Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2010 | Page 28

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL REPORT

Waterfront Revisited

H

elsinki is faced with changes on a magnitude that has
not been seen for more than a
century.
Hannu Penttilä, Deputy
Mayor (City Planning and Real
Estate), says that 2009 and 2010
will see development to the tune
of € 750 million – for each year.
“This is an impressive
pace we want to keep up,” Penttilä says, acknowledging that recession is still very much a factor in the plans of just about everybody. Still, in trying times you
must show leadership through
example – and Helsinki wants
to do just that.
“It is widely recognised
that economic growth comes
from metropolises and the Helsinki Metropolitan Area is one
of the fastest growing regions in
the EU,” he says.

Complete Makeover
Penttilä is not aware that a similar “complete makeover” is in
26 Nordicum

the works anywhere else, but
London is some sort of a kindred spirit in many regards:
“London is dealing more
with brownfield than greenfield,
but they have the same focus on
density as we do.”
The first area to experience a strong wave of development is Jätkäsaari (West harbour) where construction started in the summer. According to
the plans, Jätkäsaari is supposed
to evolve into quite an extraordinary neighbourhood. Finnish
Innovation Fund Sitra wants to
raise an “innovation block” in
Jätkäsaari – an area that would
showcase energy-efficient real estate construction and solutions.
Sitra maintains that the
built environment is now the
largest negative factor in the
stability of ecosystems and the
climate. The evolution of cities
will shape the outcome of mankind’s dependence on natural
resources. In order to address

these issues, Sitra hosted an international contest to draw out
the best ideas on how to build a
modern seaside community with
a green edge.
With the selection of a
team comprised of Arup, Sauerbruch Hutton, Experientia and
Galley Eco Capital, the competition is now moving from ideas to implementation. This next
phase includes design development of the architectural and
strategic solution – and also
many activities targeted at raising the level of awareness in the
sustainability discussion.
“And it is not only the Sitra
block that will benefit from the
innovations: we expect the ideas to spread to the neighbouring
blocks as well,” says Penttilä.

Finding
the Right Balance
Planning for the replacement
of Sörnäinen Harbour and Hanasaari with Kalasatama is al-

ready in progress also. Kalasatama will be planned for 18,000
residents and 10,000 jobs. Floor
area is 1,350,000 m2 in total.
One of the questions that is still
somewhat open concerns the
ratio of apartments and offices.
Penttilä remarks that the picturesque seaside community – that
already has a metro connection
– will need both.
“In the long run, Kalasatama is one of the best locations
out there, but it can be demanding from the investor’s point of
view.”
At present, the master plan
calls for small shops and other
services to vitalise an environment. Given time, Penttilä believes that the neighbourhood
will feature a very wide range
of services. The City remains
open to dialogue with all concerned parties about any questions concerning the Kalasatama
project – and recently launched
a contest for visionaries to get
the ball rolling, also.

Photo: City of Helsinki

The coming decade will transform
Helsinki’s shores