Vantaa going ahead with plans for China Centre in Veromies district

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Despite the economic downturn, plans are in full swing to erect a China Centre, a new technology village, and other offices in Vantaa’s Veromies district, just south of the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport.
      “The world has not stopped. With regard to the China Centre, tight negotiations are under way with Chinese investors. They will return to Finland again in April”, informs Vantaa Deputy Mayor Jukka Peltomäki. Peltomäki himself recently returned from China, where he travelled for a joint negotiation round with state-run businesses.
     
The plans for Vantaa’s China Centre include exhibition, congress, and office space, and a hotel. The venue would contain for example sales offices of Chinese companies plus a point of support for their European operations, which benefit greatly from the proximity of good air connections.
      According to architect Mikko Heikkinen, responsible for the overall design of the Veromies district, the China Centre could be star-shaped. It would be the area’s landmark and meeting point. In the middle of the buildings there would be a square, through which a pedestrian and cycle route would run.
     
Next to the Tuusulanväylä urban motorway a new technology park called Marivillage is being developed by inventor and MariCap CEO Göran Sundholm, in cooperation with the SRV Group. In a way, the technology park consisting of three buildings would form the formal point of entry to the Veromies area.
      The lowest floors will house electronics and mechanical engineering production facilities. The higher floors will contain offices. The lowest sections of the complex will be three stories high, whereas the highest sections will consist of ten floors.
      The first building is scheduled for completion in 2011.
     
The existing retail & entertainment paradises of Jumbo and Flamingo will be accompanied by a 21-story office hotel, financed by pension insurers Fennia.
      The tower designed by architect Aki Davidsson will widen upwards and its elevation will refract light in a prism-like fashion.
      The building will be surrounded by stonecrop fields of varying colours.
      The area’s Business Village, in turn, is being developed by Sponda Plc real estate investment company, in cooperation with LAK Lentoasemakiinteistöt, a property company wholly owned by Finavia (responsible for operations at Finnish airports), and by the City of Vantaa.
      The aim is to create a giant exhibition and congress centre to host mega events.
      In order for the Veromies district to mature into a living and breathing quarter of town, the City of Vantaa aims to reserve plenty of space for residential developments in the zoning of the area.
      According to plans, high residential blocks meandering in a snake-like fashion would sit perfectly in the particularly scenic rocky hill of Aerola.
     
An entirely new idea is to convert old industrial halls into parking and residential structures in the new “Canal City”. A canal will be created by widening the ditch running through the area and by directing all the run-off water into it.
      “On top of the giant halls, penthouses with roof gardens could be created. The southern sides of the halls could be converted into loft apartments”, Heikkinen enthuses.
      Row houses could fill the gaps between the halls.
      “The buildings’ large facades could be covered with vertical greenery.”
      Heikkinen suggests that the roofs of other buildings, too, could be covered with plants. “This sort of green constructing would bring colour into the area. The area’s general appearance can be further altered by lighting.”
      According to plans, a public walkway would encircle the entire area.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Vantaa wants to put up technology Chinatown next to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (20.11.2007)

Links:
  MariCap
  Finnish China Centre
  Vantaa
  Sponda

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