Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2016 | Page 28

Spearheading sustainability, Espoo is finally launching
its long-awaited metroline – and the more conventional
tracks on the ground are doing fine, too

Photo: HKP Architects

Rock the Rails

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.

A

nd that’s just for starters. The extension of the metro line is already
underway, promising to add five new
stations within seven kilometres of the line
by 2020. The new stations will be Finnoo,
Kaitaa, Soukka, Espoonlahti and Kivenlahti,
as the line keeps reaching west, towards the
city limits.
Therefore, the “biggest infrastructure project in the country” is actually just
halfway done. Matti Kokkinen, Managing
Director of Länsimetro Oy, says that as the
original project is coming to an end, it made
perfect sense to keep going. Continuing the
project on-the-fly means that there’s labour,
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expertise and equipment available – and during tough economic times, a project of this
magnitude serves as a sort of “national stimulus package.”

Working on a Dream
In fact, as the Government gave the green
light to “bonus” project – by promising to
compensate up 30 % of the construction bill
– this also meant securing jobs for 4,500
people.
“Right now, the first phase of the metro
is in great shape – we completed laying the
tracks on 4 December,” says Kokkinen, adding

that this means that the building of the metro
stations will only intensify from now on:
“We are putting the finishing touches
on the stations now,” he confirms.
Launching of the metro shows clearly
that Espoo is serious in pursuing a more
compact urban structure that is based on
rails. For example, Espoonlahti – a key station along the extension line – is already a
city centre of 55,000 residents and will benefit tremendously from better connectivity.
The same goes for all communities located
along the metroline: the City expects that
development and redevelopment efforts in
the vicinity of the 11 metro stations will con-