KAAPELI, one of the Partners of the Greening the Hubs project, hosted a three-day Training Hotspot in Helsinki on energy efficiency, demolition art and respecting the history of the
buildings
KAAPELI hosted the fourth – and last – training hotspot of Greening the Hubs in Helsinki on 2nd-4th September. The partners brought lovely, sunny weather to Helsinki where it had been rainy and chilly the whole summer. So, the frames for the gathering were great.
The program was divided into three themes: first day was dedicated to deep diving into energy efficiency and KAAPELI model. Thursday was packed with visits to listen and learn from other operators working models. The last day was reserved for Greening the Hubs project; its pilots, reports, data collection etc.
Cable Factory is the former Nokia factory which has been in cultural use already for 35 years. It is a huge building with almost 70 000 sqm including the relatively new Dance House Helsinki.
The actual program started with presentation by the managing director Kai Huotari, who explained the KAAPELI model, its structure, values, vision and mission.
Team Kaapeli member Jouni Kärki put the participants to recognize the different steps of mechanical ventilation system with heat recover in his icebreaking session. It was an introduction to the theme of the day – energy efficiency. Team members Ville Kurki and Matti Waara presented KAAPELI’s solutions on energy and took participants on the rooftop to the ventilation rooms to see how the system works.
After coffee break keynote speech was delivered online by Toni Pakkala from the University of Tampere. After some technical issues the participant heard an introduction on solid masonry walls, on their weather resistance especially in the harsh Finnish climate, and why it is still a great way to build lasting buildings. Very relevant topic to think of the premises of all three centers; DumBO, Nova Cvernovka and KAAPELI.
Head of the Property of the Cable Factory Raine Heikkinen took the quest for a 1,5 hours tour along the corridors, cellars and spaces of the former Nokia factory. The tour ended to the rooftop sauna with drinks and a view over Lauttasaari.
The day ended with a little surprise. Team KAAPELI had reserved the largest event space Sea Cable Hall – all together more than 3000 sqm- for a private dinner. Only the dinner table was lit, otherwise the space was dark and empty.
Suvilahti is the former power plant and gasworks area owned by KAAPELI for almost 20 years. Head of Property Jouni Kärki explained the Suvilahti model concentrating specially on sustainable adaptive reuse and renovation the are has faced and is facing soon.
Suvilahti is well known for outdoor events and festivals like heavy metal festival Tuska and the largest music festival in Finland, The Flow. Stiina Väänänen from Flow gave a highly interested presentation about the sustainable work The Flow is doing. This seemed to resonate well with the partner’s own event production.
Jouni showed the group around in Suvilahti and took us to the brick gasometer, which Kaapeli will start to rent out after some renovation work next year.
Bus no 55 took us to Arabia district to visit Purkutaide exhibition. Since 2016, Purkutaide has brought buildings standing empty, waiting for a new purpose or for demolition, and artists together, giving hundreds of artists the chance to turn empty buildings into temporary worlds of art.
After lunch visited Record Pressing (Helsingin Levypuristamo), which is a modern vinyl pressing plant with an ambitious sustainable program. The day ended with a visit to Lapinlahti- a former asylum, which is partly still in mental health use and partly a culture centre.
The last day was dedicated to the project itself. Each partner had 20 min to present their own pilots, and then Fenya Sourla from Dataphoria explained how the data collecting is proceeding, what is still missing, and what is still required from the partners.
The day ended with a joint lunch at Hima &Sali restaurant.
It was once again proved that GtH has a great partners network which is strongly dedicated to the project; its themes, tasks and goals. We are a group of people who also really enjoy spending time together. Thank you for being in Helsinki!
