There are no statistics available for this player Thanks for visiting The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here The curved roof of Kukkapuro House in Kauniainen shelters the former studio and home of its creators designer Yrjö Kukkapuro and his visual artist wife Irmeli Isa Kukkapuro-Enbom tells ICON the story of this unique space dedicated to creativity ‘The house was conceived as a studio that was also a living space. Exactly that way around. This was not a home with an added workspace,’ explains Isa Kukkapuro-Enbom, daughter of iconic furniture designer Yrjö Kukkapuro Yrjö – who was born in 1933 in Viipurin maalaiskunta a former Finnish municipality that is now part of Russia – and Irmeli Kukkapuro (1934-2022) were one of Finland’s most celebrated architect-designer couples of the golden generation in the small Finnish town of Kauniainen in the late 1960s Dedicated to the pair’s creative work – Yrjö the legendary designer perhaps best known for his ergonomic Karuselli chair (1964) and Irmeli a successful visual artist – their new home was nestled on a lush garden plot next to the large villa belonging to Irmeli’s parents The couple, in their thirties at the time, had dreamed of moving into a loft apartment initially – a popular trend among creatives during the 1960s, especially in New York’s Lower Manhattan, where artists would turn former industrial buildings into vibrant live-work homes Many had acquired old industrial spaces and reimagined them into contemporary studios and apartments When a suitable space for the studio couldn’t be found in Finland the Kukkapuros decided to build one of their own the house turned into a unique loft of sorts too – one that was filled with sketches design treasures and mementos that told the couple’s colourful life story The pair received a financial push to build the house when Yrjö won the esteemed Lunning Prize in 1966 Regarded as the Nobel Prize of Scandinavian design it supported talented Nordic craftspeople and industrial designers by providing them with an opportunity to receive worldly recognition Winning the prize helped Yrjö make a mark in the world of design globally he spent half of the prize money on a long trip abroad while he saved the other half as an investment for the building project Kukkapuro House is a hyperbolic paraboloid In practice this means that the building has no straight corners The floorplan of the studio resembles a bloated triangle The roof has a wavy and bent shape and almost looks like it’s suspended in the air Yrjö called upon structural engineer and close friend Eero Paloheimo to provide the plans and strength calculations for the home Also responsible for designing the house’s recognisable wavy roof and its thin concrete structure (the thickness varies between 8 and 15cm) Paloheimo played an important role in realising many of Yrjö’s visionary ideas Three carpenters built the wooden mould from planks for the casting of the roof on site ‘Yrjö and Irmeli were nervous when the casting was finished Even though the structure was purely experimental and rested on the foundation on its three corners which were anchored to the ground with a steel structure a layer of polyurethane was sprayed on the underside of the concrete surface As Yrjö wanted to create light-filled spaces connected to the surrounding landscape and nature the building has an abundance of window surface and features a variety of materials The modern material palette is further enhanced by a bold colour scheme that draws on Piet Mondrian’s limited palette of primary hues has no partitions – not even in the bedroom It’s ‘a single room for both working and living’ The building may have a dynamic appearance While the bathroom and shower have their own round “capsules” made of fibreglass The only time the house had interior walls was when daughter Isa was a teenager and craved some privacy but Yrjö took it down as soon as I moved away from home’ finished plans and unique art dominate the space known for her colourful art prints and paintings sourced a collection of interesting and surprising objects that sparked her inspiration designed many quality chairs throughout his life The building was created for the work-filled lifestyle of two creative people It was not until 1993 that the Kukkapuros separated work and leisure when they built a purely residential house designed by Pekka Salminen on the other side of the garden continues to stand as an example of futuristic free- form architecture; Yrjö embraced a new aesthetic much like his experimental furniture designs and postmodern art every project he undertook only displayed more creativity than the one before Kukkapuro House is a culmination of the 1960s utopian views of the future: pop art colours are scattered throughout Breaking the conventions of living and architecture the building provided a fresh view on a creative lifestyle a human experiment of its time,’ says Kukkapuro-Enbom ‘This space was created to feed creativity.’ View the full project in ICON 214 or get a curated collection of design and architecture news in your inbox by signing up to our ICON Weekly newsletter HELSINKI FINLAND according to monitoring by Espoo Regional Environmental Health Nine water utilities supply drinking water in these areas with the largest provider being Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY) Several smaller water cooperatives also operate in Espoo and Kirkkonummi though they do not produce or treat water themselves Water quality is assessed based on microbiological and chemical criteria set by law All samples taken in 2024 met the required microbiological and chemical safety standards two samples exceeded the guideline limits for bacterial colony counts and two others had slightly elevated iron levels These deviations were not considered a health risk Authorities test tap water based on supply volume and risk assessments Smaller water cooperatives are tested annually more than 200 official water samples were collected There were 12 water quality incidents recorded last year restrictions were placed on water use until additional testing confirmed safety Environmental health authorities worked closely with water suppliers to manage these situations Tap water testing results from utilities serving at least 50 people or supplying 10 cubic metres per day are available at vesi.fi Espoo Regional Environmental Health advises residents to flush tap water before use Running the tap improves quality by ensuring fresh water from the mains Water is ready for use once it feels cool and stable in temperature If a tap has not been used for a long period flushing for several minutes may be necessary Advertisement inquiries and other after-sales issues: info@helsinkitimes.fi Helsinki Times is the first and only English language newspaper providing news about Finland in English A weekly print edition of Helsinki Times was published from March 2007 up until Feb Helsinki Times is an online-only publication and other groups and individuals interested in Finland from all around the world © Helsinki Times All rights reserved.  Terms of Use | Privacy Policy Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker VVT Kiinteistösijoitus has sold a retail centre property located in Kauniainen to a fund managed by NREP Your browser doesn't support speech synthesis The grocery-anchored Retail Centre Grani hosts grocery stores S-market and K-Supermarket and other tenants supporting the day-to-day visitors of the asset The asset comprises of two parts located in Kauniainen city centre in a close proximity to the city’s railway station The first part of the asset was completed in 2001 The asset has approximately 7,500 sq m of lettable area and it has been awarded a BREEAM Very Good environmental certificate VVT Kiinteistösijoitus Oy: ”The sale of Grani shopping centre follows a great range of value creation initiatives undertaken by the local team One of the key value creation projects was the extension development which increased the number of services in the center into a totally new level bringing another anchor grocery store to the center further strengthened its position in the submarket on ESG side good work has been done and as an example of this work the Grani shopping center was awarded a BREEAM Very Good environmental certificate earlier this year.” JLL Finland: “We are very pleased to have successfully advised VVT on the sale of this uniquely located and positioned retail centre The transaction demonstrates the attractiveness of well-managed and grocery-anchored local retail centres also during the uncertain market conditions.” JLL acted as VVT’s sole commercial advisor in the transaction Properta Attorneys acted as VVT’s legal advisor insights and opportunities from global commercial real estate markets straight to your inbox Fortum finds a partner to heat homes West of Helsinki Microsoft is building a new data center region in Finland joining a project started by local utility Fortum to deliver its heat output to homes and businesses in the Helsinki metropolitan area The new facility will allow Finnish organizations to store their data in Finland while also providing zero-carbon heat to Fortum customers in Espoo The partners say this is the world's largest data center heat recovery project and Finland's largest single ICT investment ever Data center heat is potentially a useful resource as nations want to decarbonize their heating systems to reduce emissions They can use waste heat generated while servers do useful work - and in this case the electricity fed to those servers will be from renewable sources in the first place Using the heat has been a struggle however and data centers are rarely located close to district heating systems that can use their output Because data center heat is usually offered for free connection is often not financially viable Fortum began looking for a partner four years ago aiming to find a data center partner whose waste heat could displace other energy sources enabling Fortum to switch off coal fired plants currently feeding the district heating system Back in September 2021, DCD reported that the city of Espoo had granted approval for a data center at Hepokorvenkallio located between Lake Bodom and the Kehä III:n beltway Fortum was on the hunt for a suitable candidate whose facility could be as large as 100MW and cost as much as €1 billion The announcement says: "From the outset Fortum has designed the project and the locations of the data centers so that the waste heat generated from them can be recycled directly into the district heating network" The heat will go into district heating for Espoo which is the main source of heat for domestic and business premises there The waste heat will directly replace the use of coal and gas Microsoft has not confirmed that the new data center is at Hepokorvenkallio but it's worth noting that Microsoft's headquarters in Finland is in the former Nokia headquarters in Espoo - a building it shares with Finnish IT company Tieto Microsoft's tenancy in the building is one of the few legacies of its failed acquisition of the once-supreme Nokia mobile phone business in 2013 Microsoft has also not detailed the size of the data center but we are told its emissions will provide a reduction in CO2 emissions of 400,000 tonnes per year enough to provide 40 percent of the heat demand of about 250,000 customers on the district heat system This is substantially larger than the 300,000 savings Fortum was expecting in 2021 so we are talking about at least a 100MW facility The waste heat won't be on stream till the late 2020s Fortum predicts that about 60 percent of the area's heating will be generated by climate-friendly waste heat 40 percent of which will come from the new data center area and the rest from sources including treated wastewater DCD has asked Microsoft for more details about the new data center - and had clarification from Fortum about the origins of the project The announcement has been four years in the making with Business Minister Mika Lintilä present at the launch Prime Minister Sanna Marin commented: “Everyone wins with the decision to invest in a data center that also generates heat for our cities and homes It will accelerate Finland's digital growth and at the same time clean up our energy system I hope that this cooperation will serve as a model for other countries and cities that are looking for ways to combine the transition to climate neutrality and digital competitiveness.” "Sometimes the most sustainable solutions are simple ones," said Fortum CEO Markus Rauramo “Data centers enable digitalization and thus create a lot of prosperity in the world They also provide a largely untapped and emission-free heat source that can be used very efficiently under the right conditions our colleagues started looking for a data center operator who would be ready to implement climate-friendly solutions on an unprecedented scale together with us in the Espoo I am glad that the search is now over." Mayor of Espoo said:.“The new data center area further strengthens Espoo's position as an innovative pioneer in sustainable development There is fierce competition in the world for data center investments but as a result of the excellent cooperation and investment environment a solution was created that benefits everyone from the Finnish level to the local population The use of clean waste heat as district heating will significantly help us towards carbon-neutral Espoo in 2030 We are very pleased with the cooperation between Fortum and Microsoft and welcome it." Microsoft says it has more than 45,000 commercial customers and 2,000 partner companies in Finland. Existing customers such as Nokia, Elisa, Fortum, S-Bank, Tietoevry, HUS, Vero and Valtori, have expressed interest in the new data center area, with several pitching insupportive quotes The new region will be part of Microsoft's global cloud infrastructure, which includes more than 60 data center regions, more than 200 data centers and more than 280,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable. The word Azure is not mentioned, however, and Finland does not yet appear on Microsoft's list of Azure regions. Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia The datacenters are designed to operate with 100 percent emission-free energy and will supply heat for the cities of Espoo and Kauniainen 2022 — Microsoft today announced it intends to build a new datacenter region in Southern Finland To support customer needs for high availability and resilience the new datacenter region will feature Azure Availability Zones unique physical locations equipped with independent power and cooling for additional tolerance to datacenter failures It will join Microsoft’s worldwide network of cloud computing infrastructure of more than 60 regions over 280,000 kilometers of terrestrial and subsea fiber and cloud customers together could generate more than €EUR17.2 billion in new revenue and will add over 11,000 skilled IT jobs to the Finnish economy and individuals will be able to benefit from Microsoft’s world-class enterprise-grade security privacy and compliance services with ultra-low data latency and the ability to store data in Finland Microsoft has more than 45,000 customers and 2,000 partner companies in Finland Vero and Valtori have all expressed their excitement about the potential of what this new Azure Region will bring to the Finnish people “The decision to invest in a datacenter region that also provides surplus heat to our cities and homes is a win-win It will accelerate Finland’s digital growth while making our energy system greener I also hope that this collaboration can serve as a model to other countries and cities looking to achieve the double transformation of climate neutrality and digital competitiveness,” says Sanna Marin “Developing solutions for global challenges together with partners is a strategic priority for Fortum and we are proud to embark on this exceptional journey together with Microsoft By tapping into waste heat from datacenters businesses and public buildings in the capital area of Finland and reduce up to 400,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually This is a significant and practical step for a cleaner world,” says Markus Rauramo we are excited to see Microsoft make this investment in Finland Microsoft’s global datacenter network leverages Nokia’s high-performance datacenter switching portfolio while Nokia benefits from Microsoft’s global network of cloud services to drive digital transformation across multiple industries energy-efficient solution we look forward to benefit from reduced latency and increased throughput while further enabling the green transition,” says Alan Triggs we strive for human-centered and safe digital public services that genuinely make people’s lives and work easier Microsoft’s new environmentally friendly cloud computing facilities in Finland combined with the previously announced Microsoft EU Data boundary solution facilitate public administration organizations’ efforts to make better use of cloud technologies.” says Jarkko Levasma ”Fingrid is responsible for secure electricity transmission across the grid in Finland We are proud to be working with Microsoft to create opportunities for such a huge industrial project we have found a solution for our customers that guarantees a reliable supply of electricity to the datacenter,” said Jukka Ruusunen In a unique collaboration with Fortum Corporation the waste heat produced in the datacenters will be converted to district heating serving Finland’s second largest city Espoo and neighboring Kauniainen in what to date will be the world’s largest scheme to recycle waste heat from data centers District heating is a system for distributing heat generated either in a centralized location with fossil fuels Heat is transferred to customers through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space and water heating The waste heat recycled for district heating will help the City of Espoo and the neighboring communities to reach their ambitious CO2 emission reduction targets leading among other things to decommissioning of Fortum’s last coal-fired heat unit in Espoo As one of the largest purchasers of renewable energy in the world Microsoft will add to its portfolio with new renewable energy supply in Finland The company is committed to executing power purchase agreements equivalent to 100% of its energy needs by 2025 “Finland is at the forefront of digitalization and innovation and the nation’s world-class companies and forward-looking public sector organizations are leading in the digital transformation of their sectors,” said Cindy Rose “We are incredibly proud of the novel way this datacenter will sustainably power Finnish digital transformation while also heating Finnish homes and businesses and helping cities achieve their emissions targets Microsoft and Fortum combine their world leading expertise in cloud computing and sustainable energy solutions transforming the design thinking of datacenters of the future.” The Microsoft Cloud Dividend Snapshot: Finland Above, original model of ‘Fysio’ office chair Below, detail of ‘Color Composition’ chair unique piece made by Kukkapuro for an exhibition in Estonia; and ‘Nelonen Profile’ chair Kukkapuro’s studio on the outskirts of Helsinki was built by the designer and his wife Irmeli in 1968 both made in Kukkapuro’s workshop in the 1990s Join us on a studio visit of Finnish interior architect and furniture designer Yrjö Kukkapuro ‘Sitting in a Kukkapuro chair is like therapy’ Kukkapuro has collaborated with Lemmetti to create limited editions of two chairs and a table for the new Color Experiment series Lemmetti has been collecting Kukkapuro chairs for 30 years and has amassed more than 40 prototypes ‘Yrjö thinks about everything – form he is one of the most important designers in the world,’ he says A fourth Color Experiment chair launches this spring at the gallery and with such a wealth of prototypes in stock it’s not hard to imagine future collaborations museum and airport in Finland has featured Kukkapuro’s chairs How many chairs has Kukkapuro made in his lifetime One day I shall have to count them.’ escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox As originally featured in the April 2020 issue of Wallpaper* (W*253) — on newsstands now Emma O'Kelly is a freelance journalist and author based in London Her books include Sauna: The Power of Deep Heat and she is currently working on a UK guide to wild saunas You can try searching for it through our search bar return to the homepage or you can also browse one of our 4 main categories © 2025 Copyright © Digital Infra Network Ltd Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously perform optimally and grow with their business needs Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud to the edge of the network Vertiv does business in more than 130 countries and for the latest news and content from Vertiv We are the first next generation Internet carrier Stelia is redefining the digital landscape with a native elastic connectivity platform that supports the burgeoning ecosystem of emerging Internet workloads High-capacity Wide Area Networking is more than a crucial piece of the puzzle – up until now it’s been the weakest link Stelia enables the transition to a new distributed data architecture data-intensive demands of the new breed of many-to-many workloads Whilst building Internet 3.0 by expanding into 600 sites across 30 countries in 3-5 years we’re creating more than a new backbone – we’re building a community on top of a software-defined network asset and we’re at the forefront of this change This is your invite to join us in this transformative journey to be a part of reshaping connectivity and leading the digital future VIRTUS Data Centres (VIRTUS) is a trusted global leader in the data centre industry and the UK’s leading data centre company resilient and responsible digital infrastructure for our customers As part of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) VIRTUS Europe is the home of the cloud in London the STT GDC Group operates across Singapore providing businesses an exceptional foundation that is built for their growth anywhere Macquarie Asset Management acquired a significant minority stake in VIRTUS via Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 7 Macquarie Asset Management is a global asset manager providing access to specialist investment expertise across a range of capabilities including infrastructure VIRTUS has a proven track record of over a decade designing and operating the UK’s most efficient facilities Committed to the highest standards of Operational Excellence – safety security and availability – VIRTUS hires the best people to work in an industry which is increasingly essential to everyone and everything We are laser focused on responsibly delivering solutions for the benefit of our customers Accelsius empowers mission-critical data centres to meet their business and sustainability goals through next-generation cooling systems The Accelsius NeuCool™ platform delivers a patented direct-to-chip two-phase cooling technology with best-in-class thermal efficiencies safe dielectric fluid & intelligent monitoring to provide a risk-free technology that scales from a single rack to an entire data centre NeuCool technology combined with Accelsius’ robust professional services program gives data center operators the confidence to evolve cooling approaches while ensuring performance improvements & continued uptime SOCOMEC is an independent industrial group with a workforce of 3900 experts spread over 30 subsidiaries in the world control and safety of low voltage electrical networks serving our customers’ power performance pioneering the development and operation of UK and European data centres engineered for AI and advanced computing With a hyperscale-inspired and industrial scale platform scalable and sustainable home for their compute Fortum logoFortum logoFortum Fortum and the City of Espoo have committed to carbon-neutral district heating in the district heating network operating in the Espoo, Kauniainen and Kirkkonummi regions in the 2020s. Now the development work is being accelerated with a new intermediate goal to discontinue the use of coal in 2025. The accelerated project for carbon-neutrality in 2020's is called Espoo Clean Heat. Clear steps towards carbon-neutral district heating “Locating the data centres in Espoo and deploying geothermal heat are currently common development projects. In addition to these, it is important to improve energy efficiency and to utilise the smart heat control in buildings, which is already in use in all of the Espoon Asunnot apartments. We are especially focusing collaboration on solutions where energy is produced with alternative methods to combustion,” says Pasi Laitala, Espoo’s Director for Sustainable Development. Finns not very familiar with how district heating works District heating is definitely Finland’s most common form of heating: According to Finnish Energy, close to 60 per cent of new construction volume is heated with district heating. However, based on the survey conducted by Fortum, Finns are not very familiar with how district heating works: more than one third of Finns don’t know how district heating is produced. *The survey was conducted in summer 2019 in Bilendi Finland’s online panel; 1,250 Finns participated in the survey. More information about the project: www.espoocleanheat.com © Fortum 2025 Facility is being built next to Microsoft's upcoming data center Fortum has begun construction on a heat pump plant in Finland's Kolabacken region of Kirkkonummi The plant is being built on Microsoft's data center site, where the tech giant is currently building its first facility in Finland Another Microsoft data center is being built in Espoo The proposal is believed to be the world's largest data center heat recovery project The Fortum plant will be able to produce district heat independently with air-to-water heat pumps and electric boilers which it will do when it launches in late 2025 When the two Microsoft data centers come online they will then provide their waste heat to the site The facilities are expected to provide around 40 percent of the district heating needs of Espoo The recycling of waste heat is expected to result in a gradual reduction of CO2 emissions of around 400,000 tonnes "Fortum is committed to phasing out the use of coal in district heat production by the end of 2025 at the latest in the district heating network of Espoo and Kirkkonummi in Finland," project manager Teemu Nieminen said on the way to a carbon-neutral Finland." The project was awarded European Union NextGenerationEU funding and investment support from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia The application results have been published on the website. Everyone of compulsory school age is guaranteed a place in further studies  Easier admission to general upper secondary schools – 2,213 new students accepted  The Finnish-language general upper secondary schools in Espoo and Kauniainen selected 2,213 students in the joint application procedure in spring 2022. The intake into the Finnish-speaking upper secondary schools of the City of Espoo was 2,079 and 134 in Kauniainen. All places were filled.  Places in the Swedish-language general upper secondary schools were also increased for the school year 2022–2023. The current intake is 200. The intake for the IB programme is 50. Last year, the Swedish-language general upper secondary schools offered 175 places and the IB programme 50. In Espoo, places in Swedish-language general upper secondary education were reserved for approximately 65% of the pupils completing their Swedish-language comprehensive education.  A total of 1,230 students were selected for Omnia's basic vocational degrees in the 2022 joint application procedure. The highest number of new students were admitted to the vocational qualification in business programme (237), vocational qualification in social and health care (192), and vocational qualification in ICT (126).  Furthermore, 197 new students were selected for the preparatory education for TUVA. The TUVA education beginning in August 2022 combines the previously available voluntary additional basic education, preparatory education for general upper secondary (LUVA) and pre-vocational preparatory education for immigrants (VALMA).  Applicants were also able to apply for basic vocational degrees in English at the same time as the joint application procedure. A total of 114 students were accepted to study for these qualifications.  Those on the waiting list will be informed of their placement as soon as places become available.  Omnia's basic vocational qualifications and the TUVA preparatory qualification for upper secondary qualification can still be applied for via the continuous application process. Applications for basic vocational qualifications and TUVA starting in August may be submitted until 10 July 2022. The student selections will be announced by 1 August 2022.  General upper secondary schools remain popular: Leppävaara’s and Haukilahti’s sports programmes, Kaitaa’s arts programme and Otaniemi’s mathematics and science programme attractive amongst applicants  P.O. Box 1, 02070 CITY OF ESPOOEspoo Info | switchboard 09 816 21 AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSlide 1 of 17,This six-bedroom house Share full articleA Six-Bedroom House Outside HelsinkiAbout eight miles from the capital The Voice of Finland began its live broadcast phase on Friday 4 April Contestants from teams coached by Sanni and Elastinen competed for places in the semi-finals Julia Janakka and Adele Okkonen progressed Tais Delia and Jimmy Martin were eliminated Rosa Kumar Saarinen and Mohammad Riazat moved forward Oliver Hurrell and Arttu Kauppinen left the competition The second live broadcast takes place on Friday 11 April Singers from the teams of Arttu Wiskari and Maija Vilkkumaa will compete for four remaining semi-final spots Arttu Wiskari’s team includes four singers He moved from Luumäki to study restaurant and catering services He performs as a singer and magician and has experience in singing and theatre since childhood He aims for a career as a recording artist and musical performer He is known for working with the sign language artist Signmark and has released music inspired by the Ice Hockey World Championship including the 2019 track “Löikö Mörkö sisään?” He has collaborated with both Elastinen and Arttu Wiskari He leads an organisation supporting vulnerable youth He began singing privately but has grown into a performer during the competition He aims to create emotionally resonant music lives in Peräseinäjoki and works as a practical nurse in elderly care and she attributes this to her Romani roots Maija Vilkkumaa’s team also has four contestants lives in Kauniainen and studies horticulture Her music career began in a girl duo called F2F is from Nokia and manages a residential unit for people with intellectual disabilities He describes singing as physically liberating and focuses on opera which he sees as both musical and artistic celebration lives in Koski Tl and works as a club services coordinator for the Finnish Volleyball Association She started singing only a few years ago and now hopes to pursue a professional path in music moved from Sievi to Helsinki for her studies She is enrolled in the Sibelius Academy studying music education She performs regularly and has won both the Hopeinen and Kultainen Harmonikka competitions She has also competed in Tangomarkkinat and plans to become a professional artist The Voice of Finland continues with live shows on Fridays at 20:00 on Nelonen and Ruudu © Helsinki Times All rights reserved.  Terms of Use | Privacy Policy Heat offtake from Microsoft's data centersServicesHeating & cooling Heat offtake from Microsoft's data centersConstruction of Fortum's heat pump plant has started at Microsoft's data centre site in Kirkkonummi Fortum's heat pump plant will recycle emission-free heat from the ambient air and the planned data centre to the district heating network Fortum's heat pump plant will recycle waste heat from the data centre - which is to be built later on the Kolabacken and can also produce district heat independently with air-to-water heat pumps and electric boilers The work started in September 2023 and will last until the end of 2025 The plant is expected to produce district heating The heat pump plant includes the required buildings a heat accumulator tank of about 20,000 water cubic metres on the way to a carbon-neutral Finland," emphasises Director Project execution Teemu Nieminen from Fortum's heating and cooling business in Finland The heat recovery project is an important step on the Espoo Clean Heat transformation journey where Fortum's district heat production in Finland will be carbon neutral in 2029 the two data centers planned by Microsoft for Kirkkonummi and Espoo are expected to provide around 40% of the district heating needs of Espoo Kauniainen and Kirkkonummi with full waste heat recovery Fortum's data centre project has been awarded European Union NextGenerationEU funding and investment support from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment JUser: :_load: Unable to load user with ID: 58 House prices in the Finnish capital fell by 1.6 per cent year-on-year in August according to preliminary data from Statistics Finland HOUSE PRICES in Helsinki have started to decline after rising for several years Statistics Finland in September released preliminary data indicating that the prices of old dwellings in housing companies decreased by 1.6 per cent year-on-year in August House buyers paid on average 5,520 euros per square metre for their dwelling House prices in other parts of the capital region continued to creep up Espoo and Kauniainen registered a year-on-year increase of 1.9 per cent to 4,176 euros per square metre and Vantaa one of 2.4 per cent to 3,212 euros per square metre saw house prices drop by 1.8 per cent between July and August Juhana Brotherus, the chief economist at the Mortgage Society of Finland (Hypo), on Tuesday told Helsingin Sanomat that the drop in prices was hardly surprising in light of slumping consumer confidence and surging interest rates As the Finnish capital has the highest number of real estate investors it is typically the first area to reflect swings in the economic situation “People buying their own house are slower to react people don’t immediately start putting up their homes for sale Investors are quicker in their reactions.” The rise in interest rates is another factor with a pronounced impact on Helsinki as the rise affects residents of expensive neighbourhoods the most “If you have a loan worth hundreds of thousands a few-per cent increase in interests is a substantial cost If you have a loan worth tens of thousands a few per cent isn’t too much to shoulder,” he explained to Helsingin Sanomat are falling also due to the high pace of residential construction which is expected to continue into next year Brotherus reminded that a long-term decline in house prices can contribute to a recession by prompting mortgage borrowers to reduce spending While the current trend prolonging could force some to sell their homes at a loss many should be able to fall back on the buffers that developed as house prices surged during the coronavirus pandemic “Prices would have to fall significant – we’d have to be talking about ten per cent – to be at the same level as they were in 2019,” he stated to the newspaper He forecasts that the downward trend in house prices will continue until the end of the year but will not be enough to wipe away the increases witnessed in the seven months of the year “I think the decline in house prices will continue for a year We’ll be closer to 2024 before we see a clear turn for the better,” he said adding that the possibility of a severe recession and sharp price drops cannot be ruled out entirely “The risks are presently exceptionally large in the house market across the country Kauniainen and Vantaa have issued a joint statement urging lawmakers to reject the bill for the social health care and regional government reform viewing that the long-discussed reform will not reach its objectives The cities argue that the bill not only fails to take into consideration the special characteristics of the capital region but also contains several flaws and risks from the region’s perspective The quartet justifies its opposition to the reform by drawing attention to a lack of clarity surrounding the overall impacts of the reform the non-applicability of a single solution and “the enormous financial and operational challenges” associated with establishing the counties revealed at the beginning of last month that Helsinki has submitted a concrete proposal to the government for establishing two counties – one for Greater Helsinki and another for the rest of Uusimaa – instead of a single one in Uusimaa News of the proposal came as a surprise even to the City of Espoo A joint collaborative task force established by the four municipalities will convene to mull over the social health care and regional reform in Vantaa on 15 May Aleksi Teivainen – HTPhoto: Martti Kainulainen – LehtikuvaSource: Uusi Suomi Kauniainen and VantaaResidents of some parts of the capital region were advised to boil their water earlier this week Open image viewerResidents of some suburbs near Helsinki have been told to boil water before using it since late Monday Image: Sami Takkinen / YleYle News21.2.2024 10:50Tap water is again safe to drink in Kauniainen and the Linnainen district of southwestern Vantaa Customers in the areas had been advised to boil any water used for drinking or food preparation for at least five minutes since late Monday That followed a pipe burst on Monday afternoon in Espoo's Mäkkylä neighbourhood That incident caused widespread disruption of water supplies “The health authority has discontinued its recommendation to boil water and water can again be used normally,” Helsinki Region Environmental Services HSY said in an early-morning statement Health officials said there was a low risk of health problems for anyone who did consume unboiled water HSY apologised for the inconvenience caused to customers It added that they will be reimbursed for the disruption in accordance with the Water Management Act "A serious quality defect in supply water due to which the health protection authority has issued a boil water advisory is considered equal to an outage," HSY noted Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. 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Image: Katriina Laine / YleYle News23.1.2024 12:21•Updated 23.1.2024 12:30Daycare centres in the Helsinki metropolitan region are set to close their doors on 31 January and 1 February due to a strike by teaching staff Trade unions represening the sector announced on Tuesday that their members who work in early childhood education in the capital region will join the nationwide strikes being called to protest the government's planned labour market reforms The walkout will affect both public and private daycare centres in Helsinki the SuPer union clarified that the strike will not affect services such as 24-hour daycare centres private family day care or care assistance services the Tehy union said the industrial action is being called because the unions are against the government's plans for an 'export model' economy — meaning that any wage increases in the export industry would set the ceiling for all other sectors of the Finnish economy "We simply cannot allow male-dominated industries to dictate the level of pay increases for nurses and the goal of equal pay to be buried," Tehy chair Millariikka Rytkönen wrote in the press release chair Silja Paavola noted that all workers would suffer from the government's plans "The cuts to working life in the government programme would affect all workers and mean really significant cuts for some," Paavola said in the statement The JHL union — representing the public and welfare sectors — meanwhile stated that it is ready to undertake further industrial action if the government fails to open negotiations with the unions on the proposed labour market reforms "Our most important duty is to ensure that our members’ terms and conditions of employment and working conditions will continue to remain in order The government’s plans are threatening to make a serious mess of the Finnish labour market," JHL's interim president Håkan Ekström said Last week, two of Finland's largest trade union federations, SAK and STTK, unveiled plans to stage a demonstration against the government's proposed reform of labour market laws Trade unions in various fields have since announced plans to also participate in the political strike, with the Industrial Union saying that some 60,000 of its members at 700 locations will walk out for two days starting on 1 February Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. 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Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here The new wastewater treatment plant will handle the wastewater of approximately 400,000 residents in Espoo and the surrounding areas The modern Blominmäki wastewater treatment plant will serve as a more efficient replacement for the current Suomenoja wastewater treatment plant both in terms of purification efficiency and capacity The new wastewater treatment plant will handle the wastewater of approximately 400,000 residents from the areas of Espoo The construction of the new wastewater treatment plant in Blominmäki began in 2018 after the completion of excavation works in the area The modern Blominmäki treatment plant will be more efficient in terms of both treatment capacity and purification performance compared to the current Suomenoja wastewater treatment plant The new plant will handle the wastewater of approximately 400,000 residents from Espoo The wastewater treatment plant is being commissioned by HSY (Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority) and the project management contractor YIT selected ARE as their partner for the technical project management ARE has experience in implementing building services in demanding rock space projects and automation works of the treatment plant The treatment plant has been excavated mainly within the rock and the actual water purification takes place underground The above-ground structures include administration The underground facilities at Blominmäki allow for future expansion to handle wastewater from even over a million residents The plant utilizes the latest technology to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from the wastewater The goal is to purify over 96 percent of phosphorus and organic matter and over 90 percent of nitrogen contained in the wastewater the Blominmäki project will be one of the most modern wastewater treatment plants in the Nordic countries and the project’s magnitude is also reflected in the amount of materials used which is equivalent in size to ten football fields such as 12,000 meters of ventilation ducts The working conditions at the construction site vary as the underground caverns are at their deepest point 40-50 meters below the ground.” according to ARE’s Project Manager Jukka Järvinen Project: Blominmäki new wastewater treatment plant Builder: HSYThe project management contractor: YIT successfully constructed Hyria’s state-of-the-art educational… a major energy efficiency and energy recycling project… The construction of Kaitaa and Soukka west metro stations was implemented through… Privacy notices | | © ARE 2023 heat-producing data centre in FinlandThe company said the facility will be the world’s largest initiative to recycle waste heat from data centres Open image viewerMicrosoft and Fortum both have offices at the Keilaniemi business district in Espoo Image: Petteri Bülow / YleYle News17.3.2022 12:29US software company Microsoft has announced plans to build a new emission-free data centre region in southern Finland that will also have the capacity to provide district heating for Espoo Kauniainen and the municipality of Kirkkonummi the company said the "unique collaboration" with Finland's biggest energy company — the majority-state-owned Fortum — represents the world's largest waste heat recovery project for data centres and one of the biggest single ICT investments in Finnish history Microsoft added that the investment could generate up to 11,000 new jobs and will offer cloud services to the Finnish public sector Customers will also have the opportunity to store their data in Finland and avail of cloud services with quicker response times The statement continued that Fortum will recycle waste heat from the cooling of the data centre's servers into district heating for the city of Espoo and surrounding areas The company estimated that the emission-free heat generated by the data centres will cover about 40 percent of the needs of the roughly 250,000 district heating users in Espoo a total of about 60 percent of the area's heating will be generated by environmentally-friendly waste heat with the remaining 20 percent coming from treated wastewater Using the waste heat from the data centres will facilitate a reduction of about 400,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually The data centre project has been in development for several years and has involved Microsoft and Fortum working in cooperation with cities our colleagues started looking for a data centre operator who would be ready to implement climate-friendly solutions on an unprecedented scale together with us in the Espoo I am glad that the search is now over," Fortum's President and CEO Markus Rauramo said The new data centre region will play a key role in accelerating Finland's digital transformation with the IDC research institute estimating that over the next four years its ecosystem and cloud customers could together generate more than 17.2 billion euros in new cumulative revenue more than 11,000 jobs could be created in Finland for IT professionals "It is important for society and our entire planet that the constantly growing demand for cloud services is met with solutions that are as efficient as possible in terms of climate and energy use," Microsoft's Country General Manager for Finland Pekka Horo said The new data centre in Finland will be part of Microsoft's global cloud complex which includes more than 60 data centre areas over 200 data centres and approximately 280,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable Microsoft's cloud infrastructure serves more than one billion customers in about 140 different countries Open image viewerImage: Marja Väänänen / YleYle News20.7.2018 14:33•Updated 20.7.2018 14:47Violent crimes are down in Finland's capital city area, according to police figures highlighted in a new analysis by Yle the number of crimes reported in the cities of Vantaa and Helsinki fell steadily in aggregate the incidence of violent crime in relation to the number of residents has remained the same The absolute number of violent crimes in Vantaa and Helsinki has fallen in recent years "It is misleading to make conclusions that are based on absolute numbers because crime goes up as the population increases," says Petri Danielsson a planning officer with the University of Helsinki's Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy The population of the capital city region has grown steadily in the last seven years the total number of violent crimes in 2017 was recorded at 8,300 in Helsinki Espoo and Kauniainen – down from 10,500 in 2011 Research has shown that a larger risk of violent incidents exists in areas with larger populations Helsinki University's Danielsson says that places with more people moving about are more prone to experience crime "Big new public transport terminals can cause clear upticks in crime," he offers as an example He says another contributing factor is alcohol use Areas with nightclubs and bars will likely see more violent offenses occur Danielsson says that one way to mitigate this risk is to increase police presence in these areas "There is evidence that a visible police presence can prevent crime effectively," he says the most-recent data from the state-owned number cruncher Statistics Finland show that crimes against life and health in Finland as a whole decreased by 8.7 percent in the first three months of 2018 when compared with the first quarter of 2017 A change of legislation in 2011 made several minor assaults subject to public prosecution in Finland and after this the number of violent crimes that came to the attention of the police increased significantly This general trend started to decrease until 2015 the numbers of reported offenses has been in decline once again JUser: :_load: Unable to load user with ID: 42 "A new study proposes combining the five municipalities of the Metropolitan area The ministry of finance launched a specific inquest of the division of municipalities in the Helsinki metropolitan area in December 2013 The inquest report was published on Friday Those investigating the division of municipalities in the metropolitan area Mikko Pukkinen Cay Sevón and Matti Vatilo propose combining the five municipalities to create a new metropolitan city They also suggested including the Southern part of Tuusula which has resources to take care of the well-being of its citizens is culturally open and invigorating and takes responsibility of the international success of Finland," Pukkinen writes in the bulletin The metropolitan city would consist of 15-20 service districts which would have elected district councils or boards elected by the council of the metropolitan city The metropolitan city would be responsible for the main policies concerning the economy planning land usage and ordering and producing social and health services The governments of the municipalities will gather the opinions of the citizens and take the proposition to the disposal of the council in February-March." © Helsinki Times All rights reserved.  Terms of Use | Privacy Policy A separate poll suggests residents of Kauniainen and Pirkkala are most satisfied with their municipalities Open image viewerTampere's Näsinneula tower seen from the historic Pispala neighbourhood Image: Marko Melto / YleWif Stenger26.3.2018 18:28The south-central city of Tampere is seen as the most attractive residential destination in Finland according to a poll published by Yle on Monday Thirty-seven percent of Finns surveyed said they'd consider moving there Two other southern cities trailed Tampere in the survey: Turku and Jyväskylä Twenty-eight percent of respondents say they could see themselves moving to Turku The study was carried out by Taloustutkimus which polled nearly 3,500 Finns aged 15 and over Taloustutkimus research director Outi Salonen says that Tampere has topped the biennial survey since at least 2010 The city has widened its lead over Turku since the previous poll Tampere also racked up the best score for overall impression as a place to live Tampere has also always dominated this category She notes that it earns praise for its lakeside location and opportunities for studying and recreation Meanwhile another survey out Monday suggests that residents of Kauniainen are most satisfied with their hometown a small wealthy enclave surrounded by Espoo edged out Pirkkala by two points in the annual poll carried out by EPSI Rating The pan-Nordic firm interviewed just over 10,000 adults in Finland by phone in 2017 Only the results of 62 municipalities were published as there was insufficient data for the other 249 residents’ satisfaction with their municipalities rose by nearly two index points since the previous survey The biggest improvements in resident satisfaction were in Jakobstad (Pietarsaari) and Kauhava in Ostrobothnia and Kajaani in the east While denizens of Pirkkala remain satisfied neighbouring Tampere fell to second spot after three years with the highest satisfaction rating among the five biggest cities (Helsinki Only Vantaa fell below the national average Nabbing the highest rating among the 20 biggest cities was Kuopio in the east with 76.6 points Least satisfied on that list are people in Kotka Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they would be ready to recommend their municipality where 86 percent said so – far above second-place Pirkkala where 70 percent said they’d recommend their town as a place to live The lowest ratings on this question came from Kemi and Kauhajoki where only 13 percent said they were prepared to recommend their municipalities Report: A quarter of housing benefit recipients live in Helsinki regionPublished 20182018Housing sales brisk in most Finnish townsPublished 20182018Helsinki court overrules objections to home for underage asylum seekers in upscale KauniainenPublished 20172017Sources: Yle Design Driven City continues the process started in Helsinki’s year as World Design Capital 2012 to build a better city with design “We are proof that the World Design Capital project was not a mere love affair but started a true marriage between cities and design,” says Laura Aalto communications manager for the two-year Design Driven City project envisioned to plant design firmly into city development processes They are professional designers hired by the project to work hand in hand with city staff in selected projects of the four participating cities: Helsinki Lahti and Kauniainen – four of the five cities of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 The city projects chosen for Design Driven City are initiated and implemented by the cities but the City Designers bring to them their design expertise to improve the processes and to achieve the best possible outcomes The City Designers will identify areas where design can be applied and define the ways to apply design “Design Driven City will educate city departments and agencies about the possibilities of design and how to use design,” Aalto explains emphasizing that learning is key to the project “We strive to integrate design into the processes of solving complex tasks.” When Helsinki’s World Design Capital project closed at the end of 2012 Was it just a breathtaking year-long journey with no road ahead There had been hundreds of projects and thousands of events implementing projects and in ways that they would not have otherwise in an enthusiastic spirit of achievement never felt before inside the city organization The City of Helsinki implemented 120 projects during the year One of the more enthusiastic City of Helsinki players was the Department of Social Services and Health Care The department made extensive use of service design in projects ranging from food culture for the elderly to geriatric rehabilitation “We seized things that we never would have found otherwise and service design allowed us to focus on the user perspective in a whole new manner The results were fantastic.” (In an interview for World Design Capital Helsinki 2012) Lahti and Kauniainen did not want to leave it at that to make their cities more efficient and better places for citizens – and more competitive – with the help of design Three avenues to integrate design into cities The City Designers will work with 10–15 city development projects over 2014–2015 create new concepts for youth housing and develop a festival park for Helsinki Festival Aalto explains that Design Driven City does not end there “We also offer the participating cities assistance and counselling Any city unit with some problem can book a half-day session with us to solve some problem and we help them to find a solution utilizing design thinking.” Design thinking is a problem-solving protocol that any organization can use to achieve the best possible results we are developing an open network of design agents in the cities,” Aalto continues “There are already more than 500 such agents who are city employees with a special interest in design.” The total funding for Design Driven City over 2014–2015 is 1.5 million euro about half of which comes from Helsinki and the rest from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy as well as the other three cities The Design Driven City project has put the explanation in a nutshell that comprises 10 statements on cities and design The statements point out that cities are increasingly complex units and they need diverse expertise to solve their challenges The methods of design help cities to find new even radical ways to operate and to build their future One of the three City Designers of the Design Driven City project is Mikko Kutvonen hired from among roughly 160 applicants for the position He is full of enthusiasm for the project and his assignments “I feel we’re working with genuinely significant tasks that have a real impact We are on the front line of city development in this project.” Kutvonen has started his work for the project focusing on the work sites of Stara Stara is Helsinki’s in-house construction company and maintenance service provider that takes care of the city’s streets Stara recognizes that their work sites can be untidy and often the sites are not very well organized are part of the overall Stara brand and impact the quality of their urban environments Stara seeks improvement through a “Tidy work site” programme Kutvonen joins the Stara programme in a consulting role promoting user-oriented design and the use of the tools of service design The objectives are to produce functional work-site fixtures The plan is to produce a set of instructions for work sites by December 2015 << contents Helsinki Info index