A more than 130-year-old prestigious building gets a new brain and lungs. Conditions will improve, energy bills will be reduced and the carbon footprint will shrink when the building’s ventilation and automation are modernised.
Koy Luna, located on Mannerheimintie, opposite Stockmann, will get a new brain and lungs in the renovation starting this summer. The comprehensive energy renovation will improve and enhance the building’s ventilation, balance the heating and modernise the automation. The renovation will improve the conditions in the building and reduce the energy bill.
The calculated payback period for an energy renovation is ten years.
“If you think about a 130-year-old house, ten years is a short time. The lifespan of such properties is long. I believe that this will stand still for at least another 200 years,” says Arto Söderholm, manager of Koy Luna at Provia.
Known as Primula or Bakers Corner, the neo-renaissance house was built in the late 1880s as a residential building. Primula’s home bakery opened its first café in the building in 1915, and the first cold storage freezer in Helsinki, which stored the café’s baked goods, represented an advanced technology.
In an old house of value, all renovations and refurbishments are done on the terms of the old house. The metre-thick side walls pose their own challenges, as does the building’s location right in the heart of Helsinki.
“It’s a big and challenging project,” says Söderholm. “There are so many different spaces in the building, and the contractors have to be flexible with the tenants. Good project communication is also important.”
Currently, the property has a pub and a fast food restaurant on the ground floor, as well as office space. The total floor area is around 8 000 square metres. The real estate company has many owners who are developing Luna in a long-term and sustainable way.
“The decision to renovate the energy system was unanimous and easy to make. It was also influenced by the fact that the building’s automation was at the end of its life cycle anyway.”
The energy renovation was designed by LeaseGreen, a specialist in energy efficiency for large properties. LeaseGreen is also responsible for the implementation of the renovation, optimising and ensuring energy use and good conditions in the property after the renovation.
According to LeaseGreen’s calculations, the renovation will cut 29% of the property’s heat consumption and 16% of electricity consumption. The carbon footprint is reduced by 174 tonnes per year, equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions of 40 detached houses. The real estate company uses certified green electricity.
“The renovation will be completed at the end of the year. I expect the project to go well and the promised savings to materialise. It already feels good that we will be less affected by possible energy price increases in the future.”
For LeaseGreen’s experts, properties over 100 years old are interesting targets.
“Our job as designers is to make complex buildings simple to use. Being over 100 years old doesn’t mean that a building can’t be energy efficient and modern. It just takes the right skills,” says Thomas Luther, CEO of LeaseGreen.
“It’s been great to be able to do an energy renovation on the legendary Bakers Corner.”
Arto Söderholm, Provia
+358 10 411 6740, arto.soderholm@provia.fi
Thomas Luther, Managing Director, LeaseGreen
+358 40 5344 256, thomas.luther@leasegreen.com
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