The Research Hub is a university building with demanding laboratory facilities, and the main user will be the University of Tampere. The new building will be located between the existing buildings of Sähkötalo, and old parts of Sähkötalo will be demolished from under the new building. The new building will centralise the university's experimental research environments, creating functional and spatial synergies as well as building services benefits, and supporting the multidisciplinarity potential between different actors.

“We have been working on the project in close cooperation with both the university and other project stakeholders for quite some time. The project will enable a functional entity that supports the university's research activities and provides a new operating environment for users of the facilities to benefit from. The Sähkötalo Research Hub is one of the most demanding projects we have implemented. We trust SRV as the project contractor and are confident that they have the ambition to implement the project so that the end result meets our objectives,” comments Sanna Sianoja, CEO of University Properties of Finland Ltd.

The new building will include several laboratories and ancillary facilities, so the amount of building services work in the contract will be large and the implementation challenging. Construction will also be challenged by the location in the tightly-built campus area, where some of the spaces will be in use during the renovation.

“The basic renovation of Sähkötalo and the Research Hub require multidisciplinary expertise in technically demanding spaces. We bring to the project a wealth of experience from several projects in hospitals and laboratories, as well as from office and laboratory facilities implemented for the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland. In this project management contract, we also get to utilize our experience in cooperative project management projects, as several qualitative and functional goals have been set for the project. The project focuses on open information flow and interaction between different parties at all levels of the project. The facilities will be of high quality and adaptable to support the university's current and future cutting-edge research," says SRV's Regional Director Tero Karislahti.

SRV implemented business premises for the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) that were completed in Jokiniemi, Vantaa in 2020. In addition to office space suitable for complex specialist tasks, the project included exceptionally demanding laboratory facilities related to radiation safety, which placed high demands on the construction.

The size of the new building will be approximately 8,800 gross square metres and the renovated part approximately 6,900 gross square metres. In addition, around 12,000 gross square metres of the old property will be demolished. The project will start with basic renovation work in summer 2024, and this phase will last about a year. Construction work in the new section will start in autumn 2024, and the Research Hub will be completed in summer 2026. The final building demolitions and yard work will be completed in spring 2027.

The demolition phase will be carried out in accordance with the Green Deal. In the name of resource efficiency, 70 percent of construction and demolition waste will be recovered as something other than energy or fuel.

The new building and the basic renovation will focus on the energy efficiency and energy recovery of the property. Part of the building's electricity and lighting needs will be met by a 20-kilowatt peak photovoltaic system on the roof of the new section. In addition, provision will be made for the connection of a 140-kilowatt peak photovoltaic system. BREEAM environmental certification with a target rating of Excellent will be sought for the new building, and Very Good for the basic renovation section.