Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2015 | Page 38

ade. “In fact, this is a good time to develop
new service concepts. The economic situation forces you to think about all aspects
and the end result will benefit from this,”
he says.

Green to the Core
‘Tapiola’ and ‘Ainoa’ are names straight out
of the Finnish national epic, Kalevala, which
celebrates the rich folklore of this Northern
country. According to the legends, Tapiola
is the court of the Forest King – and the
upgraded version is decidedly “green” as
well. Ainoa is clearly a shopping centre
where the environmental approach is not
mere words: the centre features the first
remote cooling system in Espoo and the
entire waste management process has been
fine-tuned to meet strict standards. Eventually, the shopping centre will utilise an automatic waste transportation system where
waste is whisked away by a pneumatic tube.
“We already have that capacity built-in
and the system will be deployed in 2016,”
confirms Kirsi Borg.

Vesa Immonen, the Managing Director
of LocalTapiola Real Estate Asset Management, says that the development of Tapiola
Commercial Centre remains a high priority
for the company.
“What makes Tapiola Centre unique is
that it opens outwards, not just inwards like
a regular shopping centre does,” Immonen
says, while pointing out that the over-all
brand of Tapiola is also in fine form – only
in need of some polishing up.

The One and Only
According to Immonen, there is no place
quite like Tapiola in the entire country.
“When you have that type of solid, wellknown foundation, future development
will only add to the appeal of the n ZY