Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2013 | Page 53

these plans is the travel / shopping / congress
centre which will be built just next door to
the railway station. According to construction company SRV, the new complex could
be ready in 2015.

Quality Workers Available
Presently, Kouvola is also the 10th biggest
city in Finland. People here are educated and
possess a wide range of expertise. There is
also workforce available for new businesses, Simo Päivinen adds.
“There are, for example, a lot of professionals who speak Russian in the region.”
Even more important than language
skills is the presence of strong networks in
Kouvola. According to Kinno’s Aleksandra
Airikainen, for newcomers it is extremely
easy to join the local business community.
“We will help with the right contacts and
find likeminded partners for new companies,” Airikainen says. Fledgling companies
have found that Kouvola Innovation is very
good at eliminating all forms of red tape: in
just a couple of days, the company is registered and good to go, with premises and
bank accounts standing by. “The idea is to
make it as easy as possible to establish a
business here,” Airikainen adds.

Veturi Kicks Off

which total 200,000 square meters in size
and also a trading, wholesale and customs
centre for international logistics. There are
already several international companies with
operations in the area, says Simo Päivinen
from Kinno. “Tailored rail connections can
be established for logistics players with ease
in Kouvola,” Päivinen promises.
For business travellers, the launch of
the fast Allegro connection a couple of years
ago has meant that St. Petersburg is closer than ever before. Asko Pesonen believes
that there is potential to develop that angle
even further: Kouvola could become a genuine congress city, too. The centre piece of

For Kouvola, the biggest buzz in 2012 has
been the launch of the shopping centre Veturi in September. With 48,000 square metres of leasable space, Veturi is the biggest
shopping centre in South Eastern Finland.
The builder of the new shopping oasis, Kesko, had been looking for a suitable place to
try out its new shopping centre concept. Finally, the right plot was found in Kouvola
and the construction of the 100 million EUR
shopping centre could commence.
Regional Director Timo Heikkilä from
Kesko says that the Veturi investment is the
single biggest investment that the company
has made in retail business. “We analysed
very carefully the development of purchasing power in the region as well as the future
potential. We wanted to bring our very best
expertise to Veturi,” Heikkilä says.
With over 80 stores, Veturi has attracted a steady flow of customers from the local community – and beyond. The biggest
shopping centre in Southeast Finland clearly has pull. “The idea is to get customers
from the core area – that is to say Kouvola
Region – first, and then, gradually, to draw
in people from outside the region as well,”
Heikkilä lays out the master plan.

tage of this opportunity and serve also our
Russian customers. This is clearly a situation where everybody should assist in getting the word out there,” he says, adding that
the corporate circles and city officials share
a common view in this.
It will take a couple of years before
the full impact of the shopping centre can
be really assessed, but Heikkilä says that the
launch of the centre has been very promising.
There are also plans to add some new
elements into the mix: there’s still 40,000
square metres of con