Helsinki gives green light to construction of dance pavilion on Töölönlahti

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The City of Helsinki has approved a proposal for an exceptional building permit for the construction of a dance pavilion on the Töölönlahti Bay, a lake-like inlet that connects to the sea via Kaisaniemi.
      The decision was made on the City Board by a 8 - 7 vote.
      The groups of the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People’s Party as well as two Social Democrats, namely Tarja Kantola and Arto Bryggare, all took a positive stand on the matter.
     
The approval of the City Board will be submitted to the Uusimaa Regional Environment Centre for a final decision.
      The Regional Environment Centre is expected to handle the matter already in March.
     
An exceptional permit is being applied for by the City of Helsinki Real Estate Department, and the planned dance pavilion would be set in the so-called Makasiini Park. Makasiinit - the old railway storehouses - were damaged by a fire in the spring of 2006.
      No specific plot has been reserved for the proposed pavilion, which is to be built by the Finnish crane company Pekkaniska Oy.
      The exceptional permit is necessary, as the proposed pavilion differs from the valid zoning plan.
     
The planned building, which resembles a bud, will be around 300 square metres larger than permitted by the city plan.
      According to the city plan, the aim was to partially retain the old railway storehouses across the street from the House of Parliament, but the situation changed, when the old red-brick buildings from Czarist times were destroyed during May Day Eve rioting in 2006, leaving only around 25 metres of the badly damaged building.
     
After examinations it turned out that the remains were in a very bad shape and should be rebuilt. Even the National Board of Antiquities did not consider the building worth preservation, despite an earlier conservation order.
      According to the most recent plans, all that would be left to commemorate the old Makasiinit would be a brick wall.
      Pekkaniska plans to build a dance centre that would be open to the public free of charge until the afternoon, but in the evening there would be an admission fee.
     
The building will also feature dance art, even though the initial intention was to arrange only partner dances, including the tango, which is still hugely popular across Finland.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Demolition of old Helsinki railway storehouses to begin in May (21.3.2006)
  Police searching for "organised core group" in Sunday night´s melee at storehouses (3.5.2006)

Links:
  City of Helsinki Real Estate Department
  National Board of Antiquities

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