NCC has signed a lease agreement with Cargotec, which will be moving its headquarters to the We Land office building, due to be completed next year in the Ruoholahti area of Helsinki. Cargotec plans to occupy about 2,000 square meters on We Land’s top floors.

We Land is a 14-floor building due to be completed in the spring of 2024 in the Ruoholahti area of Helsinki. It will have 18,000 square meters of brand-new office space. Its address is on Porkkalankatu street, which is also the location of Cargotec’s old headquarters.

– Responsibility and sustainability are at the center of Cargotec's strategy and operations, so they were naturally important criteria for the selection of our new Head Office. We also wanted to find premises that are easily accessible and support changing needs of work. At We Land, these principles come true, and we are looking forward to the completion of the premises, says Johanna Ihalainen, VP, Corporate Real Estate, Cargotec.

Cargotec is a leading provider of cargo and load handling solutions, with the goal of becoming the global leader in sustainable cargo flow. Cargotec operates in approximately one hundred countries, and it employs approximately 11,500 people globally. Around 230 people will move to the headquarters which will be completed in 2024.

– We are happy that Cargotec has decided to choose We Land for its group operations. We Land is designed to promote community, experience and sustainability, says Heikki Alén, Senior Developer at NCC.

We Land is the first building in Finland that has been designed and built according to the highest of the BREEAM environmental ratings (Outstanding). Carbon emissions from the building have been reduced by 30% from the normal level, and the building's energy consumption is -23% lower than the threshold values. The building will have an energy rating “A”. 95% of the waste generated on site during construction will be utilized. The building's facade is made of recycled and recyclable copper.

For further information, you may contact:

Heikki Alén, Senior Developer, NCC Property Development, heikki.alen@ncc.fi, +358 40 567 6619

Merja Alastalo, Head of Communications, NCC, merja.alastalo@ncc.fi, +385 50 316 5887

welandruoholahti

NCC is one of the leading construction companies in the Nordic region. We manage complex construction processes, aiming to have a positive impact on our customers and society. Our corporation's fields of operation include construction and infrastructure projects, production of asphalt and stone materials, and property development. In 2022, NCC had a turnover of approximately SEK 54 billion and employed approximately 12,500 people. NCC is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

In the past year or two, there has been a change in both the space needs and the purpose of companies’ premises. In my discussions with customers who are considering a site move, it has become very clear what today's companies want from their new premises and what motivates their decisions to move.

The role of the office has changed – this much is clear. Once, it was generally agreed that people went to the workplace to do their jobs – but now, it's often the case that people go to the office to do certain activities. People go there for social interaction and meetings – i.e., because of other people.
Now that this new way of working has begun to take hold, many companies are contemplating a site move.

The difference is noticeable. A little over a year ago, companies were aware that they needed new premises, but they hadn't quite formed an idea of what sort of space they needed, or how much. Over the past year, the needs have become more defined, and people now know how to communicate them precisely.

1. The workplace as a place to meet others

People come to the office to meet others, so a company's premises need to be supportive of communal activity. Many companies want their offices to have one large meeting space, a kind of lounge, where their entire staff can fit at once. The aim is to enliven day-to-day activity at the office. Of course, there is also a need for more relaxed spaces where people can converse freely. Open-plan working spaces are no longer needed as much as they once were, which leads to savings in the total amount of space. Companies now want the lounge, and other more relaxed spaces, to be places of impromptu encounters rather than just pre-organized meetings.

2. The company culture is reflected, and grows, in the office

Company culture is a frequent topic of concern nowadays, and it is thought that company culture is not sufficiently reinforced in online meetings. At the root of this is the challenge of building employee loyalty, not only with new employees but also more established ones. The hope is that employees will stay with their company, become committed, gain a sense of “we”-culture, and become enthusiastic about their work – and so, various means are used to attract them to come into the office. The stronger the company culture is, the more loyal the team will be. In its way of working and team spirit, a company's office shows what life at that company is like. A company’s office is where its brand lives. People today also often want to give their companies a new "boost", freshening them up with a new look and new ways of working. This trend is reflected in (for example) the increased use of work environment consultants.

3. Space is needed for withdrawal, too

Covid has brought about a lasting change in how many companies work. A great many old offices are no longer operational now. Many businesses now have more open working space than they need, or the premises are poorly adapted to their needs overall. There is now a widespread search for spaces that meet the newer needs. Offices now need a great deal more space for remote meetings and concentration-intensive work. The term “withdrawal space” has come to be used for describing such spaces. Plenty of conference rooms are still needed – people do come to the office to meet with others, after all. But there is a push to turn at least some conference rooms into shared-use spaces, because the need for conference rooms varies so much from day to day. Requests for better communal spaces and well-functioning bike locker systems are also common, and people still want places to park their cars as well.

4. Flexible spaces for changing needs

Though companies may be good at defining their current needs, it remains difficult for many companies to assess what the future situation will be. The problem with today’s space needs is the variable rate of use. The desire for open space has significantly decreased: the usage rate is generally estimated at 30–60%. By contrast, the need for withdrawal spaces (as defined above) has gone noticeably up. But the lounge still needs to be big enough to fit all employees! Terms such as "multi-purpose space", "zone", and "shared-use space" are currently heard a lot in people's descriptions of the new space needs. When companies discuss flexibility in this context, the same questions continue to arise: How much will the company grow in the coming years? How much room do the premises have to grow? And what if things take a turn in the opposite direction, and less space is needed? In times of uncertainty, people often want flexibility in rental agreements as well.

5. A workplace should have good services

Services, ease of use, and everyday luxury are key factors in attracting people to come to the office. People want good services at their workplace in order to make it easier to do their jobs, but they also hope that these services will help them with their personal day-to-day affairs. We Land, which is due to be completed next in the Ruoholahti area of Helsinki, is one site that has taken services to a very high level, and is sure to be appreciated by many. Employees will have an automated package pick-up station for online orders, and access to the We Land app. There will be a concierge available to handle everyone's requests – surpassing what many people are used to! The "Charlie" service will handle lobby services, customer events, transportation, replacing lightbulbs and batteries, adjusting temperature, organizing dining service, surprising the team, ordering carwashes, and getting tickets for events. At We Land, it will be easy to thrive: a dedicated app for ordering services, an automated package pick-up station, a smart elevator, and high-quality restaurant and cafe services, all accompanied by a seaside view.

Come see what We Land in Ruoholahti has to offer!

Sinan Imaditdin
Sales Manager

"Our sustainability ambitions have grown with every building we've worked on. Every office building can help lead the way. We are engaged in a continuous development effort, as a response to the growing interest of property investors and tenants looking for premises," explains Eelis Rytkönen, Head of Sustainable Development and Digitalization for NCC Property Development .

Rytkönen takes a worldwide perspective on what it means to build responsibly. Over the next 40 years, it is roughly estimated that the square mileage of one New York City will be built every month, and one Japan per year. In turn, the entirety of the building stock in Finland is roughly equivalent to one New York City.

"The world's building stock will double by 2060, and the population will increase from the nearly eight billion we see today to ten billion. At the same time, a guiding factor in future development is the rising average world temperature, and the aim of limiting the total warming to less than 1.5 °C," Rytkönen describes.

"These are some rather daunting numbers. In order to meet our climate targets, the carbon footprint from current activity in Finland and other wealthy western countries should be considerably reduced by 2050 – potentially by more than 90%."

Solutions implemented in 2018 have proven to be ahead of their time

To confront issues of worldwide sustainability, it is necessary to raise worldwide standards of responsibly ambitious property development. According to Rytkönen, every building can potentially help lead the way towards construction practices that are in line with sustainable development.

One such leader is the NCC-developed We Land office building, which has already made history despite still being under construction, as Finland’s first office building designed for a level of "Outstanding" on the BREEAM environmental rating scale.

We Land is located in the Ruoholahti area of Helsinki, and is due to be completed in the spring of 2024. At the outset of the design process, in 2018, solutions were implemented that, in view of the upheavals and crises of the last several years, have proven to be ahead of their time. During the design phase, work has been done with an eye to the demand and values of the future.

"In just a few years, there has been a rapid growth of interest in ESG and sustainability. Today, it can be difficult to find an investor or potential office tenant who is not interested in these. Sustainability has become an increasingly important part of our employees' values as well," Rytkönen says.

Emissions savings equal to the carbon footprints of 25 Finnish citizens

In Rytkönen's view, sustainability is not limited to environmental matters, but also involves caring about others, protecting future generations, having a driven mindset and clear objectives, and doing things collaboratively. "In this respect, we are trailblazers."

The plan is to have We Land's sustainability recognized in the form of the top BREEAM certification, covering many focal areas of the property's development. Namely: the land on which the building is located, transport to and from the site, and other aspects of the built environment and its services. The property developer is also currently thinking about matters such as energy supply in 2030, the material efficiency of the building, carbon footprints, building technology, distribution of office space, and employee amenities.

"During the design phase, we managed to reduce We Land's carbon footprint by 30% through various energy-saving measures and sustainable solutions. As a result, We Land has an energy rating of A. Our emissions savings for 2021 were equivalent to the combined carbon footprint of about 25 average Finnish citizens.

We Land is a trailblazer in sustainability, by both national and international standards

The BREEAM system is an entrenched, built-in element of NCC's practices – NCC has more than ten years of experience using it. Achieving the highest rating requires a multidisciplinary team that is well acquainted with the certification and its myriad of details. The top rating is still uncommon, internationally.

NCC’s carbon footprint targets include, among other things: sustainable management of resources, responsible use of natural resources, reduction of their carbon footprint by 60% by 2030, halving of material emissions during the production phase of their fully-managed projects during the period of 2020-2030, achieving a calculated total energy use for their fully-managed projects that is 25% below what the national regulations stipulate, and achieving climate neutrality by 2045.

"We Land is a sustainability trailblazer in many respects, including efficiency of materials and life-cycle thinking. Our approach is exemplified by features such as the façade, made from recycled and recyclable copper, as well as the 95% waste-utilization rate and the solar panels, which produce 24,000 kilowatt hours a year," Rytkönen describes.

 

According to a survey research carried out by NCC’s assignment, the working life of white-collar workers has changed forever. The most considerable changes are related to the growing power of employees, choosing the workplace based on individual values, and hybrid work which is becoming all more common. Work mates are the main reason to come to the office for some, while others prefer working remotely to save time.

According to the survey, the labour shortages will grow worse, the talent war more severe, and the attractive power of organisations will be put to a real test. The labour market is experiencing the biggest  transformation since World War II.

The consequences will mean largely three things to the employers:

• You can no longer make knowledge workers come to the office – they will come when they choose to do so, if at all. Hybrid work is regarded as the new normal.
• The entire culture will be subjected to a thorough evaluation: talent will be drawn towards value-based businesses offering the required freedom of choice.
• Time as the measurement of work is losing its value; success and the financial value of labour input will be measured by results and efficiency. Discussions of a four-day work week are becoming more frequent.

Change in corporate culture

The change seems to be a fundamental one: people want to feel both mentally and physically fit at work, enjoy humane leadership, smooth combination of remote and present work, and expedient digital tools. In the future, a more determined and strategic approach will be taken to culture, where the top management will participate in the choices.

NCC will use the survey results to get a deeper customer understanding which in turn will enable designing better offices.

- The survey results indicate that offices will be even more tailored to the culture of each individual company and that the office will fluctuate even more in time. It seems the daily rhythm of individuals and office routines have changed, and more changes could happen in the future. The ideas that were raised by the survey make a great basis for discussions with the clients, NCC’s Property Developer-hippie Eelis Rytkönen says.

What will happen to the offices of companies?

According to the survey titled ‘The Changing Face of Work’ carried out by NCC’s assignment, the offices of white-collar organisations must promote community spirit, creativity, and sharing. The space use is becoming more of a strategic choice of each individual company. The functionality, ergonomics, accessibility and feeling of the spaces must reach a level where the employees will choose to come to the office instead of staying home.

-It’s clear that need to make the offices more appealing for their lighting, air quality, acoustics, furniture and services. We must allow for more encounters, but, on the other hand, offer spaces that permit focusing on silent work, at least momentarily, Rytkönen establishes.

There is a tangible demand for changing the existing spaces, but we have not exactly come up with a concrete concept for the future office.

-Uncertainty and the speed of the change are increasing on the office market, which also creates opportunities for new inventions. The better we can understand the demands, offer flexibility space- and contract-wise, create sustainable city environments and develop our projects as part of the evolving city spaces and services, the higher the number of satisfied office users will be, NCC’s Eelis Rytkönen establishes.

The survey discovered five trends which will transform working life:

• Hybrid work will change attitudes
• The time of pretending to work is over
• The best culture wins
• Soulless offices are out
• Employees have become masters

You can download the research ‘The Changing Face of Work’ on NCC.com.

• Author of the survey research: Un/known Oy
• Research method: 586 white-collar workers answered the questions and 13 experts were interviewed
• Time of survey research: May-June 2022

Eelis Rytkönen, Urban Developer-hippie, NCC, eelis.rytkonen@ncc.fi, 040 550 2477

Merja Alastalo, Head of Communications, NCC, merja.alastalo@ncc.fi, 050 316 5887

Located in the vicinity of Helsinki’s west harbour, Ruoholahti has grown and reached the ripe age of 30 years, and the development continues. Project Director Tuomo Sipilä even talks about the renaissance of Ruoholahti. NCC’s development project We Land adds a new dimension to the renowned workplace area.

– There’s a lot going on right now in Ruoholahti due to the complementary development. The area is being updated for the first time. The city planning still envisions Ruoholahti as business and office quarters, but apartments, too, will be brought to the area, Tuomo Sipilä says.

– Location is one of the greatest strengths and attractions of Ruoholahti. The City of Helsinki provides the vision for the area development, showing the way to go, but apart from that,  you need to be responsive to the changes taking place in the world.

We Land is just what is needed now

– COVID-19, war in Ukraine and energy crisis causing huge concerns all have an effect on the way we work today. A million-dollar question is, how to motivate the employees to return the office from remote work, and what that office even should be like, Sipilä contemplates.

Ruoholahti is evolving from a traditional office zone to all more classical a part of Helsinki’s central business district. NCC’s development project We Land is situated at a central spot, allowing the core of Ruoholahti to expand from the shopping centre and metro station to the west, towards Kaapelitehdas.

– Property developers play a big role in the area. It is the City’s task to provide the guidelines and enable the development. With its sustainability values and fine architecture, We Land will make Ruoholahti a lot more attractive, Sipilä says.

– We Land challenges the traditional “office only” vision offering a new-type open-house property, meaning its doors are also open to the local residents which revives the cityscape and brings new services to the area. It is just what is needed now.

Can you take the boat or paddle to work?

While the main focus in the development of Ruoholahti remains on workplaces and services, residential needs are not forgotten either. According to statistical data Ruoholahti about 3000 people live in Ruoholahti, but the neighbouring Jätkäsaari area even has 14,000 residents. The other neighbour, Hernesaari, is being planned with homes for over 7000 residents.

– There are about 15,000 workplaces in Ruoholahti, the number is five-fold as compared to the population. The City aims to turn Ruoholahti in the future into an area that becomes even more lively outside business hours, Sipilä establishes.

– The area is highly accessible as part of the central business district, thanks to the tram, metro and light traffic connections and parking services. It’s also worth remembering that one of Europe’s busiest harbours can be found in the vicinity.

One of Ruoholahti’s piquant features is that you can arrive at work even by boat or paddle board. The peaceful, green and lush Ruoholahti is, according to Sipilä, a great example of successful development work and mixed urban structure.

Cell phone invented in the neighbourhood

Finland’s largest cultural centre Kaapelitehdas with five hectares of rustic industrial milieu operates  in We Land’s neighbours in Ruoholahti since 1991. Kaapelitehdas has about 350 tenants, and approximately one thousand people work there on a regular basis.

– Kaapelitehdas includes actors like Tanssin talo (‘the house of dance’), several museums, circus and performance artists, galleries, studios, workshops, design firms, artisans, radio stations, boutiques, restaurants and cafés, Managing Director Kai Huotari of Kiinteistö Oy Kaapelitalo says.

Completed in 1954, Kaapelitehdas was Finland’s largest building of the time. In the heart of the building, cable was manufactured to be exported all around the world, and this is where the first super computer operated in Finland.

– We have a rich industrial history. Few people know that the cell phone was invented on the fifth floor of stair C. World’s first public library also operated at Kaapelitehdas, offering internet connections to customers, Huotari says.

– We are proud of our past, present and future. Kaapelitehdas will never be completed, it evolves all the time. Cultural services are an important empowerment for the city dwellers. We can offer everything to all. It is great that the area is further developed now, owing to We Land.

Culture and food, all you can eat

After its completion in 2024, We Land will offer workplaces and modifiable office spaces for present-day business needs, but also attract new life to the entire area with its restaurants, cafés, services and parking spaces and bicycle parking. We Land makes the workday go smoother with the aid of a concierge service tailored to the demands of working life, otherwise called Charlie.

– Charlie means in practice that there is a trusted person on the house to take care of matters, who runs errands for the employees. We Land lives even outside business hours, offering meeting places and leasable space where you can, for example, arrange exhibitions or yoga lessons, NCC Senior Property Developer Heikki Alén says.

The development project that was initiated in 2019 is ahead of its time. Sustainability lays the cornerstone of property development both in investor portfolios and tenant choices. The rising We Land is history in the making: last February, the project was awarded the highest environmental certificate Outstanding as the first project in Finland.

Feedback from the tenants and those interested in the premises have been praising according to Alén. No wonder, since the evolving Ruoholahti and We Land offer a unique entirety between Kaapelitehdas and the Ruoholahti shopping centre.

Why Ruoholahti – Top 5?

• Easily accessible – metro, tram, light traffic routes, parking services
• Well-located – in Helsinki’s central business district
• Next to everything – central railway station two metro stops away
• Lots of services – shops, cafés, restaurants and culture
• We Land – the new dimension of Ruoholahti

 

Business Arena is a leading Nordic real estate event held in Helsinki 24 May 2022. NCC had an exhibition stand at the event and participated in the seminar presentations.   

Focusing on the Finnish real estate market and investment opportunities, Business Arena Helsinki gathered the real estate investors and professionals, politicians and local authorities to Messukeskus Helsinki after the long silence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NCC had an exhibition stand which was styled as a lounge to convey a clear message: the office must have a special draw in order for the employees to prefer working at the office instead of the home!

– The biggest problem our office clients are facing is, how to attract the employees back to the office after the remote working period. This could be solved concretely by offering spaces that support the increasing on-line meetings and by encouraging people to come together – also informally – in big and welcoming meeting rooms – certainly also by ensuring the distances, although this is not as topical in Finland than elsewhere, Teemu Rämö, Head of Department of NCC Property Development says.

Discussions on crisis resilience of cities and current office trends

NCC’s Head of Department Teemu Rämö also participated in two seminars “War, Climate and Pandemics – How do We Define a Resilient City” and “Trends: The Office of The Future – How do we make the crowded space feel uncrowded?”

–  We hope that the city planning always allowed for flexibility depending on the quickly changing demands of the world. The locations of office spaces are currently polarised, meaning that the trend that was seen already before the pandemic has strengthened. In the metropolitan area there are only a few established workplace areas, and the construction of new office spaces seems to be focused in those areas due to the client demand. This is not always welcomed by the cities, but this is how the market works now.

Rämö is happy that events like Business Arena can again be arranged.

–  For two years we have not been able to gather, but now there seemed to be lots of Finnish property investors and some international investors present as well. NCC’s office projects often end up in the ownership of international property investors.

Sustainability solutions with emission reduction as a priority

Also in real estate, the number one theme of our times, expressed in various terms and viewpoints, are responsibility, sustainability and, applicable especially in property investments, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). NCC’s Urban Development-Hippie Eelis Rytkönen carried the message of ESG matters to the Business Arena:

– As we see it, the most critical and urgent task of the three ESG themes is the environment and the necessity to cut emissions, but our projects are also targeted at considering social and administrative aspects. NCC’s environmental viewpoint boils down to the calculation of the carbon footprint and controlling the emissions along with the costs throughout the project. We target for energy class A, a 50% material emission reduction between 2020 and 2030, our Sustainable Site concept, the BREEAM Excellent environmental certificate and compliance with the EU taxonomy. We aim to develop low-carbon, sustainable spaces that provide an inviting setting for the people to solve important tasks.

According to Rytkönen, environmental matters have long been mostly viewed through maximising the property’s energy efficiency and optimising energy consumption during operation, whereas now, owing to the development of the energy systems, he now sees a quick shift towards minimising the emissions related to the materials used.

– For the materials, NCC aims to halve the emissions by 2030 from the level of 2020 by optimising the material quantities and requiring low-carbon, recyclable materials from the material suppliers, Eelis Rytkönen states.

Increasing the efficiency of space use raised in the sustainability discussions

Buildings are responsible for one third of global emissions, and by UN estimates the global building stock will double between 2020 and 2060. The occupancy rate of office spaces is generally low. That is why Development-hippie Eelis Rytkönen foresees the future in sharing part of the spaces and costs. The necessary technologies and cultural readiness already exist owing to the pandemic.

– I think that the next step will be for us to start discussing responsible space use focusing more on the social and governance themes in ESG, even on cultural aspects. Overall sustainability can be achieved by reserving an adequate space for each individual function – not too big and not too small – and by arranging the qualities of the office environment so that they will suit working at the office and home, maybe even in third places, ensuring the well-being of individuals and teams and adding flexibility to the contracts, Eelis Rytkönen concludes.

The event also brought up the dilemma of the obsolete office stock where the development equations do not seem to work financially.

– However, regulation will likely drive us towards upgrading the energy efficiency of existing building stock or conversion of the buildings regardless of their location, so by some equation even they should be brought into operation. In any case vacant premises are a burden both to the environment and the wallet while their real value remains next to none, that’s why I think that moderate rationing of the space use will become a virtue by ESG indicators, Eelis Rytkönen concludes.

Never before was a BREEAM certificate awarded for the design phase at level Outstanding in Finland. We Land office building was the first to achieve this in Finland.

NCC has over ten years’ experience of using BREEAM as a standard process and way of working in property development projects. The highest ratings require engaging a multi-disciplinary team who are familiar with the hundreds of details that the certificate covers. Sustainable solutions are created on the designers’ workdesks, and applying for the higher rating governs nearly all contents of the project.

Certification to level Outstanding as per the international BREEAM environmental rating is achieved by the effect of many sustainable solutions, including the plot and its location, traffic connections, services and the rest of the built environment. The design accounts for energy supply in 2030, the building’s material efficiency, life cycle, carbon footprints, building service technology, space modifiability and employee satisfaction.

A practical example of sustainability is the building’s façade which is built from recycled and still recyclable copper. The building will be topped out by a green roof, a roof garden and solar panels. All parking spaces for cars will be equipped with charging plugs, so will part of the bicycle parking spaces.

Building to be certified after completion

The office building will be completed in 2024. The building is designed with restaurants which are open to all, such as the panoramic restaurant on the fourteenth floor. After completion, the BREEAM Outstanding certificate will be applied for the entire building in addition to the design phase certification.

 – We Land is the forefront of sustainable construction. Not often do you come across BREEAM environmental rating and its level Outstanding even on the international scale, but its value is all the greater, Senior Property Developer Heikki Alén of NCC says.

Read more about We Land: welandruoholahti.fi

BREEAM basics  

• BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is originally a British classification system which is based on All-European standards.
• BREEAM encourages sustainable and responsible construction on account of a point-awarding system which allows assessing the buildings’ environmental impacts.
• Based on the criteria the buildings are divided into five categories: Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding.
• Behind the BREEAM certification stands the BRE Group which consists of researchers, scientists, engineers and technical experts.
• BRE is a profit-making organisation that invests their profits in public-interest research projects or refurbishment of their own research facilities.

BREEAM is a registered trademark of BRE (the Building Research Establishment Ltd. Community Trade Mark E5778551). The BREEAM marks, logos and symbols are the Copyright of BRE and are reproduced by permission.

”ESG is increasing in focus where property investments are concerned. Today, preference is given to property portfolios with a strong commitment to sustainability values. One could even say that a new building project without the environmental certificate hardly attracts investor interest which is why the investment is not realised,” Senior Property Developer Heikki Alén says.

Sustainability drives property development both in investor portfolios and tenant choices. NCC’s development project We Land in Ruoholahti, Helsinki makes history while still under construction: it is the first project in Finland to be certified to level Outstanding, the highest BREEAM environmental rating.

”We Land is the forefront of sustainable construction. Not often do you come across BREEAM environmental rating and its level Outstanding even on the international scale, but it’s becoming all more relevant when you come to think of the building’s attractive power and secondary market value,” Alén explains.

”Attractive to tenant, attractive to investor”

”Sustainability is an interest that both the tenants and the investors share. When the company is looking for headquarters-level office space, it is one of the key criteria for making the decision. We are witnessing a positive chain reaction: what is attractive to the tenant is also attractive to the investor,” Alén confirms.

Likewise, the employees are increasingly looking for companies to suit their own values. Sustainability is a recruitment trump card and improves job well-being. In addition, the targets set by cities for carbon emissions are getting stricter all the time, which is seen in the town-planning and permitting process.

We Land supports Deloitte’s strategy

One of We Land’s future tenants is the world-leading expert organisation Deloitte. The new building project offers everything that the company can hope for their new office spaces. We Land supports Deloitte’s sustainability strategy and achievement of zero-emission targets.

Less than five per cent are indifferent to sustainability

According to Alén, there has been a huge and quick rise in the appreciation of sustainability. When the development of We Land was first launched in 2018, approximately five per cent of office tenants were looking into the property’s sustainability. Since then, the share of those indifferent to the matter has probably dropped below five per cent.

”You can tell by the design of electric vehicle charging stations that the change has been quick: in 2018, the demand was estimated generally at 20 per cent, but we were brave enough to go for 100 per cent. There can hadly be any excess at the moment of completion in spring 2024.”

Sustainability is built on many different features that the property developer brings together, such as the site and its location, the traffic connections and the rest of the built environment, including services. A property developer today will be contemplating over matters of energy supply in 2030, but also the building’s material efficiency, carbon footprint, service technology, modifiability and employee well-being.

”A property developer works for tomorrow’s value set”

The BREEAM ratings are developing continuously. The bar will be raised even higher which will work as a catalyst to improving sustainability of property development. Property developers play overall an important role here, because they must be able to predict the future for a long time ahead.

”At the point when we start working on a new development project we neither have the investors nor the tenants. Our work is based on assumptions that help us predict how the building should be, say, in five years’ time, even after ten years of operation. We are working for the future demand and value set,” Alén describes.

NCC uses BREEAM as an established process and an in-built policy ten years already. The highest ratings require a multi-disciplinary team who are familiar with the hundreds of details that the certificate covers. The foundation for building a carbon neutral Finland is laid on a designer’s workdesk.

”Activity is taken deeper than the surface, reaching even higher”

Environmental Consultant Karoliina Lietonen of Sweco Talotekniikka Oy from the team specialising in carbon footprint calculation and certification of built environment participates in the design of We Land  since the beginning. According to Lietonen, the advanced activity is taken deeper than the surface, reaching even higher.

”All activity is steered by the application for the higher rating. The certificate sets minimum requirements,  in addition to which project-specific targets are selected. A property developer can set targets that exceed the requirements of current national and EU legislation,” Lietonen explains.

The cornerstone ceremony of We Land took place in January 2022. Although the new building site looks more like a pit at the moment, the sustainability targets are already considered in the temporary arrangements of the building site, such as the sole use of emission-free power supply, minimising construction waste and site transportation emissions and giving preference to recyclable materials whenever possible.

”We Land is the forefront of sustainability where material efficiency and life-cycle thinking are concerned. The façade is a great example of this, because it’s built from recycled and yet recyclable copper. Positive BREEAM points are also earned owing to the green roof, the roof garden and solar panels,” Lietonen adds.

The green roof and the roof garden are great examples of actual green deeds enhancing tenant well-being at We Land.

Explore We Land office building: welandruoholahti.fi