Helsinki Fair Centre to expand with another new hall

Plans still on for 100-metre highrise hotel on the site

print this

The Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Centre in Pasila plans to expand its footprint considerably, with the construction of a new exhibition hall and the addition of a lot more parking space for fair visitors and exhibitors.
      The new hall will increase the floor-area by around 30%, and is expected to come with a price-tag of EUR 57 million.
      In the first phase a new 14,000 square metre exhibition hall and multipurpose space will go up, scheduled for completion in August 2011.
     
In the longer term, the existing parking garage will get an additional two floors, after which there are plans to build an underground car parking cavern.
      This underground lot will be covered with green areas that will be open for recreational use by the public, thereby defusing some of the earlier criticism that expansion would eat into the nearby the nearby Käpylä Sports Park.
      The site in Pasila currently hosts events attended by more than a million people each year.
      "Naturally the choice of timing is interesting, but we have run up against the top end of our capacity in the current premises, particularly during the autumn, which is the busiest season for congresses", says Pentti Kivinen, the Managing Director of the Finnish Fair Corporation.
     
It will also be possible to host quite large indoor sporting events in the new multipurpose exhibition hall, allowing for the staging in Helsinki of international competitions, if they can be secured for the city.
      The last time the Pasila complex was expanded was around ten years ago, when it grew in size by some 40%.
      The new hall seen in the photo above has been designed by the architect's office of Davidsson & Tarkela.
     
Another project still in play in Pasila is the building of a new hotel extension, which should be getting started in 2015.
      According to plans, this will be an example of "Wow" architecture and could be as tall as 100 metres and 27 stories, which would make it a landmark building in the capital (see earlier article).
      "The problem has been that for big congress and conference events we have not had the necessary hotel capacity on site. In this way we would be able to invite large congresses to the city", says Kivinen.
      A further proposal in plans unveiled for how the fair and convention centre could look in 2025 is a hall for permanent exhibitions.
      This "Trademart" hall, seen at the right of the accompanying picture, is currently slated for the 2020s.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  100-metre skyscraper hotel planned in Helsinki´s Pasila

Links:
  Finnish Fair Corporation - Helsinki Fair Centre
  Images of how the new buildings would look - enter and go to Viestintä and then to Messukeskus 2025

Helsingin Sanomat