New marble cladding for Stora Enso head offices

Supreme Administrative Court issues ruling

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The marble cladding of the headquarters of the pulp and paper company Stora Enso, located on the island of Katajanokka in the Centre of Helsinki, is to be replaced by new marble next year. The decision was came after the Supreme Administrative Court, ruled that the city plan requires the protection of the building.
      The drafting and processing the plan itself, and dealing with the likely appeals, will probably delay the completion of the by a few years, and Stora Enso wanted to get on with the needed repairs sooner.
      The building was designed by renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, and was built in 1961. The white marble cladding has suffered over the decades and needs to be replaced.
     
The forest industry giant initially wanted to replace the damaged marble that now covers the building with more durable white granite. However, the proposal, which was made public a year and a half ago, was sharply opposed by the Alvar Aalto Foundation, and the National Board of Antiquities.
      Many of the dilapidated marble plates have already been replaced by new ones, giving the exterior of the building has something of a patchwork appearance.
      The same Italian Carrara marble has been the focus of controversy in another Aalto-designed building in Helsinki - the Finlandia Hall.
     
Early last year Docomomo Suomi Finland, which is dedicated to the study and preservation of modern architecture, proposed that legislation on the protection of buildings should be invoked to preserve the Enso building. However, the Uusimaa Environment Centre and later the Ministry of the Environment called for protecting the building through the city plan.
      Jorma Westlund, head of public relations at Stora Enso, says that the company agreed with Docomomo, pointing out that invoking the building protection law wold have meant that the state would have recognised its responsibility for any extra costs incurred by preservation.
      Docomomo appealed the matter to the Supreme Administrative Court, which rejected the appeal, and decided that the protection should be implemented in the city plan primarily through zoning measures.
      Helsinki is currently in the process of changing the city plan for the area.
     
Stora Enso now feels that city plan-based preservation is practical.
      Westlund notes that protection under the city plan preservation cannot extend very far inside the building. "It is protection of the urban landscape. We have meticulously cared for certain public spaces. When the city plan is processed, it will certainly be stated that these will be kept in the same condition that the intentions of Alvar Aalto require. But we want this to be a living office, and that it must be permissible to make alterations in office space in the future as well."
      Stora Enso plans to demand that the notation in the town plan would also allow the use of a surface material that is equivalent to marble. The company's own studies proved that marble is not a durable cladding material.
      The removal of the present marble cladding will begin in February or March. If the work begins according to schedule, the new cladding will be ready in November. The repairs are expected to cost about EUR 5 million.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Stora Enso wants to replace marble cladding on main building with granite (16.3.2005)

Links:
  Docomomo Suomi Finland

Helsingin Sanomat