Pension insurance company Varma is planning one of its largest office building projects ever. The building will be located in Helsinki’s Pasila district, and the main tenant will be Elisa. The office and commercial premises planned for Central Pasila’s new Tower Area will house some 43,000 square metres of lettable floor area, which means more than 3,000 office work stations.
Varma’s office building project planned for Central Pasila nudged forward in January 2022, when Varma won a design and land transfer competition organised by Senate Properties and the City of Helsinki. Varma’s competition proposal “Pasilan Keskitornialue” (“Pasila Central Tower Area”) was designed by JKMM Architects. The jury’s proposal for the winner of the competition will be addressed in the first half of the year by the decision-making bodies of Senate Properties and the City of Helsinki.
The entire property will comprise 43,000 square metres of office space and commercial premises. This will mean more than 3,000 office work stations as well as restaurant and other commercial premises which will be used by the building’s tenants and others in the nearby area.
“It is great that we will get to carry out this significant new commercial premises project in a central location and at a junction with good traffic connections in Pasila. In our proposal, we focussed particularly on the project’s feasibility, taking into account, among other things, the conditions for building a tower in a demanding city planning zone. We are thrilled to start working on the project in line with the competition proposal together with the City of Helsinki, Senate Properties and the property’s main tenant, Elisa,” says Varma’s Property Development Director, Sari Raunio.
The aim is to sign a provisional agreement on the land’s ownership and on the implementation of the overall project in accordance with the competition proposal in the course of February. The city plan is due to become final by 2024, after which the final real estate transaction will be concluded and construction in the area can begin. The property is expected to be completed in 2026.
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