A new project of significant scope is now underway in the growth business cluster of the Maria area: Supercell Oy is applying for a plot reservation in the area. The new building is planned for the area south of the old Maria Hospital, between Mechelininkatu and Baana.
The City of Helsinki's strategic goal is to transform the former Maria Hospital area into a thriving growth business campus that will be the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The area is already home to the start-up community Maria01 that operates in the City-owned building. The Supercell project will help to achieve the objectives set for the area as a whole.
“It is great that Supercell, which has grown into a global company in Helsinki, is committed to the long-term development of the Maria area. The City of Helsinki is working closely with Supercell, and we hope that Supercell will make the new site its home for decades to come. At the same time, we want to strengthen the operating conditions for the Maria start-up campus by ensuring that the old buildings will continue to serve these activities as well as possible in the future," says Mayor of Helsinki Daniel Sazonov.” says Mayor of Helsinki Daniel Sazonov.
“Our dream is to make games that as many people as possible can play for years and that they will remember forever. Supercell has been growing at a record pace over the past few years, and this growth is not slowing down anytime soon. We need plenty of new top talent to both continuously create new content for our existing games for our hundreds of millions of players and to create new hit games for the global market. The new HQ in the Maria area will allow us to continue our growth in Helsinki, our home city,” says Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell.
Aiming to build a new green urban space
The building site of the Supercell plot reservation is important to the surrounding urban landscape and it is easily accessible. It also acts as a natural link between the Ruoholahti business area and the city centre and, when completed, would strengthen the vitality of Helsinki's city centre.
In the plans, the highest sections of the building are located along Mechelininkatu at the western border of the area. This will allow the urban space on the Baana side to be opened up and new activities and greenery to be built in the area. Another plan is to create a green link from Baana to the courtyard of Maria Hospital.
The planned office building would consist of a lower base section connecting the different operations in the block and two separate higher parts built on top of this base. The ground floor would also include business facilities serving the city's residents, such as premises for cafés, restaurants or exhibition spaces.
For parking, an underground parking facility built into rock is in the plans, and it would serve the parking needs of the entire Maria area.
Decision-making on the plot reservation
The City of Helsinki’s Urban Environment Committee will discuss the plot reservation at its meeting on Tuesday 23 September. The matter will then be referred to the Helsinki City Board's Economic Development Sub-committee for a decision. Under the terms of the reservation, the building permit for the project must be applied for by the end of 2027. The plots were previously reserved for the consortium of YIT Finland Oy and Keva. However, this reservation expired at the end of 2024.
