Helsinki events venue development moves forward

Helsinki seeks to become an increasingly attractive city of events. In addition, Helsinki seeks to support the emergence of distinctive and local culture as well as conditions for the creation of events. An important role in the achievement of these goals is played by the Suvilahti area, which the City of Helsinki aims to expand further into a year-round cultural and events venue, said the City of Helsinki in a bulletin.

In addition to festivals, the City aims to make it possible to organize diverse smaller events, family events and sports and recreational events in Suvilahti.

The role of Suvilahti in Helsinki will be heightened further in the future, as the city lacks venues for diverse events served by good transport connections. In addition, it is increasingly important to develop operational conditions for events and event organizers in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis. Diversifying the events organized in Suvilahti also helps to develop the entire city as a platform for creative activity.

The goal of the City of Helsinki with Suvilahti is to develop the area into a diverse, year-round venue for events and cultural activities. Mayor Jan Vapaavuori requested in the autumn of 2017 an open presentation of ideas for the development of the area. After an assessment of several ideas, the City of Helsinki continued discussions with two teams on their proposals and organized a targeted competition at the end of 2019 to evaluate the proposals. The goal was to develop interior spaces suitable for events and additional services supporting event activities in the Northeastern Corner (see the site marked in red in the picture).

As a result of the competition, the City continues talks with the team who presented the proposal titled Suvilahti Event Hub. The spatial programme and the business model of the proposal support the goals of the Helsinki City Strategy and the competition better than those of the other proposal. Event Hub’s proposal also enables the use of the southern events site of the area and passage to the Suvilahti cultural centre in a better manner than the other proposal.

The City’s goal is to grant a provision for project development during 2020. The provision will only cover the site of the Northeastern Corner and will not affect other uses of the area or the implementation of current plans. An architectural competition for a future building will be organized during the term of the development provision, so details such as the appearance of the future building will only be determined by the outcome of the architectural competition.

The Suvilahti area will be developed extensively in the future. Two gasometers located in the area are being renovated. In addition, the possible relocation of Helsinki Art Museum HAM into these gasometers is being investigated. The goal is to turn Suvilahti into a complex with a characteristic profile that honours the traditions of the area and complies with the urban landscape by its appearance. Suvilahti with year-round operations and with a distinctive character is also projected to attract increasing numbers of tourists to Helsinki in the future.