Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2010 | Page 46

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL REPORT

The future of shopping centres:

Accessibility meets
sustainability

While the recession is pressing on, shopping centres are hard at work formulating strategies and concepts that will help
connect with the consumers in the next decade. One trend that shows no waning down is accessibility: according to
Finnish Council of Shopping Centers, 96.1% of all shopping centre visits took place in central locations in 2008.

A

conscious consumer is
now looking to use public transportation to get to his/
her shopping paradise. As a
consequence, shopping centre
projects of today are looked at –
more and more – from the viewpoint of logistics and CO2 footprint. One key project for the
coming years is the expansion
of Iso Omena Shopping Centre
in Matinkylä, Espoo.
Iso Omena, built in 2001,
44 Nordicum

is Finland’s fifth largest shopping centre and the centre is
owned by Citycon. The coming expansion will link with the
construction of the metro as the
Matinkylä station will be the
end of the line. Matinkylä metro centre will be developed as
joint venture project between
Citycon and NCC Property Development.
Property Development Director Marko Juhokas from Cit-

ycon admits that accessibility
of the shopping centre is sometimes in question, as owning
your own car is often the best
way to get there.
“With the launch of the
metro, the situation will be upgraded a great deal.”

Environmental Focus
In addition to more sustainable
traffic solutions, Citycon – and

its partner NCC – are looking
to realise a greener shopping
centre. Citycon is in the habit
of putting out environmentally-conscious shopping havens,
having adopted LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) ideology as a
guiding principle.
In November, Citycon
opened the third phase of the
Rocca Al Mare shopping centre located in Tallinn. Citycon