Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2015 | Page 21

Photo: Toni Mailanen

existing and new customers. “Interest in
LNG is found among industrial, shipping
as well as heavy-duty land transport customers,” Mattila comments.

Wood Building Boost
Another field where energy comes to play is
new residential construction. Wooden construction has been a strong focus area in Pori
for years, observes Kristian Vainio.
“The Pori Region wood cluster is
developing very nicely,” he says. One example of this is the FutureHouse2020 project
where wood is used in innovative ways –
even ways that often link with digital solutions and the app world. Vainio believes that
especially senior citizens will benefit from
the “digitalisation of homes”. In a recent
Living Lab project, the elderly were targeted as a special group that is able to continue living at home – with a little help from
some e-friends.
“Hi-tech solutions will aid seniors
through use of sensors and guidance systems, making sure that the everyday lives
of the elderly are safe and smooth,” Vainio
describes the main idea.

pus right next to the travel centre. The value
of these two projects alone is EUR 200 million – and in this decade, local investment
decisions have been made to the tune of
EUR 1.3 billion.

Rock the Rails
Deputy Mayor Kari Hannus says that the
construction for the campus area will begin
in 2015 and it is scheduled for completion
in 2017. Nevertheless, the master plan for
the travel centre area goes beyond adding
just a campus:
“There will be a wave of office construction in the neighbourhood, as there is
potential to build as much as 200,000 floor
square metres,” Hannus says, adding that
currently there are building rights for about
50,000 floor square metres.
Office premises right by the railroad
tracks are in high demand by companies big
and small – and even some residential offering is in the cards for this area.
“In essence, the entire travel centre
area will be like a jar of honey: very attractive from the point of view of several target
groups,” Hannus believes.

High-level Recognition
The reach of this project went far beyond
local: the Living Lab project for seniors’
wellbeing placed in the TOP5 in the European Commission’s RegioStars 2013 final.
In the annual competition, the Commission
looks for the most innovative projects / best
practices in the entire EU.
Vainio says that the entire community
is proud of the feat and eager to accomplish
more:
“After all, now we have a great platform to build on.”
Building something new is very much
the theme in the downtown area, too. The
shopping centre Puuvilla has re-energised
the commercial scene (see related story on
page 20) and the new downtown campus
will add educational edge. Satakunta University of Applied Sciences will build a camKristian Vainio and Janne Vartia point out
that also the construction of a LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) terminal in Pori provides
ample evidence of the pioneering mindset
in the marine industry. The Norwegian company Skangass is building a new import terminal for LNG that is to be finished in 2016.
With this project, Skangass wants to create
an efficient LNG logistics chain in the Pori
area. The terminal will feature a capacity
of 30,000 cubic meters; all and all, it will
be the third Skangass terminal in the Nordic countries.
Sales and Marketing Director Tommy
Mattila from Skangass is eager to see the
Pori terminal completed on schedule so that
the company can launch deliveries to both

Adding some excitement into the downtown area is something that the City really
believes in:
“This type of action will re-vitalise the
local community a great deal – and elevate
also the local businesses,” Hannus says.
The education scene in Pori is sure to
benefit from the new campus, but the city
does has have strong traditions in this area,
too: the Pori University Consortium is a
multidisciplinary centre of learning composed of units from four different universities, cooperating across faculty boundaries
– and there are, actually, two universities of
applied sciences here.
“Young people who graduate from
local schools have good employment opportunities just around the corner,” Hannus
adds.

Photo: City of Pori

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