Picture: B&M Architects, WSP Finland & Sweden, Päivi Raivio, Setlementtiasunnot Oy, Forum Virium Helsinki
The Co-Op City redevelopment plan for the Kera – industrial site in Espoo – won the second prize in the Nordic Built Cities competition on the 3 November 2016. The plan would turn this site owned by S Group from a logistics centre into a sustainable neighbourhood. Forum Virium Helsinki was involved in producing the award-winning proposal.
The Nordic Built Cities competition sought smart and dynamic urban solutions for six Nordic cities. In addition to Espoo, these cities were Copenhagen, Oslo, Malmö, Kopavogur (Iceland) and Runavík (the Faroe Islands).
The competition was launched in March 2015. In June 2016, Co-Op City was named the winner of the local Kera Challenge competition, which was open for Finnish proposals. To follow, the Kera proposal proceeded among the finalists of the Nordic Built Cities competition, and earned second prize, which was 400,00 Norwegian crowns ( about 44,000€).
A new life for an industrial site
The Kera industrial area will be freed for redevelopment by 2019, when the S Group logistics centre moves to Sipoo. The Co-Op City plan focused on solutions related to circular economy and communal living. The plan embraces urban gardens, communal solutions, exchange and circular economies, first-rate public transport services and mixed use integrating housing and jobs.
The Co-Op City plan was produced by B&M Architects, WSP, planner Päivi Raivio, Setlementtiasunnot (“settlement housing”) and Forum Virium Helsinki. Forum Virium Helsinki was represented by Development Director Pekka Koponen.
“It has been inspiring to work with such a multidisciplinary team and to bring new operating models enabled by digitalization to city planning at an early stage. To solve the challenge presented by the competition, we applied the latest experiences gained from Forum Virium Helsinki’s innovation projects. These were related to, for example, smart mobility and co-use of spaces. We hope that the model provided by Kera will open export markets for Finnish enterprises of the field,” Koponen says.
The Nordic Built Cities competition received 145 proposals, and 19 of them were selected as finalists. The first prize went to The Soul of Nørrebro produced for Copenhagen. The third price went to Eyes of Runavík produced for the Faroe Islands.
The Nordic Built Cities Challenge is part of the Nordic Built Cities programme, which aims to develop and publicize innovative Nordic urban solutions and to promote the export of these solutions. http://nordicbuiltcities.org
Read more about the Co-Up City proposal: http://nordicbuiltcities.org/kera-challenge/co-op-city/
Read more about the Kera redevelopent plan: http://uusikera.fi/
Other news on the subject:
- The Soul of Nørrebro wins Nordic Built Cities Challenge Awards
Further Information
Pekka Koponen
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Mobile: +358 40 501 7114
pekka.koponen(at)forumvirium.fi