TURKU, Finland, November 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Extensive refurbishment will begin at the largest shopping centre in Southwest Finland Hansakortteli. Schauman Architects Ltd from Turku together with the design agency Amerikka Ltd won the design competition organised by Hansakortteli. Gozo Ltd from Turku will also participate in the project, bringing service design expertise to the new Hansa.  

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161121/441747 )

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161121/441748 )

Hansakortteli, which was voted Finland's most loved shopping centre by readers of Nordic's largest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, invests in developing a more pleasant shopping centre environment. The project plan will be completed during autumn 2016, but the building work will, however, begin with the refurbishment of the entrances on week 47. The construction work will be carried out during 2017 and 2018. The renewal will begin at Hansatori.

• We will further strengthen the position of Hansakortteli as the living room of the residents of Turku. We base this renewal on a customer survey and the results will be used as basis for our planning, says Timo Palviainen, Shopping Centre Director of Hansakortteli shopping centre.

Janne Helin, Managing Director of Schauman Architects Ltd and the principal designer in the project, says the ambience of the new Hansa will be created by directing the flow of passengers in the shopping centre in a new way.

• Our aim is to make the environment in which people move inside the block easier to navigate. What this means in practice is that we restructured the stairways, paid attention to better accessibility and even created new connections between the promenades, Helin specifies.

• The central plaza Hansatori will be the central meeting place, which will be visible from several directions. In the future also all promenades inside the shopping centre will lead to Hansatori, says Sami Maukonen, CEO of Amerikka Ltd.

In addition, Hansakortteli will invest in new surface materials and lighting. It will also upgrade the basic services, such as the toilet facilities, kids areas and nursing rooms.

•  The new look and ambience of Hansakortteli has been inspired by a diverse urban city culture. At the same time, it still respects the long history of the block, says Sami Maukonen.

With this renewal we also want to attract new operators to Hansakortteli, according to Palviainen.

• We want to profile Hansakortteli as the window to the world for the residents of Turku. With the renewal, we actively look for entirely new operators from the Turku region, elsewhere in Finland and abroad to serve the people of Southwest Finland at Hansa, Palviainen says, shedding light on the plans.

Based on sales and visitor numbers, Hansakortteli is the largest shopping centre in Southwest Finland.

Hansakortteli in Turku is the largest shopping centre in Southwest Finland and the 5th largest in Finland, based on sales and visitor numbers. In 2015 the sales of Hansakortteli was 235€ and number of visitors totalled about 12,5 million. More than 120 companies operate at Hansakortteli, and the gross leasable area is about 39,000m².

For more information, please contact:
Timo Palviainen, Shopping Centre Director, Hansakortteli
+358-400-668862
timo.palviainen@hansakortteli.fi

Janne Helin, Managing Director, Schauman Architects Ltd
+358-400-639581
janne.helin@schaumanarch.fi

Sami Maukonen, CEO Amerikka Ltd
+358-40-508-9766
sami.maukonen@amerikka.fi

Leasing
Leena Braxenholm, Realprojekti Ltd
+358-400-502-016
leena.braxenholm@realprojekti.fi

SOURCE Hansakortteli