Planning for large shopping complexes continues despite recession

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Large construction projects for big shopping complexes are continuing in Finland in spite of the economic decline.
      Last autumn, the Ministry of the Environment published a report on ongoing projects for the construction of retail facilities.
      At that time there were plans for setting up 5.24 million square metres of retail space. There were a total of 196 separate projects, one-fifth of which violated terms of a provincial or regional plan.
      Helsingin Sanomat has asked regional environment centres how the projects are doing now.
     
According to Katri Tulkki, head architect at the Ministry of the Environment, there are no reports that any of the large projects that came up in the ministry’s report would have been cancelled.
      “Last autumn representatives of commerce said that the recession will take care of excess capacity. Nevertheless, all projects on the list are still being pushed forward. Naturally, they are lengthy processes, and people perhaps think that when a recovery begins, the plans will be in good shape”, Tulkki says.
     
Massive retail projects raised considerable debate last autumn. Minister of Housing Jan Vapaavuori (Nat. Coalition Party) suspected that there might not be enough customers for all of the mega-markets.
      Two projects that came up in the report, the Skanssi shopping complex in Turku and the first part of the expansion of the Prisma hypermarket in Kannelmäki in the north of Helsinki, have been completed.
     
Setbacks have been suffered by all three Ideapark shopping complexes put forward by Toivo Sukari, owner of the furniture store chain Masku.
      In Uusimaa and the Oulu region, the projects have been put on hold, pending new reports and decisions in connection with the drafting of new regional zoning plans.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Slump puts damper on surge in shopping mall construction (22.1.2009)
  Plans to erect 100,000-square-metre shopping mall near Oulu meet with scepticism (5.8.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat