Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2012 | Page 23

Photo: Sini Pennanen

Building on Tradition
One of the admirers of the vibrant downtown
is British real estate development guru John
Worthington (see interview on page 8). According to Worthington, Helsinki gives room
to the individual and gets creative with a
whole underground web of shops and pedestrian networks. Kaivopiha and its surrounding areas are very much a part of the
Helsinki appeal.
In fact, HYY Real Estate and Worthington see eye-to-eye on a number of issues that deal with successful urban environments. Contributing factors include a sense
of wellbeing and increased quality of life
through aesthetic surroundings and access
to services – but certain places also exude
an aura of significance that is hard to manufacture from a greenfield setting. In this
framework, functionality and effectiveness
are desired elements, for sure, but assigning
meaning to a place goes beyond such things.
In the case of HYY Real Estate, of
course, the way the tenants feel about their
premises and the service level determines
the difference between success and failure.
Yrjö Herva reports that there is a big pay-off
that comes from focusing on customer service: the supremacy of HYY Real Estate in
the KTI customer satisfaction benchmarking survey is almost unbelievable.

Dozen Diamonds

HYY Real Estate – Key Assets
HYY Real Estate serves commercial and office customers, and also offers
residences and activity and association premises to students and the Student
Union. Properties are primarily located in the centre of Helsinki around the
Ylioppilasaukio and Kaivopiha squares, and also in Etu-Töölö in the vicinity
of the new Kamppi Centre. Kaivopiha Ltd manages, rents and maintains the
properties of the Student Union.
City Centre Property, Helsinki city centre, leasable floor-area 32,741 m2
Kaivotalo building Kaivokatu 10, Helsinki 10
Citytalo building Mannerheimintie 3, Helsinki 10
Hansatalo building Mannerheimintie 5, Helsinki 10
The New Student House Mannerheimintie 5, Helsinki 10
The Old Student House Mannerheimintie 3, Helsinki 10
Leppäsuo Property, Domus, Etu-Töölö, leasable floor-area 14,278 m2
Building B Leppäsuonkatu 9, Helsinki 10
Building C Hietaniemenkatu 14, Helsinki 10
Building D Hietaniemenkatu 14, Helsinki 10
Helecon information centre Leppäsuonkatu 9 E, Helsinki 10
Others
Aleksis Kivi’s cottage Rantatie, Tuusula
Domus Gaudium (60%), Leppäsuonkatu 11, Helsinki 10
Ida Aalbergin tie 1 (25%), Iida Aalbergin tie 1, Helsinki 39
Villa Kuunari Kuunarintie 2, Helsinki 85

KTI has carried out the survey every year
since 2000 and every time HYY Real Estate has come up on top. Still, Herva comments that winning never gets old – even if
it’s the 12th time. But what is the secret behind such a tremendous run?
“We listen carefully to the hopes and
wishes of the tenants and do our very best to
fulfill them as quickly as possible – and our
customers really appreciate this.”
The 2011 survey featured 17 real estate players whose customers were asked
about their views regarding the premises,
landlord and service. HYY Real Estate excelled especially as a great landlord and provider of excellent services – and even managed to improve its over-all grade from the
previous year.
Yrjö Herva notes that the only slight
criticism arose from things that are hard to
change as such – for example, the flexibility of premises is not optimal in a building
that was constructed in 1910.
In addition to taking good care of its
customers, HYY Real Estate has placed special emphasis on sustainability as well. In
fact, the organisation is one of the founding members of the Finnish Green Building Council.
Sami J. Anteroinen

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