Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2020 | Page 34

REDI
Disruption in real estate increasingly means that boundaries between live, work, and play are blurring. Rise of
the sharing economy and new technologies – coupled with shifting generational expectations – push real estate
towards convergence. We are presently seeing a situation where mixed-use developments are no longer a collection
of disparate elements, but rather a future-focused, strategic response to market demands.
O
ne driver in the evolution is the
“war for talent,” the on-going race
to attract and engage the best knowl-
edge-workers. As a consequence, dense,
diverse and flexible communities are being
created – communities that integrate a vari-
ety of uses, ranging from residential and
leisure to hospitality, retail and, of course,
work.
Designer consultancy SmithGroup has
observed that this convergence is not only
about market sectors. According to Smith-
Group’s report Convergence: The Future of
Development, there used to be a disconnect
between technology, workplace design and
urban planning. Technologists were driven
by a process that was iterative, disruptive
and focused on being the first to market.
In contrast, workplace designers and urban
planners were a bit more deliberate. We are
experiencing – for the first time in history
– a situation where technology, workplace
design and urban planning are converging. 
34 Nordicum
Spice It Up!
While coveted real estate was once defined
by prime location, amenities have become
the rising new value differentiator for vari-
ous properties. Developers are competing to
win tenants and investors by offering gold-
star amenity packages, from sophisticated
food and beverage offerings to co-working
spaces, with pet amenities often being cited
as the ultimate attraction that seals the deal. 
At the district scale, developers under-
stand that it’s all about the experience – and
the major players are keen on transforming
entire neighborhoods. In Finland, new shop-
ping centers such as Helsinki-based ­Tripla
and REDI do much more than ask you to
come and shop – they invite you to sky-
dive and surf.
In SmithGroup’s report, develop-
ers and landlords identified several critical
attributes that must be addressed if a mixed-
used project is to be successful. These
include hospitality focus, abundant natural
light, excellent shared amenity spaces and
on-site retail. The developers and landlords
agreed that to be authentic, the new mixed-
use must include at least three product types,
with no product type accounting for more
than 40-percent of the total, excluding pro-
jects that are dominated by any one mar-
ket sector.
The split of uses also provides oppor-
tunities to share parking and minimize costs.
For example, office and residential offer a
complimentary combination of uses, as
office users need parking from 8:00 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m., leaving parking available in
the evenings and on weekends for residents.
Hunt the Hybrid
City of Helsinki and Senate Properties
are trying their hand in the construction
of new kind of mixed-use. A vacant lot in
in the Sörnäinen district has been waiting
for an action plan since the existing build-