Haahtela-rakennuttaminen Oy to be in charge of project management for Kesko's Itäkeskus project

KESKO PRESS RELEASE 23.04.2015 AT 10.00 1(2)

Kesko has chosen Haahtela-rakennuttaminen Oy as its partner to implement the construction project of the new commercial centre in Itäkeskus, Helsinki.

In the project, Haahtela will be responsible for the project management of building work, which includes planning control, purchases, management of contracted-out construction work, rental support functions and the duties of the main implementer.

- Choosing Haahtela as our partner was essentially based on our earlier good experiences of cooperation with them and the competent project personnel able to carry out demanding construction projects provided by Haahtela for the project, says Antti Palomäki, Kesko's District Director for the Greater Helsinki Area.

For Kesko, another important factor was that project management service as the method of implementation allows changes to be made in the course of construction, which are typical of shopping centre projects, and that the partner has sophisticated project management practices and tools for handling them.

- We are confident that in cooperation with Haahtela, we will implement the construction project in a manner which generates added value also to the tenants at the shopping centre and subsequent business requirements, says Palomäki.

- It is great to have the opportunity to implement such a significant, visible and demanding construction project with Kesko. This site is a continuation of our projects serving the trading sector which we have carried out successfully applying the project management model, says Professor Yrjänä Haahtela, Managing Director of Haahtela-rakennuttaminen Oy.

Kesko will build a new and modern commercial centre on the site of the current K-citymarket in Itäkeskus. The centre and its services, to be built in phases, will have a special focus on food, enjoyable leisure time and encounters. After completion, the new centre will provide its customers with a superior shopping experience and enterprises with the most advanced environment in the country for multi-channel entrepreneurship.

The commercial centre to be built in eastern Helsinki has been designed by the architect firm Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Oy. The first phase of the commercial centre will be completed at the end of 2017. It will have a floor area of 26,000 square metres and the capital expenditure will be about €100 million. The employment impact of the first phase will be about 250 person-years during the next two years.

The second phase of the project is estimated to be completed in 2019 and it will accommodate, for example, a Finnkino cinema complex.

The K-citymarket hypermarket operating on the site will serve customers throughout the construction project. At present, new parking spaces are being built for K-citymarket's customers and changes necessitated by the construction work are being made in the current K-citymarket. The new building will mainly be located on the car park of the current K-citymarket.

Further information is available from:
Antti Palomäki, Director of Kesko's Greater Helsinki District, tel. +358 50 656 17
Professor Yrjänä Haahtela, Managing Director of Haahtela-rakennuttaminen Oy, tel. +358 400 402 559

Illustrative drawings of the shopping centre may be downloaded at: http://bit.ly/1QmhiSd

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Kesko (www.kesko.fi) is one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. We are a retail specialist whose chains have about 2,000 stores in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, and Belarus. Our stores offer quality to the daily lives of consumers.