The acquisition of the Paavola Campus Area in the City of Lahti, which is the largest municipal project in the municipality's history, will be completed in stages during 2021–2023. Within the campus area, teaching will be conducted for approximately 2,500 children and young people consisting of preschool, primary and secondary schools and adult education.

"It is unique to be able to develop such a large and new campus area in the city center together with the city of Lahti. We see the collaboration with the city as very interesting as they have a great need for educational places and other social infrastructure," says Jarkko Leinonen, Head of Finland at Hemsö.

The project covers a total of just over 30,000 sqm of lettable space. The City of Lahti will be a tenant and has signed 20-year leases for all areas. The leases for the buildings begin to run after the respective sub-projects have been completed.

"This is the first time that the city sells properties and projects of this size. Our mission is to provide functional, environmentally friendly and safe facilities for city dwellers. We do not see owning properties as our primary task and Hemsö will be a stable partner for us," says Jouni Arola, Head of Property Operations in Lahti.

Lahti is located about 90 km northeast of Helsinki, and is the capital of the Päijänne-Häme region. With around 120,000 inhabitants, Lahti is Finland's 8th largest city. Lahti offers university education via the University of Helsinki (Biosciences and Natural Sciences) as well as Lappeenranta – Lahti University of Technology (LUT). In addition, there is vocational and polytechnic education via several agencies.

Hemsö already owns approximately 100,000 square meters of educational properties in Finland.