding that prospective tenants tend to appreciate the fact that Iso Iso Omena shopping centre Omena is no “mystery card” – the shopping centre has a proven track record. s the western metroline gets going in Actually, the expansion won’t be A August 2016, there will be something entirely complete by the end of summer: good waiting at the end-of-the-line. the first phase of expansion encompasses The shopping centre Iso Omena – the com- 25,000 square metres, with a follow-up of mercial anchor of the surrounding Matin- some 12,000 sqm in the spring of 2017. As kylä community and beyond – is undergo- the metro kicks off, so will the ultra-mod- ing huge development, adding as much as ern bus terminal; being the end-of-the-line 37,000 square metres of new retail space. metro station, handling commuters is a top “After the expansion is complete, Iso priority here. Omena will feature over 100,000 square metres of space,” confirms Risto Seppo, The Total Package Property Development Director for Citycon. To this effect, there will be some 6,000 Upon completion, the shopping centre will sq.metres of public services such as new- almost double the present number of 115 and-improved library and healthcare sta- shops, while providing immediate access to tion here. “From the point of view of the a customer base with twice the average Finn- citizens, it is noteworthy that you can find ish income level. all the services under one roof,” comments Hit the Big One Risto Seppo. It appears that the bigger, better Iso The other local numbers are impressive, as Omena can certainly deliver on that promise. well: there are 780,000 customers living In addition to its fashion, home décor, lei- within a 15 kilometer radius of Iso Omena sure, and well-being providers, Iso Omena Core Impact and the purchasing power in the catchment will serve as a go-to source for everyday Iso Omena is also very much in tune with area is staggering 4 billion euros. Commer- goods and groceries. Citycon’s strategy which calls for shopping cial Director Sanna Yliniemi says that Iso “As Citycon is known for grocery- centres to be located in urban cross-points Omena is “building on a hit formula” here, anchored shopping centres, we’re proud close to where customers live and work, and since the shopping centre already has nine to say that here we have succeeded in get- with a direct connection to public transport, million patrons annually. ting all the relevant players involved,” healthcare and municipal services. “We are targeting 14.5 million custom- Sanna Yliniemi says. The other significant At the end of 2015 Citycon owned 54 ers and € 375 million annual sales, once the upgrade is the strength and diversity of the shopping centres in the Nordic and Baltic expansion is done,” she says. food and beverage area, with about 6,000 countries. O

32 Nordicum THE ANGLE Photo: City of Espoo Media Bank / Pekka Sipola, Compic Oy

By Olli Isotalo The writer is Deputy Mayor of the City of Espoo

Espoo on the Move

he biggest infrastructure project in Fin- T land is drawing to a close, as the new metro line to Espoo will be launched in August, 2016. The metro will transport over 100,000 passengers every day, bringing connectivity to a whole new level in Espoo – and beyond. There are eight metro stations opening in Espoo by August, with five more to come by 2020. More than moving people, we’re moving business and communities: the new metro line will establish a true Growth Corridor that will sustain Espoo for decades to come. The Espoo Innovation Gar- den supports the West Metro Growth Cor- ridor by attracting people, companies, jobs and services. The goal is to attract as many as 70,000 new inhabitants along this new corridor, while pursuing also significant employment growth. As Espoo is really an interlinked city of five city centres, with around 50,000 Furthermore, the City is looking at Modern schools – such as the brand new inhabitants each, the task of the City is to its real estate assets with a critical eye. For Opinmäki School – will be available for all enforce that interconnectivity. Metro is one example, does every school need an audi- citizens, not just students. way to accomplish this, but we have been torium or top-notch chemistry lab – espe- Smarter traffic, smarter schools…and successful with “conventional” rails as well: cially if the budget will only allow mediocre also smarter energy. The emission-free uti- for instance, the Leppävaara City Centre – solutions? Or, would it be more prudent to lisation of geothermal heat has reached its the main railway link in Espoo – has become build state-of-the-art facilities in one place, trial phase in Espoo’s Otaniemi. In a few a real dynamo for growth north of the metro and make sure that everybody can share in years, geothermal energy may produce up to line. the use of the premises? 10 percent of the total district heating needs All five city centres offer flexible With this in mind, Espoo is working on in Espoo. opportunities for housing, working, leisure a new ‘School as a Service’ concept, mean- None of these actions have come to time activities, services…while remaining in ing, in essence, that the students will be able exist by chance. Our grand vision, The connection to nature. As one method of pro- to deploy the best available assets within Espoo Story, states that the City wants to moting green traffic, Espoo aims to increase Espoo City limits – and the public trans- evolve into a true pioneer in the fight against the number of electric buses in connection portation will get them there. This paradigm Climate Change. Making our communities to the Growth Corridor and the feeder traf- shift is long overdue: for too long, the focus more compact, more sustainable – this is fic for the Espoo City Railway. has been on walls and desks – the physi- our dream. The target is to run the West Metro cal manifestations of the school – instead And, while we are on the frontlines, with renewable energy – and also the con- of the content and the process of learning this also creates opportunities for investors necting traffic should be free of emissions. that goes on inside. and companies that can benefit from this Metro line can become a test platform – Espoo wants to champion a new way scenario. with also international significance – both of learning which combines excellent educa- In Espoo Innovation Garden we can for electric buses and renewable energy. tion facilities with excellent utilisation rates. all grow together. O Nordicum 33 Photo: Aalto University / Suomen Ilmakuva Oy

Metro Momentum The heart of Espoo Innovation Garden, the Tapiola-Otaniemi-Keilaniemi area, has all the right goods – with connectivity that is about to go through the roof

The fabled innovation hub of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area – Tapiola, account the role Espoo as a real champion Otaniemi and Keilaniemi in the heart of Espoo Innovation Garden – is of innovation and economic growth. Besides being the second largest and fastest grow- standing on the brink of a brand new era. With the advent of the metro this ing city in the country, Espoo’s ecosystem year, connectivity – and along with it, creativity – in the area will improve accounts for 50 % of the research and devel- by leaps and bounds. opment value for all of Finland. Furthermore, Espoo companies are responsible for around 50% of the turnover here is already a tremendous platform ping district as well as a new university vil- in the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The Espoo T to build on. The Tapiola-Otaniemi- lage for students, researchers and entrepre- Innovation Garden ecosystem is ranked Keilaniemi area presently boasts North- neurs. With 100,000 people transported by among the Top 5 rising stars in MIT’s global ern Europe’s largest innovation hub – this the West Metro line every day, the City is of research covering over 200 university-based is simply the place where science, culture the opinion that there are many good things entrepreneurial ecosystems. and business come together. Nevertheless, on the way. The roots of local innovation can be according to the master plan by the City traced back to legendary Tapiola, the origi- of Espoo, the success story is just getting Running the Show nal “Garden City”. Starting from the 1950’s, started. Tapiola has spearheaded the cause of Finnish The profile of the area will be strength- But what exactly is it about the Espoo Inno- urban planning. From its very first stages, ened by, for instance, the tallest residential vation Garden that makes it such a phe- the community has gained domestic and and office buildings in Finland, tunneled nomenon both nationally and internation- global fame for its high class architecture main roads, a renewed culture and shop- ally? Well, first of all you have to take into and landscaping, as well as being praised 34 Nordicum + Esa Piironen Oy Photo: ALA ArchitectsLtd.

as an ideological experiment with a strong middle of the campus area which is char- “corporate engine” for the entire country. focus on nature. acterised by Alvar Aalto’s red-brick archi- High-rise buildings are pretty much the tecture. norm here – with headquarters of such com- Tapiola 2.0 The metro will connect Aalto Univer- panies as Kone, Fortum, Valmet and Micro- sity’s main campus to the Helsinki campus soft in attendance. The hi-tech corporate Currently, the venerable neighbourhood is with a metro ride of about 11 minutes, which neighbourhood is eagerly waiting for the going through a beauty treatment. In keep- is good news for the students – and sure to metroline to make the lives of the employing with the original spirit of the district, a re-energise the mass transport scene of the ees easier and help seaside Keilaniemi inte- new centre will be built in Tapiola – a bold area. According to calculations, the daily grate westward. solution marked by its dynamic and sustain- number of passengers at the Aalto metro It is noteworthy that in addition to the able character. Great care will be taken in station will be around 10,000. metro line, also the covering of Ring Road the renewal to preserve the architecturally I with a “City Boulevard” deck construc- significant centre, designed by the architect Making Waves tion will bring the three areas closer to each Aarne Ervi. other. What this means is that, Keilaniemi, The aim here is to create an active, Aalto University, of course, is not just any Otaniemi and Tapiola will be combined into multifaceted urban centre with modern school for higher learning. Dubbed as the a single, strongly developing area where it mass transportation terminals, well-organ- “innovation university”, Aalto is, in fact, the is extremely easy to move around. During ised parking and maintenance arrangements, perfect example of the type of collaboration the next ten years, about five billion euros a wide variety of services as well as pleas- between business, hi-tech and design that of public and private funds will be invested ant pedestrian areas and meeting places. In the Espoo Innovation Garden is all about. in the area. addition, Tapiola offers culture and leisure Established in 2010, the Aalto Univer- According to City plans, the City activities such as WeeGee House and Cul- sity was created from the merger of three Boulevard will take on an identity of its tural Centre as well as sports – and the com- Finnish universities: Helsinki School of Eco- own, complete with ambitious green con- ing of metro will make it all so much more nomics, Helsinki University of Technology striction. Linking Tapiola and Aalto Campus accessible. and University of Art and Design Helsinki. in an organic way, the City Boulevard will Currently, Aalto has strategic projects which offer something extra to the area both from target e.g. the impacts and opportunities of Upgrading Otaniemi a logistical and aesthetic perspective. digitalisation, service robotics, the platform A little east from Tapiola, we find Otaniemi, economy and the energy revolution. the “Silicon Valley of the North”. Otaniemi As a recent example of Aalto’s hi- Residential Reach is the largest cluster of high technology in tech prowess, it was announced in October Northern Europe, representing the entire The City and the State agreed in June 2015 to that a next-gen 5G network will be built chain of innovation from education and upgrade Ring I – as it pertains to Keilaniemi in Otaniemi. Promising higher speeds and research to startup companies and knowl- – in phases. The goal is to start construction extreme reliability, 5G will be launched by edge-intensive service businesses. This at the start of 2016. In the first phase, a 250- the turn of the next decade – with a major- community includes 16,000 hi-tech pro- metre tunnel will be built between Keila- ity of its development being conducted in fessionals working in research organisa- niemi and Tapiola, with two residential tow- the next few years. Aalto University is par- tions and technology companies as well as ers next to it. The construction for the first ticipating in research work in several dif- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland tower will be launched at the end of 2017. ferent areas of 5G and is currently building – the leading research company in the Nor- There might eventually be as many a test 5G network at Otaniemi in Espoo in dics. The European Commission has twice as four housing towers, with 27–35 storeys co-operation with companies. selected Otaniemi among the most innova- each, reaching as high as 100 metres. tive areas in Europe. Connecting Keilaniemi Together, the City Boulevard and the Starting this August, you can take a residential towers are expected to revital- metro into the very heart Otaniemi. The And as we keep heading east from Otaniemi, ise also the shoreline with activities and ser- Aalto University station is located in the we soon enter Keilaniemi, known as the vices. O

Nordicum 35 True Colours Tapiola – the original Garden City – is returning to its former glory as a wave of new construction hits Tapiola Centre

Not so long ago, Tapiola, the iconic “Garden City” of Espoo, had fallen on hard – it is inviting, engaging…and quite possi- times. With new and shiny shopping centres emerging all around the Helsinki bly the perfect pedestrian hub. According to the plans, the new Tapiola Centre will, Metropolitan Area, Tapiola Commercial Centre was struggling to keep up. After in fact, become the largest pedestrian centre all, the first parts of the Tapiola Centre date back to the 1950s and 1960s and in Finland. little progress had been seen since. “There is no place like Tapiola in the entire country. There’s a solid, recognisa- ble foundation, and future development will he owners in the Centre were reluctant “Without a strong investor to show the only add to that appeal.” T to do much about the situation, since it way, Tapiola Centre would have shrivelled LocalTapiola is truly committed to would mean considerable investment up eventually,” Immonen says. the area, already owning more than a dozen and uncertain outcome. In addition, the local But what is it exactly about Tapiola properties here. Eventually, the company’s owners had different opinions on how the that makes it so special? To answer this local investment is expected to reach EUR classic neighbourhood should be revitalised. question, one must look back in time – all the 600 million, representing the biggest real Then, there was the decision by the way to the 50’s, when the name Tapiola was estate investment in the history of the com- City of Espoo to build the western metroline, synonymous with ‘future’. Since its birth pany. with Tapiola as a key station. Metro prom- over 60 years ago, Tapiola has been regarded Furthermore, Tapiola is also the home- ised fresh momentum and one of the local as a natural treasure: a shining example of base of LocalTapiola, as the company has owners, LocalTapiola Real Estate Asset a modern community rooted in natural val- over 1500 employees here – and Immonen Management, wanted to ride that wave. ues. Tapiola Centre formed a highly valued admits that it’s hard to imagine putting the Pretty soon, LocalTapiola was making con- architectural landmark for the “community company headquarters anywhere else. siderable investments in the Tapiola Centre of tomorrow” that attracted attention world- “This is where we want to be.” and leading by example, which meant, in wide. time, that other investors followed. Brand New Day Pedestrian Paradise Rescue Operation The advent of the metro – combined with Immonen believes that the Tapiola “core LocalTapiola’s commitment and leadership Vesa Immonen, Managing Director of brand” remains unchanged, and that the – has changed the tune around the old neigh- LocalTapiola Real Estate Asset Manage- Centre is well on its way to becoming great bourhood. As the metro kicks off this year, ment, says that rescuing Tapiola Commer- once more. What makes Tapiola Centre more than 20,000 passengers will be using cial Centre was something that the company unique is that it opens outwards, not just the Tapiola station every day. Looking at just felt it had to do: inwards like a regular shopping centre does those types of volumes, it is easy enough

36 Nordicum to imagine that a completely new chapter which is ushering in a new era for local become an important rallying point for the in the development of the neighbourhood is shopping. Having opened its doors in Octo- entire “Tapiola Renaissance”. about to begin. The over-all aim is to create a ber 2013, the newcomer is still relatively “Especially as we’re strengthening lively, multifaceted urban centre with modern small – with 10 000 square metres and 30 the residential element in Tapiola, there’s a mass transportation terminals, well-organised shops – but, eventually, Ainoa will be con- sense that Tapiola is going back to its roots, parking and maintenance arrangements. siderably bigger. to the original idea of quality living.” Vesa Eskoli, Real Estate Invest- The second phase of constructing According to Eskoli, a completely ment Director at LocalTapiola Real Estate Ainoa has already started, and the shop- new type of residential area will be built on Asset Management, believes that there will ping centre will expand over Merituulen- top of Ainoa. The area is intended for the be no stopping Tapiola’s comeback: tie. The expansion will increase the square public, offering an attractive living environ- “This is where strong community area of Ainoa from the current 10,000 square ment in the heart of the Garden City. The values meet dynamic urban structure – it’s metres to 30,000 square metres. The sec- area – going by the name Tapiolan Kirjo- simply a great platform for future success,” ond phase of construction will be finished kansi – consists of apartment buildings as Eskoli says. in spring 2017, and the shopping centre will well as row houses. The blocks to the south of the origi- then include premises for e.g. the department “Taken together, there will be a total nal Centre will be renewed according to the store Stockmann. of 260 apartments,” Eskoli adds. same urban sociological principles that first After the second phase, the third created the Garden City. As a consequence, phase will start by demolishing the build- Just Warming Up the Tapiola Centre will be totally trans- ing where Stockmann is currently situated While residential concerns are addressed, formed. For example, the level previously and constructing new premises. The demol- boosting parking facilities is also an issue. in use for private car traffic (Merituulentie,) ished building will be replaced with prem- The central car park in Tapiola offers first- will feature retail spaces and a pedestrian ises of approximately 20,000 square metres, class parking space in connection with area; there will be plenty of parking space and after that Ainoa will cover over 50,000 Ainoa; the second phase of Tapiola Park, for bikes in the vicinity of the metro station; square metres and include 100 shops. which will be finished in spring 2016, will and new plazas and pedestrian streets will push the number of parking places to 2,000. appear in Tapiola Centre, and the roof area Driver for Change Talking about the LocalTapiola strat- will be green and well-groomed. According to Vesa Eskoli, there’s more to egy for Tapiola Centre, both Immonen and Ainoa the Anchor come: Eskoli assess that the company is just get- “Third phase of Ainoa will be com- ting started: And then there is the shopping centre Ainoa pleted by 2019, and there are plans for phase “We will be a strong player in this (owned by Tapiola KR III Real Estate Fund) four, too,” he says, adding that Ainoa has neighbourhood in the future, as well.” O

Nordicum 37 Photos: Jussi Helimäki Laboratory for Learning Rooted in community values, Opinmäki glimpses into the future of school

As the City of Espoo set out to build Suurpelto – a new city district – in the beginning of the millennium, there was already talk of creating a vibrant heart for the community-to-be. Over the years, a vision started to take shape: the centre piece for the new community should be a multipurpose school that would be available for all citizens, not just school children.

he City put together an open archi- learn and work together in shared facilities. do practically anything here. I don’t think T tectural competition in 2011 to find a The services, architecture and operational we’ve seen anything quite like it in Finland totally new concept that would work for culture of the learning centre are aimed at – or anywhere else, for that matter,” he says. Suurpelto. Young architect Esa Ruskeepää supporting lifelong learning. Looking at the bigger picture, Vik- won the competition with his work ‘Mäkin This new kind of learning environment kula observes that Espoo wants to be in opin’ (“I’m learning, too”). The building, the is designed to promote the diverse develop- the forefront of developing communities very first realized project by Ruskeepää, was ment and wellbeing of its users as well as the of the future, and Suurpelto – which com- designed and built in close co-operation with realisation of diversity, sustainable develop- bines Garden City appeal with hi-tech ser- its users over a period of three and half years. ment and multi-culturalism. For example, vice solutions – is a perfect example of this Finally, the grand opening was cele- the Opinmäki gym is the largest of its kind in mindset. Located along Ring Road II, the brated on Espoo Day on 29 August, 2015, as the city, and it’s used – in addition to pupils new community is steadily gaining momen- almost 1,000 pupils started school at Opin- – also by several sports clubs. tum – and the new learning centre will go mäki Learning Centre. Opinmäki (Learn- a long a way to help take the new commu- ing Hill) comprises two schools, a day-care Long Time Coming nity to a totally new level. centre, library, auditorium and sports hall. Pekka Vikkula, City Project Director for The wild card in the mix, however, is that the Just a School? – No way! Suurpelto, could not be happier now that premises are also rented out to various actors the community finally has its calling card With a price tag of EUR 54 million, Opin- ranging from choirs to local companies. and true heart. After all, the guiding vision of mäki is the biggest and the most ambitious Share What You Have Suurpelto calls for “all the important things school project in the history of Espoo. The in life” to be near and readily accessible. school has already been praised for both its Only the day-care centre is off limits; all Adding multi-space edge to Opinmäki is appearance and functionality. Architect Esa other spaces are available each day, after the perfectly in line with the original idea of Ruskeepää is quite pleased with the final out- school kids grab their backpacks and head Suurpelto, Vikkula says. come. He says that the challenge in design- home. To facilitate this, there are no dedi- “What has been created here is nothing schools today is that they “can’t be just cated classrooms in Opinmäki, or regular ing short of a multipurpose centre for life- schools anymore”: increasingly, we are see- school desks for that matter. The pupils look long learning – a dynamic centre that brings ing a development where schools are turn- after their belongings knowing that some- together education, culture and all kinds of ing into central public buildings. body else may be using the same space in other activities,” Vikkula says, adding that the Nevertheless, making the premises the afternoon. idea is to really push the utilisation rate here – truly multifunctional is no easy feat, Rus- At its core, Opinmäki is a learning cen- when one group exits, another one can enter. keepää continues: tre with the idea of offering a new way to “The space is so flexible that you can “When you have different spaces and

38 Nordicum various timeframes for use, one really needs Roll the Dice one mega-building – but how does this all detailed planning to make the concept work look to, say, a seven-year-old? in the optimal manner,” he says. Opinmäki is extremely accessible from “What we have now is more like a “In the end, I feel that we were able to any direction, comprising nine sepa- village composed of several smaller build- fit all the parts together pretty well.” rate buildings – already called blocks – ings,” he says. Educations in Opinmäki is based on that are connected by open lobby spaces. The building materials are brick, con- collaboration and interaction, both between According to Ruskeepää, dividing the crete and wood. Ruskeepää says that in his the operators and with residents of the com- large program (16,700 square meters) design, he was going for a mood that is more munity. Flexible premises, smart technologi- into smaller "buildings" makes sense. The peaceful and dignified: this way, the centre cal choices and using facilities in novel ways result has much smaller, more refined scale. can be seen not so much as a school, but as enable residents of all ages to meet and inter- The apparent danger in multipurpose a “building for the community”. Opinmäki act every day of the week. space is cramming dozens of activities in is also energy-efficient and optimised for life-cycle expenses – meaning, among other things, that the premises are convenient to service and maintain. Opinmäki – Fast Facts Push the Envelope Services: Espoo International School, Päivänkehrä School, Opinmäki Day-care Centre, Active Learning Centre AKKU, Espoo Youth Centre, Espoo Adult Education Centre, Kaisu Toivonen, Director of Education at Espoo Sports and Exercise Services, Suurpelto associations the City, comments that in the coming years, Architect Esa Ruskeepää (b. 1980) Opinmäki will become one of the pioneers Principal Designer Vesa Erikkilä (b. 1963) of education in Espoo. Project Architect Sasu Marila (b. 1972) “Placing international and Finnish- Competition entry Thomas Miyauchi, Esa Ruskeepää language basic education in shared prem- Architectural competition 2011 ises will create linguistic and cultural under- Structural design: Jyrki Ketonen standing,” she says, adding that a lifelong HPAC and I&C design: Vesa Jermilä learning tunnel reaches from pre-school to Electrical design: Mika Lamminen adult education. Project management contractor: SRV “Shared premises with the Cultural, Total costs: €54 million Youth and Sports Departments is an oppor- Gross floor area: 16.700 m2 tunity to develop new ways learning which Year of completion: 2015 support children’s growth and learning as well as harmonise school days,” says Toivonen. O

Nordicum 39 Photo: Tiina Primietta Flex Your Ed Espoo is championing a new ‘School as a Service’ concept

The City of Espoo is convinced that a school is no longer about walls and blackboards – or even teaching, for that matter. More and more, the focus turns to learning itself.

onventional school space does not sup- possible to bring improved flexibility into “Right now, we see that school as a C port today’s school kids – these digital the way schools use real estate and other ‘product’ is kind of broken down, and the natives – in the best possible way. With assets. The idea was well received by the solutions that are produced are inflexible as this in mind, the City is launching a concept City and developed further on. circumstances are rapidly deteriorating.” by the name of School as a Service, which All that is needed now is a pilot to revolves around shared resources. For exam- Fix it! test the waters. In fall semester 2016, the ple: not every school has to have a gym or a concept will be tried out in earnest at Aalto soccer field, as long as there is convenient Suominen says that School as a Service University as the 350 students of Haukilahti access to them when needed. (SaaS) concept can be viewed as a service high school take to the grounds. The idea is One of the original developers of the innovation – in contrast to the traditional to fully utilise the flexible learning spaces concept is Aalto University Professor Jarmo school-building process which focuses on located at the Otaniemi Campus. As the Suominen, who started to consider, if it was product innovation. facilities are adaptable and allow users to Photo: AndreasMeichsner

40 Nordicum Photo: Andreas Meichsner

Photo: Huan Wang and Shiyang Shao Centralized Distributed School as a Product School as a Service together, and the new concept has a chance to go far. “Take ownership, for instance. When you have a chance to shape your learning environment, your sense of ownership of your own learning strengthens,” Erkkilä says.

design and customise them according to “There is multipurpose space available Going Global? their needs, the students are able to develop that will challenge, support and inspire in user-oriented learning environments. the development of new kind of education,” Kristiina Erkkilä reports that the concept she says. – while still in its formative stages – has Fauna, Flora, Phenomena already peaked some international interest: Welcome to the Future for example, Unesco’s Learning Cities and The modern Puu2 building will be used as Eurocities are keen to learn more about the the “home base” for the new school, but stu- Jarmo Suominen points out that the per- Espoo innovation. dents are likely to roam around the campus spective of “social learning” is key here: ”The City is eager to push the concept, as need arises. the school of the future is integrated into too,” says Erkkilä. “We are committed to “For instance, Start Up Sauna and various learning communities and educa- School as a Service, starting from the stu- Design Factory – both located on cam- tional value is created together with others. dents and teachers and the officials respon- pus – are available for the students,” says “The SaaS concept creates the circum- sible for the premises, and reaching all the Suominen, adding that concept is very much stances where the participants feel they are way to the City’s top leadership.” rooted on “phenomenon-based learning” a part of a learning community; they cre- Thanks to Espoo’s considerable edu- which takes place in appropriate commu- ate joint histories of development as well cation volume, scalability can be achieved nities. as common meanings and practices,” he very easily, if the results from the pilot are Kristiina Erkkilä, Director of Devel- envisions. positive. opment in Education and Cultural Services, Suominen and Erkkilä explain that “The Otaniemi pilot is planned to run says that the high school students will bene- the concept is “anchored down” by three for two years and we will develop the con- fit from the academic environment that Ota- themes: Flexibility, Ownership and Acces- cept further based on the feedback from the niemi campus can provide: sibility. Put these three things successfully project,” Erkkilä says. O

Nordicum 41 Flip the Script

Aalto University has a portfolio of buildings where you can acquire service, not mere space Aalto Goes Experimental pace is the Final Frontier – but not the tions up, we can achieve a truly unique col- S way you might think. Aalto University laboration hub,” Ahlava believes. The Aalto University has put its money has an ambitious plan to change the Antti Tuomela, Managing Director where its mouth is by pooling all the uni- way we use of space in an academic setting. for ACRE (Aalto University Campus & versity’s resources into Otaniemi; the latest Rooted in multidisciplinary approach, the Real Estate), adds that the Otaniemi cam- arrival is the School of Art and Design from idea is to find the very best premises for any pus is exactly the type of “innovation plat- Arabia District. Both Ahlava and Tuomela given activity. ”The key to this is openness form” that can nurture startups, give a boost talk about “achieving critical mass”: in all around the campus,” says Antti Ahlava, to existing companies or help big corpora- order to get something, you first need to Vice President for the University. tions get even bigger. have something. “We are building a new type of campus “We can offer companies attractive Now, with Aalto University deploying that is powered by a communicative and col- infrastructure, various new uses for space 200,000 square metres of space to promote laborative mindset. By mixing various func- and shared facilities.” education and research, that’s not exactly a

42 Nordicum Photo: Esa Ahdevaara / GSS Lucky-Design as a Service’ (BaaS), where you focus on are the “new rock stars” and the talk around service and activity instead of bricks and the campus is decidedly business-minded. mortar. Aalto, with its real estate assets and “We have students here that are not research prowess, is in a unique position to afraid to push the envelope and they are push BaaS onward. challenging also us to keep innovating,” Tuomela says, while sounding not one bit Face the Future disappointed. There are already signals out here that something like BaaS could well be the way of the Campus on the Move future. In the USA, for instance, the amount A key component in the upcoming plans is of people who are using co-working solu- the new metro station – to be launched in tions has hit 3.5 million. August 2016 – which connects the Otaniemi “That figure has actually doubled Campus to downtown Helsinki, and beyond. every year since 2006,” Ahlava reveals. And as the university is pulling all the stops When people opt for cost-effective, modern to create a world-class campus, there will space, they increasingly choose co-working. be an ambitious hallmark building leading But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: Ahlava the way. Having won a tough international believes that in the next phase, companies architectural contest, the competition entry will fully embrace BaaS and it will become Väre (designed by Finnish agency Verstas a permanent part of their operative strategy. Architects) provides the unique solution “This is the more radical step, since it the university was looking for all along – involves re-evaluating each and every part of emphasising interaction and true dialogue the company’s operations. Once that is done, in an unprecedented way. however, there’s so much you can achieve.” In addition to the new building – which will open its doors in 2018 – there will be a Open Up the Campus small shopping centre (7,000 sqm), as well, linking with the metro station. Ahlava and Traditionally, in academic campuses, there Tuomela point out that the university is com- are areas which are accessible and those that mitted to raising new buildings as well as are off-limits – and Ahlava and Tuomela feel upgrading existing assets. With regards to that, in the past, those STOP signs have gone rental premises, Tuomela promises that the up way too easily. In a modern campus, you real estate portfolio will be “aggressively could have floor-level access to just about developed”. any building on campus – if extra security is “We are looking to realise premises needed, for instance, the upper floors could that really boost companies’ business,” be deployed for that purpose. The two Anttis Tuomela says, while adding that the uni- question the need for excessive restrictions, versity is also in search of quality partners since innovations rarely grow in a vacuum. to ensure the best possible outcome. “This change is not something we aim to do one building at a time; it is the entire campus environment that needs to be fine- Living It Up tuned to fit this concept,” Ahlava says. A big part of this emerging ecosystem is According to Ahlava, the evolution the residential element. According to the of buildings has advanced from indus- plans, Otaniemi could encompass as much trial buildings to smart buildings – but the as 75,000 square metres of residential space “human” aspect of it all is still largely unex- in the coming years. plored. “We have room for 10,000 residents “With ‘Human Buildings’, we have a here,” Tuomela confirms. (From left to right) Antti Tuomela, situation where people are co-creating value Ahlava and Tuomela believe that com- Managing Director for ACRE and in the real estate context.” bining the academic, corporate and residen- Antti Ahlava, Vice President at Aalto tial is also something that the old maestro, University. Rock the Factory Alvar Aalto himself, would have appreci- A great example of this is Aalto’s Design ated. little – but the corporate angle here is this: Factory concept. Antti Tuomela points out “We have both versatility and flexibil- the University has an extra 100,000 square that Design Factory, located on campus, has ity here – all located in a beautiful setting metres that it’s leasing out. Already, clusters become the “place to be” on the strength of close to the nature,” Ahlava says. are being born: bio, health, design, media, the ideas brimming within the factory walls. Aalto wants to “go green” in environ- games, Industrial Internet…birds of the “It’s the content and the whole ide- mental issues, as well. The campus has its feather do flock together, and there’s versa- ology which resonates very strongly with own Smart Traffic Programme and an exper- tile space here to make it happen. students, companies and also the interna- imental geo-thermal superheating system – “We want to introduce a little bit of dis- tional visitors – and that buzz keeps attract- and has been championing the cause of ‘car- ruption into real estate development – you ing more and more people.” free campus’ for years. don’t always have to do things the same old Add to this, the fact that Aalto Univer- “The environment is one of our core way,” Ahlava says. What the Vice President sity almost singlehandedly launched the new values and this is not about to change,” has in mind is a concept called ‘Building “Startup Era” in Finland; now, entrepreneurs Tuomela promises. O Nordicum 43 It’s All in the Pipeline New Growth Corridors call the shots in tomorrow’s competitiveness game

In terms of boosting competitiveness, the creation of new, powerful growth corridors is a rising trend internationally. While cities and regions may be in fine form, economically speaking, there’s a lot to be said for synergy benefits when one seeks broader collaboration with neighbours.

esearcher Timo Aro notes that build- and outer accessibility of any given area is Helsinki – Hämeenlinna – Tampere. Linking R ing such corridors is one way to link directly linked with the area’s growth and the country’s capital with the largest inland separate labour markets together more competitiveness. city in all of Scandinavia seems like a no- effectively. He believes that smooth traffic brainer to begin with, and Hämeenlinna is connections play a key role in all this. There Can Be Only One? a burgeoning community in its own right, “In lieu of distance, it makes sense to too, so the seeds for growth fall on fertile talk about the actual time it takes to travel Nevertheless, Timo Aro is of the opinion soil here. from one place to another. Whether a region that Finland is just getting started on this “Elsewhere in Finland, the construc- is a successful one or not, this is based, more front: he argues that the only true growth tion of corridors still requires a lot of work. and more, on fast road and rail connec- corridor – which features a common insti- In addition, what is missing from Finland at tions,” Aro says, adding that both the inner tutional and physical structure – and that is the moment is a mega-corridor that would go

44 Nordicum Photos: Finnish Transport Agency

Work Comes First beyond national borders,” Aro says, while sation, mobility, demographics, traffic corri- adding that the so-called Northern Growth dor zone approach, international concerns… But let’s pause here for a second and take Corridor from Stockholm to Turku is the ”All of these forces for change encour- stock of the factors of attraction – both hard first serious attempt at this. In the future, age centralisation in the regional structure. and soft. Aro explains that work – or rather, it may be viable to build a growth corridor South and southwest Finland, taken as one potential for employment – has been the between Helsinki and Tallinn, too – via a entity, forms a natural, functional area, true, hard-as-nails factor in the equation for tunnel under the sea. since the greatest concentrations of inhab- a long time. Still today, there’s no replacing “Looking around the Nordics, an itants and jobs are to be found right there.” work as the primary shot-caller in migration, appropriate benchmark might be the Copen- Aro points out that as traffic infrastructure but over the years other things have emerged hagen – Malmo area, where everyday life and growth corridors keep on evolving, this as well. Research has identified such fac- still runs smoothly, even if it concerns two “power region” only improves in accessibil- tors as image, atmosphere, availability of countries, Denmark and Sweden.” ity and reach, eventually becoming a uni- services, safety and convenience to create fied labour area. “pull” for a location. Time to Move “At the moment, about 3.2 million “During the 2010’s, there have been Finns – almost 60 percent of the popula- more and more indicators that in certain Back in Finland, it is clear that not all com- tion – live within 90 minutes’ travel from sectors companies opt to go where there’s munities are created equal. For instance, downtown Helsinki, Tampere or Turku,” skilled labour available. This becomes high- Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Lahti – observes Aro, himself a native of west coast lighted in the creative industries and those and their respective regions – continue to Pori. He believes that the appeal of this core fields rooted on know-how as there are increase their appeal, while areas further area will continue to increase, due to tran- expertise clusters which give productivity removed from south and southwest Fin- sitional forces in the regional structure, the a considerable boost,” Aro says, pointing land are feeling the sting. Timo Aro com- convenient combination of both “soft” and out that cities that feature schools for higher ments that the reasons behind this trend are “hard” attraction factors and economy of education have a leg up in the race – and a legion, dealing with issues such as urbani- scale. this advantage will only grow in the future.

Nordicum 45 Winners & Losers welfare state may become more appealing after the years spent abroad. For a researcher, it is quite evident that big But how can a small or medium munic- cities are hard to beat in the attraction con- ipality compete with big city bright lights? test, both in the global and national arenas. Does Aro have any tips for the communi- Aro observes that the recipient of the ongo- ties of rural Finland that are tired of seeing ing brain leakage is often the “growth tri- their kids leave as soon as they graduate high angle” formed by Helsinki, Turku and Tam- school? – Aro responds by saying that you pere, or, alternatively, the large or medium have to be able to recognise – truthfully – university towns out there. During this dec- both the hard and soft attraction factors in ade, only one in four municipalities has the area, as well as the core elements which, gained in the migration roulette – with the taken together, form the local identity. majority as the losers. “Furthermore, looking at the migration Pick Your Battles streams of the young and educated, they are becoming constantly more focused to fewer After taking stock of what’s out there, one and fewer areas,” says Aro. This will create must learn to be pragmatic: Each area must entire communities filled with likeminded, play to its actual strengths, not imaginary young professionals, who pretty soon would ones. This, however, is not easy, Aro cau- not dream of going anyplace else. tions. ”More often than not, any given Leaving on a Jet Plane municipality has one individual factor of attraction. Whatever that factor is, one Still, it’s one thing if the talented youth move should really seek to develop it further on, from one Finnish municipality to another – with enough courage, resources and time to the state is happy to carry out its taxation see it through.” duty in either case – but if the young profes- According to Aro, there are no viable sionals should set shop outside of Finland… quick-fix schemes around when it comes now that’s a considerably bigger problem in to changing the tides of migration. Not that scope and size. they haven’t been attempted (and still are) “As a new characteristic, we have seen – having started his research into domestic increasing signals that the Finnish brain migration already in 1997, Aro has seen just power is leaking out of the country. This, about every trick in the book. however, is not a threat, if those experts “Relating to my work, the biggest sur- eventually return to Finland, being wiser prise has been that several areas have a really and more experienced for making the trip.” tough time facing the facts and owning up to One milestone in the “life path” of young them,” he says, calling the mindset of cer- talent is, naturally, the starting of a family, tain communities “irrational”. O and many feel that Finland is the best place to raise children. Also other elements of the Sami J. Anteroinen

46 Nordicum Photo: City of Helsinki Media Bank / Ari Leppä

Nordicum 47 Photo: Port of Helsinki Ltd

European Core Corridors – The Making Of

n the European Union, nine core network Alps and Italy, linking the major urban cen- is a real challenge. Then again, the upside I corridors have been identified to facili- tres and ports of Scandinavia and Northern is tremendous, too: significant gains can be tate the coordinated implementation of Germany to continue to the industrialised expected from the multitude of interactions the core network. These corridors bring high production centres of Southern Ger- and synergies as well as the emerging tech- together public and private resources and many, Austria and Northern Italy further to nological opportunities. The EU Commis- concentrate EU support from the CEF, par- the Italian ports and Valletta. sion feels that there are enough “strong moti- ticularly to remove bottlenecks, build miss- The North Sea-Baltic Corridor con- vators” to fire up the innovators and inves- ing cross-border connections and promote nects the ports of the Eastern shore of the tors to get working on developing the cor- modal integration and interoperability. Baltic Sea with the ports of the North Sea. ridors. The core network corridors are also The corridor connects Finland with Esto- The ultimate objective of infrastruc- aimed at e.g. integrating rail freight corri- nia by ferry, provides modern road and ture development along these corridors – dors, promoting clean fuel and advancing rail transport links between the three Bal- and on the core network as a whole – is to telematics applications for efficient infra- tic States on the one hand and Poland, Ger- complete seamless connections for the sake structure use. From the Nordic view point, many, the Netherlands and Belgium on the of efficient, future-oriented and high-quality two corridors hold a special role: The Scan- other. The most important project here is transport services for citizens and economic dinavian-Mediterranean Corridor and North Rail Baltic, a European standard gauge operators. The Commission is hoping that Sea-Baltic Corridor. railway between Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas and the nine core network corridors could serve North-Eastern Poland. as the forerunners of the full core network, Northern Exposure to be completed by 2030. O Building the Foundation The Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corri- dor crosses the Baltic Sea from Finland to Even the EU has conceded that the immense Sweden and passes through Germany, the complexity of the core network corridors Sami J. Anteroinen 48 Nordicum Report at Gate 29

he premier Growth Corridor in Finland T is the E12 highway, running from Hel- sinki to Tampere. Cities within a striking distance of this key artery are putting their best foot forward to attract companies and investments to their respective communities. One of the forerunners in this race is Valkeakoski, an enterprising town of 21,000 inhabitants, located 35 km southeast of Tam- pere. Mikko Seppälä, Business Director for the City of Valkeakoski, says the E12 Growth Corridor really gives Valkeakoski a powerful reach. “We are looking to get our share of that growth,” he defines the objective. Valkeakoski’s answer to this situation? – The new industrial area by the name of Gate 29, located just off the E12. But why the ‘29’? “You need to take Exit 29 off the E12 to get there,” explains Seppälä. But E12 is not the only “instant access” available here. Closest airport is in Pirkkala, only a 40-minute drive away; and harbours of both Helsinki and Turku can be reached within 90 minutes, too. The area in question houses over 90 But the biggest draw here may be the “Companies coming to Gate 29 will hectares of designated industrial plots and size of the plots: profit from all the versatile opportunities has building rights for 40,000 floor square “According to feedback from com- provided by the Growth Corridor. We can meters. Furthermore, an SME locating panies, there is a great need of large plots offer connectivity that others just can’t within Gate 29 is eligible for an EU invest- for industrial and logistics operations in the match,” Seppälä says, adding that construc- ment grant worth up to 20 % of investments region. We can provide that here, with largest tion on site will begin in summer 2016. in new machinery and equipment. plots being over 10 hectares,” Seppälä says. O

Hi-Tech Haven

yvinkää is a city of 46,500 inhabitants, plants of both KONE and Konecranes are 250–300, and there are opportunities to pick H located in the middle of the Finnish located here. up the pace, if need be. Growth Corridor. There’s a distance “Over-all, we have about 1,000 engi- “Looking ahead to 2020, it is clear that of mere 55 kilometres to Helsinki, 50 kilo- neers in town.” we can intensify our development efforts, if metres to Hämeenlinna and 120 kilometres Spearheaded by strong industrial com- the national economic outlook improves.” to Tampere. Hyvinkää Mayor Jyrki Mattila panies, the economic structure in the City is The City master plan calls for apartment says that a lot of cities like to talk about their a solid one: Hyvinkää has a job-sufficiency buildings to be raised in the vicinity of the great location, but not everybody can match rate of over 90 %. Another important thing downtown and single-home construction to Hyvinkää’s location. is the urban structure, which is exception- take place a little farther off. “We have access to ‘Ring 5’ here – ally compact. Presently, about 90 % of the The Growth Corridor has attracted highway 25 – and the main railway tracks population live within 3 kilometres of down- also logistics players to the area, adds Mat- run via downtown,” Mattila says. town. tila. Hyvinkää is also in a great position “Furthermore, we have excellent “The fact that so many logistics com- to benefit from connectivity, since it is a reserves for plots, both for corporate and panies have chosen Hyvinkää as a base for hi-tech town with long traditions of indus- residential development.” Hyvinkää keeps their operations bodes well for our future trial excellence: for instance, the production adding apartments by the annual rate of development.” O Nordicum 49 Southwest Synergy

Turku, Uusikaupunki, Rauma and Pori are pushing regional growth – together

Southwest Finland is brimming with synergies – and the leading cities in the region are working hard to capitalise on the opportunities presented by collaboration. The coastal towns of Turku, Uusikaupunki, Rauma and Pori came together already in 2005, as the mayors of the communities started having regular talks. In 2010, an agreement was reached on the forms of cooperation and LOURA – Intercity Collaboration of South-West Coast of Finland – was born.

ipa Turvanen is presently charged with ism & travel offer plenty of opportunities. future. As urbanisation results in the crea- P coordinating the LOURA co-operation The Southwest coast and archipelago, for tion of growth corridors and growth zones, efforts. She comments that the region instance, are truly world-class nature des- all dynamic communities – and those want- has a long tradition of working together, but tinations. ing to stay that way – must tap into these col- recently, the goals and the activities have “Coastal cities are a rising trend also laborative networks. become more ambitious. internationally. From an investor’s view- “Our cities are stronger together, if “The idea is that the cities identify and point, it makes sense to explore the poten- you look at issues such as regional com- select their collective strong areas, and work tial of the entire region instead of a single petitiveness, visibility and promoting together to develop them onwards.” city. Together we can be bigger than any of one’s interests,” she says, adding that the us on our own,” she sums up. Southwest cities are not that interested in West is the Best? administrative or municipal limits here, but, Joining Forces instead, want to nurture activities that are Since the entire region is big on marine beneficial (at least in the long run) for the industries, this is obviously one key area Aino-Maija Luukkonen, Mayor of Pori, says entire region. of cooperation, but also such sectors as that the Southwest alliance is a strategical According to Luukkonen, Pori has energy, water-related know-how and tour- tool to help deal with the challenges of the been active on many fronts lately, as € 1.3

50 Nordicum billion worth of investments have come No Limits own city limits? – but the Southwest coop- pouring into the city. One important stra- eration looks beyond individual interests. tegic investment is the new campus for Kari Koski is also of the opinion that there is “In this work, we must be both pro- Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, little point in looking at maps to see where active and reactive in attracting companies located right in the core of the city. the city limits are – when companies and and investments,” he says. Talking about “The campus solution will impact the people are on the move, the administrative the strength of the region, Vainio notes that community in many, many positive ways, boundaries carry very little weight. there is suitable overlap to encourage new and boost the local potential considerably,” “The Southwest is connected by com- business: Luukkonen says. mon history and ability to get things done. “We have a situation where success What Rauma brings to the table, is the breeds more success. For example, the net- Stay on the Growth Path dynamic, forward-looking nature of the city working mentality is particularly strong and concrete options for fruitful collabora- here and has yielded exceptional results.” Not surprisingly, the number one issue in tion,” Koski says. For example, Uusikaupunki’s “industrial Mayor Luukkonen’s mind is growth: how to anchor” is the local automotive factory get new jobs and new residents to comple- Consistency Wins the Day which has been able to change with the times ment the new investments. Pori has a good – quite masterfully. handle on energy issues – with LNG and For example, the food sector powerhouse HKScan announced in October 2015 that offshore wind power as prime examples – Soya Success and Luukkonen expects to see a develop- it has chosen Rauma for its new production ment where these strategic initiatives yield plant project. The 25,000 square metre fac- One recent case regarding collaboration: great results. tory (and related investments) come with a as Uusikaupunki secured a significant soya “Both LNG and offshore wind power price tag of over € 80 million. According to plant investment, the only problem was the are choices for the future, and their signifi- Koski, HKScan’s decision is further proof inadequate sea access. The neighbouring cance will probably be understood even bet- of the fact that the local economic policy is Pori offered a hand, and now Pori handles ter tomorrow than today,” she says, adding in fine form. the port logistics to the Uusikaupunki plant. that the City has served in an enabling role “This also means jobs and increased “This way, we can share the cake, in these energy projects. activity in various fields – we are already instead of fighting over who gets a piece.” aware of additional industrial projects that Right now, for instance, many com- Marine Origins are being planned with Rauma in mind,” he panies are looking at various brownfield says, while pointing out that the HKScan options in the region, which can be a good Kari Koski, Mayor of Rauma, points out that investment is not a stand-alone occurrence, alternative to raising a brand new facility. the anchor of the Southwest collaboration but, instead, only the latest link in a long, “We can offer both attractive greenfield and was marine cluster cooperation, with Turku long chain. brownfield alternatives here,” Vainio prom- getting the ball rolling and other three cities “We have a tradition of making the ises. soon joining in. right moves for the future.” “Still today, marine cluster is a strong Just Getting Started driver for collaboration in the region,” says Boosting Business Koski. Rauma, like Turku, has a world- Looking ahead, Vainio sees many more such class shipyard, especially when it comes to Atso Vainio, Mayor of Uusikaupunki, is opportunities surfacing: the Southwest alli- making highly specialised vessels. Beyond thinking along the same lines with his col- ance is just getting warmed up and there is marine, the region is unified in many other leagues: it’s the emerging and existing busi- plenty of potential left to explore. ways, too: ness opportunities that are the key here, “As we move closer to 2020, we are “The Southwest coast is a region with and finding ways to make the collaboration able to make even better strategic choices, many common denominators, among them, work. He admits that in a sense, these four find tighter focus and really zero in on the for instance, quite similar economic struc- cities are also rivals and competitors – who key investments that will push the entire tures.” would not want a big factory within their region forward.” O

Nordicum 51 Going Strong Riding favourable winds, Turku is poised to capitalise on emerging opportunities

Sigge Architects

Harpoon Quarters, conceptual drawing.

Just a couple of years ago, this story could have been written out very differently. The Turku shipyard was in trouble, threatening to drag the first capital of Finland with it into murky depths of the Baltic Sea – or so it seemed. As the ownership of the shipyard – the maker of the world’s greatest cruise ships – passed hands from Koreans to Germans in August 2014, the whole local marine industry was re-energised in a matter of months.

ver the summer 2015 alone, there were manner. Nobody can do everything all by sustainable energy systems, transporting O four cruise ship orders made to the Turku themselves, but when we embrace collabo- systems, and the urban structure support- shipyard – now called Meyer Turku – ration, great things can happen,” Turto sums ing them. Noteworthy measures that have filling up order books for rest of the decade. up the winning spirit around town. already been initiated in Turku include the The same spirit is apparent all around Perhaps the best example of the collab- investments in renewable energy and the the city as a ‘can-do’ mentality is taking root oration prowess is Turku’s pioneering role development of regional public transport. in the community. There’s talk of, for exam- in the fight against Climate Change. Turku Another crucial line of policy is the build- ple, forming public-private partnerships and is seeking to become an entirely carbon-free ing of sustainable development and green performance contracting in order to launch a city by 2040, making it the most determined economy together with companies, commu- light rail in the city; to realise cutting-edge large city in Finland in this front. nities, and citizens. smart grid systems; to take regional traffic The background on all this is that in This means, for example, that the management to another level. Encouraged 2009 the Turku City Council set the 2020 Turku Region maritime industry has been by recent success, Turku is now seeking to CO2 emissions reduction goal at 20 percent. active in creating a strong environmental create cross-over initiatives that benefit the That fight has already been won: we know profile which shows in all recent ship orders. entire community. for a fact that Turku is going to reach its The joint BASTU initiative of companies goal for 2020. The City has worked together and the Finland Futures Research Centre has Cross-over Appeal with innovation think tank Sitra on its next also been started under the auspices of the goal, the 80 percent emission reduction by co-operation between Turku City and Sitra. Jouko Turto, Director of Turku Municipal 2030, since spring 2015. Finnish Environ- The initiative has already engaged 40 com- Property Corporation, notes that the City is ment Institute SYKE has also given profes- panies and communities to actively develop trying to get away from conventional silo sional support for the cause. circular economy. mentality since most promising ideas usu- “Turku has been selected as a model ally cut across several themes. Making a Difference city for circular economy and there is a lot “What we are seeing here, more and we can achieve in the fields of, for exam- more, is proof that networks do work, when The key tool for reaching the goal of 80 ple, resource efficiency and industrial sym- they are created and maintained in a smart percent reduction is the strengthening of biosis,” says Jouko Turto.

52 Nordicum Learning Process tions are helping to reduce the carbon diox- “The other thing is staying close to the ide emissions and energy consumption as companies to find out what they need. We Turku also learned a lot from the three-year well as lend a hand in the building of new, even have banking services available.” Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII), work- smart residential areas. Jouko Turto adds that what the City ing together with international “heavy hit- wants to do here goes well beyond provid- ters” such as Siemens. Turku was, in fact, the Enter: Innovation Campus ing premises: first city to take part in the UII programme “We’re not interested in building mere One special area in Turku that already has which was a key project of the World Busi- office space; we’re interested in building considerable “brain power” is Turku Science ness Council for Sustainable Development communities.” (WBCSD). Park and the emerging “Smart Campus” all Under UII, new paradigms for urban around it. Turku Science Park is already one Start Me Up development have been applied, and the of the biggest and oldest innovation parks opportunities and impact of cutting-edge in the country, but the aim is even higher: a The next phase in the evolution of the technology on Turku’s development were world-class hi-tech campus that will bridge Science Park began in 2015, as the Turku assessed. These include, among other things, the academic and the corporate with unprec- University of Applied Sciences focused all the sustainable development study for the edented flair. its resources in the Science Park. Currently, Skanssi and Linnakaupunki residential Mikko Lehtinen, Managing Director of Turku Technology Properties owns 145,000 areas, and an impact assessment for the light Turku Technology Properties, says that sim- square metres of existing premises – and rail network planned for Turku. ilar “innovation dynamos” are quite com- the creation of full-fledged innovation cam- “For Linnakaupunki, we are moving mon, but they’re often missing a key ingre- pus will add even more. In the entire Turku ahead with the construction of the Harpoon dient, and that is flexibility. As the owner Science Park area, there are over 250,000 Quarters next year,” promises Turto. of the premises, Turku Technology Proper- square metres of completed premises. Furthermore, during the UII project ties is able to utilise existing space in cre- Special care is taken of start-up compa- Siemens helped Turku along by contribut- ative ways. nies who keep flocking to the Park in record ing its expertise about the newest technical “For the local companies, it’s not about numbers: all space provided by SparkUp and innovations and solutions – for example, in walls and desks and an internet connec- Werstas programmes are currently full. the areas of electric buses, smart electricity tion, it’s the whole ecosystem – who’s your “For example, at Werstas – which is networks, and automation of building tech- next-door neighbour and what can you do our newest business incubator – there are 46 nology – to the cooperation. These solu- together?” Lehtinen says. rooms and they’re all taken,” says Lehtinen.

Turku is shifting to electric buses. Photo: Jari Paasikivi

Nordicum 53 And it’s not just start-ups and fledgling Photo: Turku Energia The largest pellet power businesses, either. In October 2015 it was plant in Finland will be announced that LG chose the Turku Science completed in Luolavuori Park as the location of its new R&D Lab. this year to produce The technology giant plans to develop radio renewable reserve and frequency solutions and radio frequency peak power. integrated circuits for 5G right here; the lab will also conduct R&D on other growing areas of technology, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart homes. Tap into the Network The new R&D centre is located in the Elec- trocity building of Turku Science Park – and it is no secret that LG Electronics hand- picked Turku as the location for the new unit due to the local world-class radio engineering talent pool as well as the specialised mobile communication industry existing in the area. And LG is not alone: “Recently, we added the Australian company Silanna and Nordic Semicondictor from Norway, as well,” says Lehtinen. A great location doesn’t exactly hurt, either. While many science parks linger on the outskirts of cities, that is simply not the case here, points out Timo Hintsanen, Turku City Planning Director. “Where else can you find a science park located in the core of the city?” he asks. Mikko Lehtinen concurs: "Here we have business, science and universities all located within convenient reach." The Itäharju Initiative The master plan also includes transforming Itäharju, a former industrial area located right next to Science Park, into a new type of neighbourhood which combines study- ing, living and leisure in a brand new way. to taking steps into the right direction,” pital – with a price tag of EUR 180 million Ambitious high-rise construction, restau- Lehtinen says, adding that real estate pro- – will be built across both E18 motorway rants, stores and residential development jects do take time to materialise, but consist- and the railroad tracks. Realising the hospi- are all in the cards for the Science Park – ency will, eventually, win the day. tal on top of E18 and rail will go a long way Itäharju combo. However, in order to fulfil the promise to integrate the local urban structure, linking “We have seen a rise in the awareness of the new city district, connectivity needs the emerging supercampus with downtown. level and have concentrated our efforts to be improved. To facilitate this, a new hos- “The construction for the hospital starts in April 2016,” confirms Jouko Turto.

Winning Strategy Driven By Science, Pekka Sundman, Director for the City Devel- opment Group, says that the City development strategy is not about realising individ- Powered by Business ual projects – put a building here, a building there – but about looking at the big picture. urku Science Park Ltd is a business policy company owned by the City of Turku, “We must be ambitious and set our tar- T acting as a strategic partner of universities and enterprises – both start-ups and gets high. Right now we are in a situation, bigger, growth-seeking enterprises. The special fields of expertise are biotech- where we have the drive and the momentum nology (BioTurku® – life science), information and communication technology (ICT), to keep going,” Sundman says, adding that as well as chemical industry and cleantech. during the last five or six years more and Turku Science Park is an independent and impartial expert company which more things have started to come together. has promoted the business operations of SMEs – based on leading know-how – for “We’re going to use this as a platform more than 25 years. The services are, in general, free of charge for the customers. O to build something even bigger,” he promises. O

54 Nordicum Lentokuava Vallas Oy Photo: by Finavia / Photographer Hannu Vallas /

Earn Your Wings In trying times, can Airport Cities help the economy to take off?

Get Connected n building the Growth Corridors of the tions of a modern metropolitan centre can future, one sometimes neglects to note be found on (or near) most major air gate- The ACI study looked at macro-economic I data from 40 European countries over the the importance of air traffic. While mul- ways, fundamentally changing them from timodality as a concept – and more signifi- ‘city airports’ to ‘airport cities’. span of a decade. Taking into account other cantly, in practice – is being perfected, air- The economic impact of airports factors which influence growth, it was ports are emerging as powerful hubs that is a crucial component of modern econ- found that a 10 % increase in a country’s drive growth around the world. omies. According to an Airports Coun- air connectivity was associated with a 0.5 % Airport cities guru, Dr. John Kasarda, cil International EUROPE (ACI) study, increase in GDP per capita. In a world where has talked about “the rise of the aerotropo- European airports and associated avia- sources of growth are increasingly precious, lis” and the increasing economic importance tion activity create and facilitate a total of this is a compelling statistic indeed. of airports for years. According to Kasarda, almost 12.5 million jobs, or €675 billion in Furthermore, the role of air connec- airport cities have developed along differ- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year tivity is only likely to become even more ent paths. – that’s just over 4 % of the entire Euro- important in the future. With limited growth A portion of airport cities were planned pean economy. anticipated in Europe in the medium-term, from the start, but most of them, however, it is increasingly important that we go air- evolved in a largely organic manner respond- Rare Air borne and tap into those regions in the world ing to airport land availability, improved sur- where faster growth is expected. The ACI study notes that while a large part face transportation access and growing air of airports’ economic impact is associated traveller consumer demands. Additional Going Corporate with those that work within the sector and its drivers in this change have been airport wider supply chains, it is the broader “cata- European airports are changing with the revenue needs, new business practices, and lytic impacts” which set aviation apart from times, having undergone a major business site-specific commercial real estate oppor- other industries. These are the wider eco- transformation over the last two decades – tunities. nomic activities which occur beyond the avi- from mere infrastructure providers to fully- fledged businesses, competing for business Winning Wingspan ation sector, but which are facilitated and supported by the connectivity that aviation and traffic in a liberalised European market. ”Regardless of the process, airports continue delivers between localities, countries and Today, 80 % of European airport oper- to transform from primarily air transport world regions. ators are corporatised businesses with an infrastructure to multimodal, multi-func- This means that tourists can spend ever-growing involvement of the private tional enterprises generating considerable money in previously unreachable loca- sector, particularly at the major airports. At commercial development within and well tions; businesses can produce goods to be the same time, their role as one of the most beyond their boundaries,” Kasarda believes. consumed in far corners of the world; inves- important economic actors in their respec- More and more, we are witnessing the trend tors can set up new offices, call centres and tive regions has certainly not diminished. O where virtually all of the commercial func- factories exactly where they are needed. Sami J. Anteroinen Nordicum 55 Destination: Aviapolis Vantaa is building the blueprint for a next-gen Airport City

The odds are, the first thing you’ll see of Finland is the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport. There are 70,000 passengers going through the airport daily – but that’s just half the story. Just outside the terminals, there’s an entire Airport City taking shape.

antaa’s master concept for the “aer- V otropolis” of the future is Aviapolis which combines business edge with residential reach. Hannu Penttilä, Deputy Mayor for the City of Vantaa, says that airport and its environs are quite unique in international comparison: “We have integrated the airport very closely to the community structure, whereas elsewhere, the airports are rather removed from downtown areas.” be ecologically and culturally sustainable, jobs) – but still, Penttilä believes that Van- The trick, Penttilä reveals, is in care- and a true destination of its own right. “The taa’s Airport City can trump all of these. ful consideration of the challenges posed by Airport City concept should be extremely “We have a setting with all the required constant air traffic, and, most notably, by the appealing also from the point of view of services, where the distances are short and noise generated by those big, big planes. The innovators, since this is a great area for the logistics very smooth indeed. The ‘bonus,’ City has identified “noise-free pockets” all introduction of totally new things,” Pent- so to speak, is Europe’s most convenient around the airport and really capitalised on tilä says. access to Asia. It’s simply a combination those in terms of residential construction. that is hard to beat,” Penttilä sums up. Best in the World? Strategy Comes First Going Global In the future, the new Veromies District – According to Penttilä, just about anything located just off the airport – will feature Against this backdrop, it is not hard to see is possible via thorough planning – and that 20,000 people. According to the plans, by why companies – big and small – are flock- is exactly what the City wants to do. The 2025, the entire Aviapolis area will house ing to Aviapolis. For years, Aviapolis has City has drawn out a master plan for the up to 23,000 people. demonstrated the biggest growth in jobs in future development of Aviapolis, calling for “All and all, we are building the best the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. At Vantaa, a human-scale community, where walkabil- airport city in the world,” says Penttilä, Aviapolis is in a league of its own: during ity is a big element. who has studied the formula for a success- the last ten years, 65 % of all new jobs have “In addition to car traffic, there must ful “winged city” all around the Europe. materialised in Aviapolis. be plenty of pedestrian appeal, too,” Pent- He refers to Manchester as one example of “Currently, Aviapolis holds over tilä says. delivering an effective package, as well as 20,000 jobs and is a clear favourite for inter- The Airport City of tomorrow will Schipol and Zürich (especially in terms of nationally-minded companies who simply need to be connected,” Penttilä says, add- Photo: Innovarc Oy ing that the City is aiming for 40,000 jobs in the area in the coming decade. Ride the Rail Connectivity is not all about wings, either. On July 1, 2015, the new Ring Rail Line opened, providing an effective rail link between Helsinki city center, Helsinki-Van- taa Airport and the rest of the country. While introducing five new stations – Vehkala, Kivistö, Aviapolis, Airport and Leinelä – the Ring Rail offers Vantaa plenty of opportunities to solidify the urban structure. “The Ring Rail Line has re-energised the scene, providing a much needed push for not only mass transport but also community development.” O

56 Nordicum THE ANGLE

By Hannu Penttilä The writer is Deputy Mayor of the City of Vantaa

Vantaa – City of Streams

he success of cities can be measured in T various ways. For today’s cities, accessibility and environmental issues are often paramount. When making comparisons, however, one often gets lost in a jun- gle of little details. The City of Seattle in the US decided to simplify its measurement system years ago; it started to concentrate on the number of salmon rising up the local streams. In Finland, this same measure can now be used in Vantaa, the Airport City of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The Vantaa River is already the most important trout river on the Gulf of Finland and Vantaa’s streams are filled with spawning fish in the autumn. Vantaa – while on its way to becoming the best airport city in the world – is also a true “city of streams”. Vantaa’s evolution to become a fish- favourite started already 700 years ago. In 1351, the Swedish King granted the valuable Vantaa River fishing rights to Estonian Padise Monastery, on the other side of the Gulf. Fast forward two centuries and Hel- sinki was founded on the best available site (from the perspective of accessibility and fishing), the mouth of Vantaa River. Helsin- ki’s lands were separated from the rural area by the same name, which eventually was named after the local river: Vantaa. Around 150 years ago, the river was dammed to suit industrial needs. The salmon disappeared as the dams went up, but the original trout population survived up the river. Today, the dams are cultural-histor- ical landmarks. The trout also have access via a fish stairway. The waters of Vantaa River no longer carry the taint of inhabitation and industry. The original trout population can once again get back to the sea to grow; and then, return to spawn in those well-familiar streams running to Vantaa River. There are numerous such streams within City limits, forming the core of Vantaa’s parks. Concerned fishermen and nature activists woke the City of Vantaa up, making the officials see the inherent value in streams. Citizens are involved in clearing Year of Rivers and Streams, but the City’s The City and the citizens have worked streams of garbage and notify the authori- commitment to streams and nature goes together to revitalise streams and furnish ties if the quality of water is compromised. beyond one year. As was the case hundreds the stream bottom with appropriate gravel The best natural indicator here, however, is of years ago in its infancy, the community for spawning. It is widely recognised that the vitality of the original trout population is once again poised to pursue success and Vantaa River and its streams are a treasure and its growing numbers. quality of life everywhere: on land, on water beyond measure. The City of Vantaa named 2016 as the and in the air! O Nordicum 57 Put the Building in Your Pocket Technopolis is spearheading the cause of smart real estate management

Increasingly, real estate today is not so much about bricks and mortar but about ones and zeroes. As digitalisation takes hold, smart information management tools are becoming more common in the industry. Nevertheless, big benefits from e-solutions require sufficient volumes; instead of a single building going digital, how about ten buildings? Or a hundred buildings all streamlined and optimised under the same system? – Now that’s where the true upside lies.

ne frontrunner in the industry is Tech- flexible and modern office space – and the way. Since 2004, Technopolis has worked O nopolis which provides “the best company has focused on digitalising its real together with IT company Fatman in order addresses” for companies to operate estate management in a big way. to optimise costs and increase productivity. and succeed in five countries – Finland, Nor- Presently, Technopolis provides solu- way, Estonia, Russia and Lithuania – in the tions to 1,700 companies (and their 47,000 Growing Up Smart Nordic-Baltic region. Technopolis devel- employees), which means that the listed ops, owns and operates a chain of 20 smart company really has a stated interest in Kari Kokkonen, Director of Real Estate and business parks that combine services with streamlining its processes in a meaningful Services at Technopolis, says that as the Photo: Ari TalusenPhoto: Ari

(From left to right) Ari Korhola, CEO of Fatman and Kari Kokkonen, Director of Real Estate and Services at Technopolis.

58 Nordicum company’s operations have become increas- of all real estate assets,” says Kari ingly global and undergone strong expan- Kokkonen. sion, cooperation between the two compa- Another issue is a thorough nies has been developed using modern oper- review of Key Performance ating methods and tools. As a result, the Indicators – or, rather, using the company’s competitiveness has constantly KPI data in more creative ways improved. to improve the bottom line. “Digitalisation is a megatrend also in “When you ‘go deep’ into our industry and we have made a commit- the data, you’re able to make ment to change with times. We have seen the comparisons between different benefits of the new solutions in all our five business campuses, for instance, operating countries and are eager to con- and identify and adopt the best tinue onwards on this path.” practices more effectively,” says Ari Korhola, CEO of Fatman, says that Ari Korhola, adding that from the Technopolis case has offered the Hel- time to time, it makes good busi- sinki-based family-owned company with ness sense to “shake things up opportunities to “branch out into the world”. a bit” and use a different set of “In a way, we have been able to grow KPIs. together. This type of know-how holds sig- “That way you may be nificant export potential and we want to able to discover something you be involved in taking world-class Finnish haven’t thought of before.” expertise abroad.” Getting Creative Get the Data Again, it’s the technology that The tour de force of the collaboration was is giving companies the tools to a 2012 development project, which was do just that; for example, with aimed to make Technopolis’ service easier to Internet of Things (IoT) solu- approach, and thereby, to improve customer tions, one can take a look at the satisfaction. In order to do this, new tools data compiled from a building’s were created for the predictive and method- heating/AC units and find out ical management of property business costs. what works and why. One can, The goal was for all essential property infor- say, isolate the poor-performing mation to be located in one place and avail- ‘Bottom 10’ and decide on right able for use by the entire organisation and actions to rectify the situation. interest groups. “We have the capability to “It was a big effort to put all the infor- do that already. Now it’s more mation together, but it has really paid off. about what is meaningful from Now Technopolis has sufficient master data the perspective of the customer at its disposal to achieve a great range of – there’s no point in doing some- things,” says Ari Korhola. thing just because you can,” Korhola Case in point: a property taxation stock says. take was carried out on all of Technopolis’ In the case of Technopolis, there is a property stock in 2012. The sites’ bases for wealth of information to explore. The key these collaborations have benefited from taxation were checked and the sites were idea is that whatever data the system churns such sharing. modelled in a SaaS property management out, it’s readily available in real-time – and system. And the result? – The checks car- right there in your pocket, too, thanks to Moving Forward ried out by Fatman’s specialists showed smartphone solutions. Korhola describes that the adjustment to property taxation had the process as moving away from “chaos Talking about the cooperation with Fatman, amounted to a pretty penny and Technop- management” and towards a digital universe there is a roadmap already in place that olis was compensated a “significant sum” where order reigns supreme. extends to 2018. There’s no reason to stop by the taxman. “When automation is taken to another there, though: level, great many things become easy and “We are determined and focused on Make It Smart fast to accomplish.” constant improvement as we move forward together. Since this is all about cooperation What’s more, the development project also Digital Dominance on the long run, also patience is needed achieved functional advantages, such as along the way,” Kokkonen says. centralised information management and Kari Kokkonen adds that while real estate Ari Korhola shares the same senti- a reduction in manual work carried out by management is perceived to be a rather con- ment: as cooperation deepens, the interac- Technopolis’ personnel. At the same time, servative field, one must be able to embrace tion branches into new areas and fresh solu- the property management model was also the e-change. tions to boost productivity and competitive- reformed and Techopolis received tools to “We are committed to being a true pio- ness keep surfacing. It’s this holistic outlook manage the internationalisation and multi- neer in the Baltic Sea Region in this regard, that Korhola wants to promote: lingualism of its operations. too,” Kokkonen says, while adding that as “If you’re looking at just one area of “And that’s just one example. Over- many Technopolis’ business campuses are operations, you’re in danger of missing out all, one could say that our property mainte- joint ventures, the company has been able on the big picture. With a long-term part- nance costs per square metre have decreased to introduce new ways of doing things to its nership, the optimisation process runs more as we have improved our e-management partners, as well. According to Kokkonen, than skin-deep.” O

Nordicum 59 Organic Living, Anyone? Wood could revolutionise the construction business – and help win the fight against Climate Change

Finland and forests – now there’s a familiar combo. Ask any foreign visitor about Finland, and he’s likely to say something about the whole country being just one big forest. And that random guy is not far off: for instance, Finland’s forests grow and produce more than 100 million cubic metres of wood every year.

60 Nordicum Photos: Puuinfo Oy

Nordicum 61 he Finns build the houses for their comeback, if slowly, since the early 1990s. ciency regulations which entered into force T families out of wood, build their sum- Development efforts have focused particu- on 1 July 2012. The purpose of these regu- mer cottages out of wood. But when it larly on acquiring the know-how necessary lations is to guide toward increasing the use comes to large-scale construction – such as to build multi-storey wooden buildings and of renewable energy for heating and cool- apartment buildings – it’s been concrete and on enhancing buildings’ energy-efficiency. ing of buildings – with an eye on the actual steel all the way. What’s more, Finland’s fire-safety materials, too. It has been clear for a long time that the regulations were changed in 1997 to facil- As a consequence, Finland’s National greatest potential for growth in wood con- itate more extensive use of wood in build- Building Code will start to take into account struction lies in the building of multi-storey ing frames and façades for buildings of up the environmental impacts caused by the structures. As global climate, environment, to four storeys. The fire codes were changed production of many types of building materi- and natural-resource issues are becoming again in April 2011, to allow for the use of als as well as those resulting from construc- more and more important, wood construc- wood even in residential and office build- tion. In this respect, wood as a local, renewa- tion is rising on the agenda of the decision- ings of 5–8 storeys with a wooden frame ble, and environment-friendly energy source makers around the country – and new mar- and facade. and construction material of domestic ori- kets are opening up for wood. In addition, the possibilities for using gin will be an increasingly competitive raw wood were extended to cover repairs of (and material in the future. Fire Hazard No Longer extensions to) concrete suburban buildings. Timber! Despite the fact that concrete has domi- Carbon 360 nated the multi-storey building market for The state – and numerous cities – are aim- the past 50 years, wood has been building a And then there are the new energy-effi- ing to streamline, harmonise, and increase 62 Nordicum the efficiency of research and development tecture by creating an entire city quarter of Plan B means, in essence, taking leg- activities in wood building on the national wooden buildings. endary architectural designs and figuring level. The partners believe that Wood City out how to make them out of wood. Hav- Architects, in particular, are quite will be a masterpiece of modern wood archi- ing warmed up with the Roman Colosseum, interested in wood building at present and tecture, raising Finnish know-how in this Metsä Wood wanted to explore what it takes construction companies are warming up to area to the highest international level. In to build a wooden skyscraper. the theme, as well. August 2015, Helsinki City authorities gave Perhaps the most iconic building of the There are various high-profile wood a building permit for the “centre piece” of modern age – the Empire State Building – buildings already in existence – such as the the project, an 8-storey wooden office build- was chosen for just this purpose. Architect downtown duo of Kamppi Chapel and Hel- ing and also a neighbouring 3-storey park- Michael Green from MGA contributed his sinki Music Centre or Finnish Nature Cen- ing facility. visionary concept planning to the project – tre Haltia in Nuuksio, Espoo. New, exciting being of the opinion that the future belongs wood construction projects are also on the Reach for the Sky to tall wooden buildings, Green was already way, including the Centennial Library and more than onboard about the potential and Wood City, both located in Helsinki. Still, in terms of trying to impress people promise of wood. Especially Wood City is noteworthy with verticality, eight storeys is not much in this context, being – upon completion – of a conversation opener. With this in mind, House the World the largest wooden quarter of its type in Fin- a Finnish supplier of wood products Metsä land. In this project, SRV and Stora Enso Wood started a project called Plan B – in In fact, appearing at a TED conference a few have joined forces to make Helsinki’s Jät- order to really push the envelope on what years back, Green commented that as the käsaari area a model of urban wood archi- wood can do. earth grows our food, it will someday also Nordicum 63 grow our homes. Equilibrium Consulting, a wooden ‘Empire’ are the same as in the orig- for their ‘flash’ (with the exception of Teemu timber engineering expert, provided insight inal Empire State Building in New York. (Of Selänne), but this type of exposure may be on structural matters and Metsä Wood had course, they have yet to build it.) just what the doctor ordered. Next chapter its own experts to rely on for material and Designing a wooden skyscraper in the story: a true wood construction renais- construction. proved to a stroke of marketing genius as sance? And real wooden skyscrapers? O And can it be done, you may ask? well, since the international media quickly According to final designs of the Plan B picked up the story and ran with it. team, the size and the basic structure of the Now, the Finns are not usually known Sami J. Anteroinen Photo: City of Helsinki Media Bank / Lauri Rotko

64 Nordicum Eversheds Finland: Eye on Transactions

Saara Raitala from Eversheds says that the mood in the real estate market is good: a lot of transactions have been carried out, and many are waiting in the pipeline. Raitala, who is a Partner in the firm and also heads the Transactions team, comments that as deals are being made again, also the international players have returned to Finland.

e are seeing more and more ing that the global network helps to attract nies partnering up with foreign companies “W business where one or more of and secure new business. as they’re seeking investment opportunities the negotiating parties comes “Real estate is a ‘semi-global’ field abroad – and also foreign companies who from abroad,” Raitala says. in the sense that the buildings don’t relo- are entering the Finnish market with a local And Eversheds Finland itself has cate themselves, but the ownership may partner. In either case, joint ventures end up “gone international” during the last year or change hands very easily across borders. In adding various documents to the final agree- so. In November 2014 it was announced that this sense, our international network brings ment,” says Raitala. one of Finland’s leading law firms, Juridia added value to our customers.” Bützow, is to join Eversheds International Put in the Work! – in an effort to further broaden the interna- The Finnish Way Eversheds has done a solid job in negotiat- tional reach of both firms. But is the Finnish way of striking deals any ing the deals – or, at least one would think Make It Big different from, say, the American or Ger- so looking at the latest customer satisfac- man style of negotiating property deals? tion survey. According to the survey results Joining Eversheds, which consists of 57 Raitala responds by saying that there are of autumn 2015, 95 % of the company’s cli- offices in 31 countries across EMEA and differences, since Finnish real estate legis- ents would be likely or very likely to recom- Asia, meant that the Finnish law firm – with lation is rather straightforward and moder- mend the company. five offices and 165 professionals across ate in its approach. If there are Americans And what is the secret of success at Finland – started playing in the Major around the table, the transaction document Eversheds Finland – in addition to its inter- Leagues for real. After all, Eversheds and will easily grow by dozens of pages, since national mindset? Well, obviously expertise its worldwide offices have over 4,000 peo- under the US legislation, you always want is one key issue here: at the Helsinki office, ple who provide services to the private and to spell out the conditions of ownership in there are almost 20 lawyers focusing on real public sector and business and finance com- no uncertain terms – just in case and taking estate, with e.g. construction and environ- munities. into consideration that the applicable law ment being key themes alongside transac- Furthermore, the ownership of the may not bring any answers. tions. newest member in the global Eversheds fam- In addition to cross-cultural consider- “We want to practice hands-on law. ily stayed in the Finnish hands. “Now, look- ations, also the growing number of transac- When it comes to real estate, it’s not suf- ing at the situation one year after we joined tions involving joint investments is bring- ficient to understand the ins and outs of the Eversheds, one could say that the integration ing additional documents to sign. agreement, you have to look beyond that and process has been smooth,” Raitala says, add- “Presently, there are Finnish compa- understand also the real estate world itself.” O

Nordicum 65 Photos: Paul Charpentier

Real Estate Investor Day by Eversheds: ‘Cash-in-quick’ opportunities are gone – but the blue-collar investor may well be rewarded

Eversheds’ Real Estate Investor Day in Helsinki attracted a good crowd of industry professionals to Restaurant Pörssi in November. As the biggest real estate law practice in Europe, Eversheds is in a solid position to evaluate where the industry is now – and where it’s going next.

ose Pellicer, Head of Research, Rock- be that locomotive, but now China must step hands dirty and delivering the asset man- J spring UK, got the ball rolling in ear- aside for the US.” agement gains,” Pellicer said, pointing out nest by talking about opportunities in As for the Old Continent, Pel- that local knowledge is key in the European Europe. He noted that Rockspring exited licer noted that we’re building very little. markets right now. from Finland a good while back, but was Whether you’re talking about shopping cen- Still, some companies are doing bet- eager to see if the time was ripe for a come- tres or offices, the development is lagging. ter than ever and investing in big shiny back. In his eyes, Helsinki is a bit different There are investors out there – there always headquarters. Case in point: Facebook UK from other European capitals: are – but they don’t know what to do with just purchased a 250,000 premises just off “Helsinki is clearly a tenant’s market, their money: Oxford Street in London. Eversheds helped whereas the rest of Europe is a landlord’s “There’s a chronic lack of quality real Facebook to seal the deal. market,” he summed up. estate in Europe.” Block Out the White Noise America Goes First Super Prime in Trouble Bruce Dear, Head of Eversheds London Real According to Pellicer, Europe is a “low- Also, Pellicer noted that buyers from emerg- Estate team, noted that the Facebook deal is growth zone” and will remain so for some ing markets are harder to find now. As oil- a good example of high-profile new-build, time to come: producing countries got stung by falling oil but that’s only one part of the story: “We’re not out of the crisis yet,” he prices, they’re less likely to buy, say, a sky- “There are opportunities in every phase said, adding that debt and external risks may scraper – or five – in London City. It’s this of the cycle,” he said, warning against losing continue to hold back growth, while Amer- super prime real estate that is now at risk, heart. With sometimes conflicting signals, ica is happily back on growth path. The suc- as there are not that many buyer candidates it’s important to follow your own vision. cess of the Americans is still a good thing, with truly deep pockets willing to pay hefty “One must be able to rise above the market since the world economy needs a strong prices. cycle’s white noise.” locomotive: “Opportunities are in the middle of Sometimes attention turns to the wrong “For 15 years, we looked to China to the market – and this involves getting your things. Yes, it’s true that capital value has 66 Nordicum been lost during recent turbulence, but the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and be, the market cycle moves against one part- biggest story here might be that income flow Kela – decided to make an entry to Swedish ner.” In this scenario, the partner in distress has remained quite dependable. Rent-paying property market, they enlisted Eversheds’ starts thinking about a quick exit while the tenants are therefore helping investors out. aid in the venture. In November 2015, Keva other partner is quite satisfied with the sta- Dear also spoke in length about the made its very first Swedish investments by tus quo. significance of local expertise: in the con- purchasing two shopping centres, located text of the legal framework, having “boots in Västerås and Östersund, from Atrium on the ground” is a must, since legislation Ljungberg. Keva’s local partner in Sweden The Baltic Surprise may vary greatly, even within areas which is HEA Property Partner. Before this invest- The day also brought decidedly Baltic fla- appear to be shaped out of the same cloth ment Keva has done indirect real estate com- vour as Viljar Arakas from Eften Capital and (like Nordics or Baltics). mitments worth of 1,5 billion euros globally Randu Riiberg from Eversheds EE provided – mainly to Europe and Asia Pacific. their views on Estonia, Latvia and Lithu- Sweet on Sweden Arto Tuunanen, Portfolio Manager of ania. Arakas pointed out that with regards Real Estate and Infrastructure Funds from to Baltics, the risks are not always of the With this in mind, as Keva – Finnish pen- Keva agreed that “going tactical” in the mar- “usual suspects” variety. For example, the sion institution of the State, municipalities, ket is difficult to do: Baltic experts do not see Russia as their big- “In this situation, it’s helpful if you gest concern, but look into west with some have your own view of what’s happening.” anxiety, since the Baltic banks are heavily His perspective was that right now Oslo is invested in the Swedish real estate market. looking more and more attractive from an “Therefore, a collapse in the Swedish investor’s viewpoint. market would be a big problem in the Baltic “Especially the retail side in Oslo,” countries,” Arakas commented. he added. Randu Riiberg shared Arakas’ views on Russia: dealing with the Russians can be challenging, the Baltics do know how Corporate Team-Up to do it. From the looks of things, joint ventures “We feel comfortable doing business appear to be the order of the day else- with them,” Riiberg said. where, too. Insurance powerhouses such as Ilmarinen and Varma are seeking collaborations with real estate players – and in Fin- Unearthing Risk land, such high-profile shopping centres as To conclude the day, CEO Pekka Määttänen Jumbo and Kamppi (and REDI, still in the from Vahanen Environment gave a presenta- pipeline) have been realised as partnerships. tion about the company’s role as real estate According to Bruce Dear and the other technical survey maker. In condition surveys Eversheds experts, joint ventures can work – which are aimed at finding out possible out fine – as long as they share common structural risks in the property – Vahanen ground regarding the long-term purpose of stands between the buyer and seller. the joint venture, management and exit strat- “This is not always an easy position for egy. Dear likened a joint venture to a mar- an independent engineer,” Määttänen said. riage: what starts out all fluffy and wonder- Still, any and all findings go into report, ful, will most likely face its share of chal- since that is in the best interests of both par- lenges down the road. ties – if you look at the long-term outcome. “In the beginning, the partners “The rule is not to try and hide any- emphasise trust and it’s clear that both are thing, because it will always come up, committed to the venture. But then, it may sooner or later.” O Nordicum 67 Photo: Ari Talusén Magnetic North

The Finnish real estate investment scene is gaining in popularity

The real estate investment market holder of the residential investment com- areas and premises keep steamrolling along, is a hit ticket again – just about pany SATO, and, in September, Blackstone but secondary assets are lagging behind. acquired a majority stake in the logistics According to Catella, the amount of vacant anywhere around the world. Finland and industrial property company Certeum. office space has hit 1.2 million square metres – sometimes criticised as a fringe A fund established by a new fund manage- in Helsinki Metropolitan Area (vacancy rate market that quickly drops off the ment firm Sirius also brought new foreign 13.4 %). international investors’ radar – is capital to the Finnish market. According to Larma, the problem con- “When an international powerhouse centrates mostly on such areas as Helsinki’s feeling the benefits of the rising tides. such as Blackstone makes a strong commit- Pitäjänmäki where there’s both new and old ment like that, it’s bound to raise the inter- premises available – and as companies are ccording to KTI, the property transac- est level of everyone else, too.” opting for new, more dynamic space, there’s A tion volume of the three first quarters What’s more, foreign investment bound to be premises that lose in the race. of 2015 totaled € 4.1 billion, which demand is expected to remain strong in 2016 is some 30 per cent more than in the corre- and beyond, as well: in the recent RAKLI- Office Pipeline Still Active sponding period in 2014. Talking with Janne KTI Property Barometer survey, 75 % of the “New” remains the operative word for a Larma, CEO of Advium, in November, he industry players expected foreign demand to good while to come, too. Despite of the tight is confident that the outlook for the rest of continue increasing in the future. the year is a positive one as well. economic situation and the large amount of “For the entire year, the volume may vacant space, new offices continue being be approaching 5.5 billion,” he says, add- When Prime is Boring built in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The total volume of completed projects in 2015 ing that the five billion mark will be crossed As international attention turns to Finland in any case. amounts to some 80,000 square meters. more and more, prime real estate is such “There will always be demand for new a hot seller that yields have decreased to Here to Stay? office space amongst companies, so I’m not record low levels. Investors still zero in on concerned that these new properties won’t Currently, Finland is getting its share of the secured cash flow, and, according to the find tenants and users. The older properties globally strong demand and the low interest RAKLI-KTI Property Barometer, prime are really the problem here.” rates keep supporting active property invest- office yield in the Helsinki CBD is now The large amount of vacant office ment. However, unlike in many other mar- rated at 5.0% on average. space pressures investors to search for new kets, the volume is not likely to achieve the According to Larma, prime real estate solutions for empty properties. In dozens levels of the record years in 2006 and 2007. will remain highly attractive even with low of office buildings, change-of-use projects Still, Janne Larma is quite pleased yields – but at the same time, more modest are being investigated as a solution for the with the players entering the market this B-list candidates are seen as a hot commod- vacancy issue. time around: ity as well, since they offer better yields. “In 2006–2007, there were a lot of “We have a situation that caters to the Mission: Impossible? investors that only planned to stay in the needs of two different camps: those who are However, these processes tend to be slow market for a few years. Now, we have inves- willing to deal with the elevated risk that – and sometimes impossible, even – due to tors that are buying properties for the long comes with non-prime and those who pre- planning issues and/or technical character- term,” he compares. fer the safety of prime assets.” istics of the buildings. The number and variety of players in “This is really a shame, since there’s a the Finnish property market keeps increas- Venture into the Wild range of older buildings out there with that ing: almost a dozen new international inves- This marks a shift from the few previous kind of solid, over-all structure that lends tors entered the Finnish market in 2015 years, when riskier assets would not be itself well to renovation projects.” alone. According to KTI, taken altogether touched. Now, investors go shopping well According to the KTI follow-up, more these foreign investors account for some 30 outside Helsinki again, but do expect a than 40 office buildings in the Helsinki percent of all transactions in 2015. decent compensation for the higher risk. In Metropolitan Area have been renovated to Welcome, Blackstone! the RAKLI-KTI Property Barometer, yields another use between 2007 and 2015. Most in all major cities outside the Helsinki met- commonly, properties are redeveloped to Also new indirect investments are adding ropolitan area increased slightly. residential or hotel use. In 2015, the Lilla to the market picture. In spring 2015, the In the commercial property rental mar- Roberts and Indigo hotel projects have been Swedish Balder became the biggest share- kets, sentiment is not quite as perky. Best completed in the Helsinki CBD. O 68 Nordicum Aulanko Photos: Pekka Rousi Goes Digital

The Annual Convention of Property Investment Prospects was held again on 5th and 6th November 2015 in Hämeenlinna, Finland. Assembled in beautiful Aulanko, the convention is the biggest annual event for the Finnish real estate business.

lways a highlight for industry pro- Pekka Ahola from Solita remarked that ing home from, say, buying groceries, and A fessionals around the country, the the old rules have been upgraded a bit: while automatically adjust the temperature and Annual Convention did not disap- the customer is still the king, it’s digitaliza- other systems.” point this year either, combining current tion that rules the kingdom. issues and interesting presentations with “Digitalisation is definitely more Make the Commitment efficient networking and a relaxed atmos- about possibilities than threats. That gen- Still, this digital future won’t materialise if phere. uine change that will transform an indus- companies do not seek to be pioneers in the Providing a follow-up to last year’s try often comes from outside,” said Ahola. field. Kivelä quotes a McKinley study which startup roundup, new and innovative com- assessed that companies should stop exper- panies – who are targeting their products/ Free Your Mind imenting and fully commit themselves to services to the real estate sector – were very digital business. much in the limelight at Aulanko. Further- Furthermore, every industry goes through Päivi Sutinen from the City of Espoo more, five startups got to pitch their ideas the digitalization process at its own pace. talked about the “city as a platform for digi- to the audience. Still, adjusting the mindset to a more digi- friendly mode goes a long way to facilitat- talisation” which faces serious challenges. A Breaking Down Digitalisation ing change. municipality is not a company: when com- “Technology is the easy part in this panies get new customers, they make more Matti Heiskanen, Director for KTI transformation,” Ahola pointed out. money, but when municipalities get more Kiinteistötieto Oy, remarked that even as the Hanna Kivelä, the Head of Google Fin- customers – people using services ranging real estate industry has a reputation of being land, commented that as ways to use data from hospitals to libraries – they tend to lose rather conservative, there are new innova- and connectivity keep increasing, the waves money. tions coming down the pipeline all the time. are felt in the real estate industry, too. This Sutinen feels that a new concept is “Talking with people here in Aulanko, can mean, for instance, smart houses that required that is customer-based, action- many feel that ‘digitalisation’ as a word is monitor the location of the inhabitants even based and information-based, if one wants as good as useless – we must take that word when they’re outside the house. to change the direction of the way develop- apart and find out what it really means for “The household systems can detect a ment efforts are managed in municipalities. this industry.” family member driving down the road, com- “Looking at information, for instance, it is clear that all the data is completely frac- tured and located in separate silos,” she said. Let the Games Begin? Juha Eteläniemi from Citycon talked about the way digitalisation is changing the shopping centres. Key issues here are atmosphere and experience – but how do you give it a digital boost? Eteläniemi’s answer is to use the app world: applications could track the location and activities of the patrons and modify all communications accordingly. “For instance, various smart phone based games can be deployed to engage the customer,” Eteläniemi said and remarked that the future is not here quite yet: “Get back to me in three years, and if we still haven’t seen a wave of applications, I will be very surprised.” O

Nordicum 69 COMPANY BUSINESS CARDS

AALTO UNIVERSITY CAMPUS ADVIUM CORPORATE FINANCE & REAL ESTATE Aleksanterinkatu 19 A Lämpömiehenkuja 2 A FI-00100 Helsinki FI-02150 Espoo Finland Finland Phone +358 9 6817 8900 Phone +358 9 439 0060 www.advium.fi [email protected] Contact Persons www.aaltocre.fi Advium Real Estate Contact Persons Mr Janne Larma, Managing Director, [email protected] Mr Antti Louko, Head of Real Estate, [email protected] Eetu Ristaniemi, Director Mr Petteri Kokko, [email protected] Real Estate Investments Mr Lauri Tiensuu, [email protected] [email protected] Mr Jaakko Järvinen, [email protected] Antti Tuomela, Managing Director Ms Päivi Loukusa, [email protected] [email protected] Specialty Areas Specialty Areas Advium Corporate Finance Ltd is a leading Finnish corporate finance We offer internationally competitive and attractive operational advisor in the major real estate transaction and one of the leading environments designed for new forms of collaboration, where M&A advisors in Finland. Since its foundation in 2000, Advium has companies and communities work together with academic teams, advised in more than 150 transactions with a deal value in excess of See pages 3 and 68 researchers and students. See page 42 11 billion euro.

AVIAPOLIS CITY OF VANTAA CITYCON OYJ

Asematie 7 Korkeavuorenkatu 35 FI-01300 Vantaa FI-00130 Helsinki Finland Finland Phone +358 50 501 6226 Phone +358 207 664 400 [email protected] Fax +358 207 664 499 www.aviapolis.fi [email protected] www.citycon.com Contact Person Specialty Areas Mari Peltomäki Citycon Oyj (Nasdaq Helsinki: CTY1S) is a leading owner, developer Project Manager and manager of urban grocery-anchored shopping centres in the Nordic and Baltic regions, managing assets that total close to Specialty Areas EUR 5 billion and with market capitalisation of approximately Aviapolis is a new international city in Vantaa, Finland. It is currently EUR 2 billion. For more information about Citycon, please visit being built around Helsinki-Vantaa international airport. The www.citycon.com. airport offers EU’s fastest direct flight connections to the Far East markets with more than 60 destinations worldwide. The Aviapolis area is 42km2 with up-to-date office facilities, shopping and quality housing solutions. The nature around is also worth mentioning: you can fish just 5 minutes from the airport. See pages and 56 57 See page 32

CITY OF ESPOO CITY OF HELSINKI

P.O. Box 42 P.O. Box 1 FI-02070 City of Espoo FI-00099 City of Helsinki Finland Finland Phone +358 9 81 621 Phone +358 9 310 1641 www.espoo.fi Contact Persons Contact Persons Mrs Marja-Leena Rinkineva Jussi Eerolainen, Chief Real Estate Officer Director of Economic Development, City of Helsinki [email protected] [email protected] Antti Mäkinen, Project Manager, Tapiola Mr Jaakko Stauffer [email protected] Head of Real Estate Department Pekka Vikkula, Project Director, Suurpelto [email protected] [email protected] Mrs Tuula Saxholm Kimmo Leivo, Project Director, Finnoo Chief Financial Officer [email protected] [email protected] Matti Kokkinen, Project Manager, Westmetro [email protected] Specialty Areas Markus Saari, Project Manager, Matinkylä Further Information http://en.uuttahelsinkia.fi [email protected] See pages 26, 33, 34, 38 and 40 See and pages 23 17

1. Air Transport 4. Freight Forwarding 8. Parcel Pick-up and Delivery 12. Sea Transport 2. Customs Services 5. Freight Insurance 9. Port Services 13. Shipping and Chartering 3. Dangerous Goods Management 6. Information Logistics 10. Rail Transport 14. Warehousing 70 Nordicum 2016 7. Material Handling 11. Road Transport 15. Other Logistics Services & Consulting CITY OF HYVINKAA CITY OF TURKU Kankurinkatu 4 -6, FI-05800 Hyvinkaa, Finland PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Phone +358 1 945 911 DIVISION [email protected] www.hyvinkaa.fi P.O. Box 11 (Puutarhakatu 1) FI-20101 Turku Contact Person Finland City Mayor Jyrki Mattila, [email protected] Phone +358 2 330 000 Specialty Areas Fax +358 2 262 7229 Hyvinkään Lämpövoima Oy: produces and sells district heating in the www.turku.fi Hyvinkää area. Hyvinkään Vuokra-asunnot Oy: provides many kinds of affordable rental Contact Persons apartments to the residents of Hyvinkää. Jouko Turto Kiinteistö Oy Hyvinkään Wanha Villatehdas: Villatehdas is a unique Director, Property Management Division centre of entrepreneurship, and of cultural and artistic activities in the heart of Hyvinkää. Villatehdas provides high-quality, elegant office and [email protected] meeting facilities for companies of different sizes, and an excellent venue Petri Liski for public events. Manager, Property Development Teknologiakeskus TechVilla Oy: TechVilla helps companies in the [email protected] technology industry to grow, internationalise and succeed. TechVilla’s clients include growth-oriented SMEs and established companies in the tech industry, logistics companies and specialised technology companies. See page 49 page See 52 page See

CITY OF VALKEAKOSKI EVERSHEDS ATTORNEYS LTD Fabianinkatu 29 B P.O. Box 20 FI-00100 Helsinki FI-37600 Valkeakoski Finland Finland Phone +358 10 684 1300 Phone +358 3 569 1100 www.eversheds.fi www.valkeakoski.fi www.gate29.fi Contact Persons Saara Raitala, Partner, Attorney-at-Law, Contact Persons [email protected] ,+358 10 684 1647 Mr. Mikko Seppälä, Director of Business Development Ilkka Koivisto, Partner, Attorney-at-Law, [email protected], +358 40 335 6095 [email protected], +358 10 684 1350 Mr. Vesa Varho, Business Advisor Pekka Kokko, Partner, Attorney-at-Law, [email protected], + 358 40 335 6090 [email protected], +358 10 684 1628 Mr. Petri Ahonen, Marketing Manager [email protected], +358 40 335 6511 Specialty Areas Real estate legal services: transactions, construction, environment, Specialty Areas housing corporations and transactions and claims concerning Industrial park Gate 29 is located within the Helsinki North Region, residential properties. in the middle of the Finnish growth corridor. The area houses over 90 hectares of designated industrial lots and See pages 11, 65 and 66 See pages 11,

has building rights for 40,000 floor square meters. 49 page See

FATMAN OY INTERCITY COLLABORATION OF SOUTH-WEST COAST OF FINLAND/CITIES Vaisalantie 4 FI-02150 Espoo OF TURKU, UUSIKAUPUNKI, Finland RAUMA AND PORI Phone +358 207 690 500 [email protected] c/o Turku Region Development Centre www.fatman.fi Joukahaisenkatu 3-5 FI-20520 Turku Contact Person Finland Ari Korhola Phone +358 2 330 000 [email protected] [email protected] www.loura.fi/investments Specialty Areas We have been increasing the productivity of our customers’ Contact Person operations for 25 years by being reliable specialists and responsible Ms. Pipa Turvanen partners. Our customers’ problems and needs are at the heart of [email protected] our product and service planning. We create and provide solutions that generate concrete benefits for their users and increase the productivity of their operations. See page 58 page See 50 page See

1. Air Transport 5. Freight Insurance 9. Port Services 13. Shipping and Chartering 2. Customs Services 6. Information Logistics 10. Rail Transport 14. Warehousing 3. Dangerous Goods Management 7. Material Handling 11. Road Transport 15. Other Logistics Services & Consulting 4. Freight Forwarding 8. Parcel Pick-up and Delivery 12. Sea Transport Nordicum 2016 71 COMPANY BUSINESS CARDS

LOCALTAPIOLA REAL ESTATE ASSET PEAB INVEST OY MANAGEMENT LTD Sentnerikuja 5, FI-00440 Helsinki, Finland www.businessgarden.fi Revontulentie 7 www.peab.fi FI-02010 LocalTapiola Finland Contact Persons Phone +358 9 4531 Sirpa Lindholm, Property Development Director [email protected], Phone +358 50 483 5165 Contact Persons Anne Dahl, Client Executive [email protected] [email protected], Phone +358 50 530 4901 [email protected] Specialty Areas Peab Invest Oy specialises in office building development projects, Specialty Areas mainly in the metropolitan area in Finland. LocalTapiola Real Estate Asset Management Ltd provides real estate Our chain of office buildings have an extremely high technical investment and management services. Half of the company in owned standard, healthy environment and high efficiency in the working by LocalTapiola General Mutual Insurance Company and the other half premises. With our partners Business Garden can provide a low by LocalTapiola Mutual Life Assurance Company. cost maintenance service total package which quarantees a low LocalTapiola Real Estate Asset Management Ltd offers real estate total cost per m2. The focus of our Business Garden concept is to investment, managing and counseling services as well as manages real add the total wellbeing of our tenants and their employees – inside estate investments and fixed assets. The company also engages in the premises, alongside the working hours, with professional help, rental business, marketing, house management and administration, guidance and support. We have a selection of office premises to maintenance, outsourcing and sales services. 36 page See rent and office buildings to sell. Please be in touch! 30 page See

SENATE PROPERTIES SRV GROUP PLC

P.O. Box 237 (Lintulahdenkatu 5 A) Derby Business Park FI-00531 Helsinki, Finland P.O. Box 555 www.senaattimyy.fi (Tarvonsalmenkatu 15) Contact Persons FI-02601 Espoo Finland Real Estate Development and Sales: Phone +358 20 145 5200 Mauri Sahi, Director [email protected] [email protected], Tel. +358 40 037 6303 www.srv.fi Antti Kari, Chief Adviser [email protected], Tel. +358 40 568 6540 Contact Persons Esa Pentikäinen, Sales Manager Jouko Pöyhönen Director, Project Development [email protected], Tel. +358 50 300 6567 [email protected] Kari Kervinen, Sales Manager Markus Laine Director, Real Estate Transactions and Investors [email protected], Tel. +358 50 388 9426 [email protected] Specialty Areas Specialty Areas Our portfolio encompasses everything from standard office SRV is a leading Finnish real estate developer specialising in buildings and specialist premises customised to tenants’ development, construction and commercialisation of retail and specifications, to exclusive high-end properties. We develop office premises, hotels, logistics and production objects, as well properties that are no longer being used by government as residential property. SRV is aspired to improve quality of life See page 24 page See organisations to prepare them for sale on the commercial market. 22 page See through sustainable solutions for the built environment.

WSP FINLAND LTD YIT CORPORATION PLC

Heikkiläntie 7 P.O. Box 36 FI-00210 Helsinki (Panuntie 11) Finland FI-00621 Helsinki Phone +358 207 864 11 Finland www.wspgroup.fi Phone +358 20 433 111 www.yitgroup.com/transactions Contact Persons Contact Persons Terhi Tikkanen-Lindström, Business Area Director in Urban planning Seppo Martikainen, Vice Presicent, Transactions Kari Fagerholm, Business Area Director in Traffic and Infrastructure [email protected] Sami Lampinen, Business Area Director in Structural Engineering Timo Tanskanen, Sales Director, Transactions Pekka Pulkkinen, Business Area Director in Bridges [email protected] [email protected] Specialty Areas Specialty Areas YIT is a leading European service company in building systems, WSP in Finland is a multidisciplinary consultancy company offering construction services and services for industry. We serve sustainable planning, consulting, inspection and design services. Our customers in 14 countries in the Nordic and Baltic countries, core competencies are Urban planning, Traffic & Infrastructure, Russia and Central Europe. Our vision is to lead the way in creating Property & Buildings and Bridges. We are part of global WSP and maintaining good living environments. We work for property | Parsons Brinckerhoff employing about 34,500 experts in over investors as a supporting partner generating profitable investment solutions. See page 12 page See 500 offices in 40 countries. 14 page See

• Public vs. Private sector requirements WORLD • Density, Infrastructure • Responsibility & policy

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TOMORROW’S BUILDINGS: HIGH, CLEAN, SMART, MIXED?

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