Submit a guidance request in Lupapiste
Start preparing your project as early as possible by submitting a guidance request (neuvontapyyntö) to the Lupapiste online permit service (in Finnish and Swedish only).
Through Lupapiste, you can ask us questions related to your construction project. The principal designer can book an appointment for preliminary negotiations once the preliminary plans have been laid out based on the background information.
Please keep in touch with us via Lupapiste at all stages of the planning and permit process. In Lupapiste, up-to-date information and instructions remain available to all parties involved throughout the entire design and permit process.
In Helsinki, all applications for building permits are submitted electronically in the Lupapiste online permit service. General and project-specific guidance and counselling are also primarily provided via Lupapiste. Documents related to the application and construction process monitoring are to be submitted in digital format to Lupapiste.
Go to Lupapiste(Link leads to external service)
How to get started and ask for advice in Lupapiste
- The first time you use the service, you will be asked to register. After this, you will be able to log in with your e-mail address and password.
- Enter the street address where your project site is located.
- Use the “Kysy neuvoa (Ask for advice)” button in the upper right-hand corner to request guidance.
- Write a short description of your project and your question(s). The service will direct you to the appropriate expert who can answer your question(s).
After the consultation, you can turn your request for guidance into a permit application.
Do you need help using Lupapiste?
The Lupapiste support portal offers instructions for registering and logging in to the service, submitting a new application or request for guidance, turning your guidance request into a permit application, and submitting an application.
Go to the Lupapiste user manual (in Finnish and Swedish)(Link leads to external service)
Get technical support using the Lupapiste support ticket form(Link leads to external service)
Register the property and check the real estate easements
You must have the right of possession for the building site before you can submit a building permit application to Lupapiste.
Once you have purchased or leased a property, make sure that it is registered as a plot. This is important to allow the building to be commissioned in conjunction with the partial final inspection. If it is necessary to carry out a plot division or plot parcelling for the property, it is important that you contact Helsinki’s City Survey Services as early as possible.
At the same time, confirm with the principal designer whether the project will affect any of the neighbouring plots and, consequently, whether there is a need for an easement. Real estate easements are established either through a separate easement survey or in connection with a plot parcelling procedure.
Read more about plot parcelling and registration
More information on establishing a real estate easement
Find out the boundary conditions and background information for the site
The local detailed plan controls construction on the plot
Start establishing the project’s boundary conditions by downloading the local detailed plan for the area from the Map Service(Link leads to external service). In the local detailed plan, you will find information on the permitted building volume of the plot and any other regulations or guidelines concerning construction that the plan may set out. Local detailed plan regulations must be complied with.
- The local detailed plan may include regulations concerning the shared-use facilities of residential buildings and their location or the distribution of apartments in apartment buildings and their floor area, for example.
- Local detailed plans drawn up after summer 2023 specify life cycle carbon footprint limits for buildings.
- Helsinki applies the Percent for Art principle. See the local detailed plan regulations to confirm whether developers are obliged to procure art during construction projects.
In addition to the above conditions, other conditions may also apply to plot lease and transfer agreements in cases where the City is the owner of the land.
Helsinki is committed to reducing its climate emissions
Helsinki aims to reduce its climate emissions to 85% by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2040. To support the achievement of these targets, we recommend that new buildings be designed according to energy efficiency class A.
The primary recommendation for a source of energy is geothermal heating. If it is not possible to build a geothermal heating system on the plot, we recommend connecting the building to the district heating network.
More information on building geothermal heating systems
Ensure that quality criteria are met
In Helsinki, the key architectural principles are comfort, functionality and accessibility. Building Control Services monitor the quality criteria for new buildings, which are set out in the Implementation Programme on Housing and Related Land Use. Under this programme, developers must pay particular attention to the good basic quality, adequate lighting and furnishability of apartments, among other things. For example, rooms must have enough space for at least two different interior design solutions.
Developers should also pay attention to ensuring that apartment buildings offer a wide variety of apartment types of different sizes for people in different life situations. For example, the shared-use facilities of buildings must be easily accessible for older people, and people must be able to move about the building unobstructed in general.
As for the yard design, developers must pay attention to elements such as greenery, storm water retention and the comfort of the courtyard, taking into account the distinct character of the city district.
Read more about the guidelines on storm water drainage and yard design in the City of Helsinki’s building regulations.
Some districts are also subject to separate local planning guidelines, construction guidelines and repair guidelines.
Order a ground investigation and cable report
You can order the data you need for a ground investigation and other map data you need to support your planning work from the Karttakori service(Link leads to external service) (in Finnish).
It is also your responsibility to order a ground investigation and area levelling for the plot from a specialist company. When drawing up project plans, you can also make use of the Soili service(Link leads to external service), which provides ground investigation data for design and planning agencies. This service is free of charge for the City’s projects. The ground investigation data obtained through the Soili service serves as additional background information for the design of the new building.
Order a cable report for earthworks, rock excavation or drilling work before submitting an excavation notification and starting work.
Order a cable report from the Helsinki Cable Location Service
Schedule a meeting with the area working group
As part of the construction project, you will participate in the activities of an area working group comprising experts of the City of Helsinki. The aim of the area working group is to streamline construction in Helsinki. See the area working group instructions provided at the end of this section when you start planning your project. The meeting with the area working group will take place before the preliminary negotiations with Building Control Services.
As a general rule, the area working group considers projects twice. Once you have drawn up the preliminary project plans on the basis of the background information, you or the principal designer must schedule a date for a commencement meeting with the area working group through the Urban Development Unit of the Helsinki City Executive Office’s Economy and Planning Department.
Schedule the meeting through the responsible person whose area your project is located in. Find the contact details for the responsible persons of the area working group in the Helsinki Map Service(Link leads to external service).
It is essential that the party engaging in the building project and the project’s building designer and principal designer attend the meetings with the area working group. The City Executive Office will invite the necessary experts of the City of Helsinki to attend the scheduled meetings.
In addition to Building Control Services, the area working group’s meetings are attended by the following teams:
- Detailed Planning
- Land Property Development and Plots
- Traffic and Street Planning
- Environmental Services (if necessary)
- Urban Space And Landscape Planning (if necessary).
Other experts can also be invited to the meetings if necessary. The commencement meeting will focus on discussion and sharing information. At the meeting, the participants can agree on future consideration of the project by different working groups, among other things. You should present the planned distribution of apartments in the building at the commencement meeting.
Before submitting a building permit application, you will also attend a consultation meeting with the area working group. At the meeting, you will discuss the plans that the project is committed to implement, which should be as complete as possible. If everything is in order, the area working group will issue a favourable opinion on the plans, which will be attached to the building permit application.
Read the guidelines for the area working group treatment (PDF, in Finnish)
See the summary of the area working group treatment (PDF, in Finnish)
Review the permit application requirements during preliminary negotiations
Once you have drawn up the preliminary plans, the principal designer will book an appointment for preliminary negotiations. During these preliminary negotiations, we will determine together what documents and attachments the project needs for the building permit application.
You should book the appointment for preliminary negotiations via the electronic appointment booking service. At the same time, you should submit the preliminary plans to Lupapiste for the preliminary negotiations. Before booking an appointment, please read the instructions for preliminary negotiations. It is the responsibility of the principal designer to ensure that the documents are available at least one week before the scheduled date of the preliminary negotiations.
Preliminary negotiations will cover the following:
- qualifications of the designers
- background information for the project
- preliminary plans
- any derogations from the local detailed plan or other regulations that require special consideration or reviews in the building permit. Building Control Services will assess whether the derogations are minor. Read more about derogations from the local detailed plan or building regulations
See the instructions for preliminary negotiations (PDF, in Finnish)
Go through the building permit application checklist (PDF, in Finnish)
In Helsinki, the dense urban environment places special requirements on construction. Consequently, construction projects usually require the designers to be qualified at least for difficult design tasks.
The need for other working groups will be assessed at the preliminary negotiations
In the case of very large-scale projects, the permit processor may recommend technical preliminary negotiations for the project to review the technical solutions and feasibility of the plans. In addition to the permit processor, the preliminary technical negotiations will be attended by inspection engineers of Building Control Services.
If the location of the plot is significant in terms of the cityscape or if the project is the first one in the detailed plan area in question, the project plans may also be considered by the Cityscape Working Group.
If any construction engineering solutions for which no ready-made solutions can be found are identified during the planning of the building, the Engineering Working Group will assess the solutions from a safety and health perspective. At the preliminary negotiations, we will assess whether there is a need for the project to be considered by these working groups.
Planning must adhere to the principle of conformity with the local detailed plan. When special cause exists, Helsinki may, however, permit minor derogations from laws, decrees, the local detailed plan, building regulations and other provisions in connection with a building permit application. If you are applying for minor derogations, the principal designer must separately mention each minor derogation and its justifications in the project description submitted to Lupapiste. We will consider minor derogations on a case-by-case basis and, if necessary, request an opinion from the relevant parties.
In the description, the principal designer must clearly state:
- the regulations to which the derogation relates
- the manner in which you wish to derogate from these regulations
- the justification for the derogation.
As a general rule, derogations should lead to a better outcome than would be achieved by adhering to the local detailed plan or another regulation. The justification for a minor derogation cannot be financial in nature. You must bring up any minor derogations during the preliminary negotiations. If Building Control Services identify an undeclared minor derogation in the building permit application, it may delay the processing of the application.
Submit a building permit application
Once the drawings and documents are complete, you or the principal designer can submit a permit application to Lupapiste(Link leads to external service). However, the principal designer is responsible for ensuring that no information is missing from the application.
Depending on the type of project, the processing time for a permit application is either three or six months if all the documents are in order. For projects involving very or exceptionally difficult design tasks, the processing time is six months.
If Building Control Services ask for supplemental information to your application, you must submit the supplemental information within the deadline given. If you have not provided the supplemental information or the application is otherwise incomplete in a way that prevents it from being processed, the application may be left unprocessed or a negative permit decision may be issued.
The permit decision issued is available in Lupapiste. Schedule a commencement meeting with an inspector engineer from Building Control Services once the permit decision is final.
Remember that you can only carry out construction in accordance with the permit decision. If it is necessary to deviate from the permit decision at the construction site, discuss the change with the permit processor from Building Control Services before starting the work.