Press release: EriCa will open its doors next autumn, with Finland’s most experienced developer of shared coworking spaces, Crazy Town, as its operator
PRESS RELEASE: 20 November 2024
Welcome to the cradle of green chemistry! Starting next autumn, Finnoo will be creating a better world. The sustainable development scientific community EriCa will open its doors, with Finland’s most experienced developer of shared coworking spaces, Crazy Town, as its operator.
EriCa – Green Chemistry Park, a hub for top experts and companies in green chemistry, will open its doors in autumn 2025. At EriCa, ambitious growth companies, experts and research and training institutes will create a better world with the help of sustainable solutions. The highly respected ecosystem developer Crazy Town was chosen as EriCa’s operator and will be responsible for launching operations, developing the community, selling the ecosystem and providing daily services.
The construction of the EriCa project, owned by A. Ahlström Real Estate, the Church Pension Fund and Aktia Life Insurance, was begun in spring 2023. Construction has proceeded on schedule and the project will be completed in autumn 2025.
“For us as owners, it was important to find a partner that can shape EriCa into an entirely new kind of community. Crazy Town met our criteria, and we are excited about our newly established partnership,” says Pia Lindborg, Director, Real Estate at A. Ahlström Real Estate.
EriCa combines world-class facilities with a committed research and development community
Innovative people and a humane and inspiring community form the heart of EriCa. The workspaces and lab facilities offer alternatives ranging from coworking and hybrid workspaces to fully equipped offices and shared labs. Use of the spaces is based on a monthly fee, free of long-term commitment, which also allows the spaces to be used on a project basis.
EriCa’s main tenant is Kemira, whose research and development activities form a strong foundation for EriCa’s community.
“In the future, innovation will increasingly take place through co-operation, and the goal is for EriCa, as a concept, to attract interesting partners for us,” says Kemira’s Director, Real Estate and Investments, Jari Tolvanen.
In addition to green chemistry and sustainable development companies, the community is open to business developers, startups offering digital solutions, and investors. Collaboration with educational institutions, universities and research centres offers new paths for competence and development.
“A business can arrange work and meeting spaces in EriCa for development teams, even if the rest of the personnel is located elsewhere in Finland or abroad. Use of the space can easily be expanded as needed. Chemistry industry product development teams can use EriCa’s shared lab spaces, without having to invest in their own infrastructure. There are limitless combinations,” explains Mikko Markkanen, a pioneer in shared spaces and the founder of Crazy Town.
A petri dish for a better tomorrow
EriCa is part of the Green Line competence hub for green chemistry, circular economy, and clean technology, being built along the Helsinki-Espoo metro line. Neighbours in the area include Northern Europe’s largest innovation and startup hub in Otaniemi. EriCa’s anchor tenant Kemira will have its research centre in the building.
Crazy Town will link EriCa to a Finland-wide community that includes more than 400 businesses from freelancers to startups and listed companies. EriCa’s members can utilise Crazy Town’s diverse workspaces in five other cities.
Come join our miracle-makers – applications are now welcome
EriCa’s premises will open in autumn 2025, on a date to be revealed later. You can now apply to be a member and partner in a community that will make the world a better place. Spots are open for single-person entrepreneurs to larger teams, in other words for anyone looking to tap into the power of a like-minded community. The fastest applicants still get a say in how the premises are designed. Welcome!
CONTACT DETAILS
Mikko Markkanen
mikko.markkanen@crazytown.fi
Tel. +358 40 758 8712
Timo Lahti
timo.lahti@crazytown.fi
Tel. +358 10 341 7055
Pia Lindborg
pia.lindborg@aahlstrom.com
Tel. +358 50 328 8579
Juha Mäkelä
juha.makela@aahlstrom.com
Tel. +358 50 544 2494
EriCa, located in the Finnoo district of Espoo, is a hub for top experts and companies in green chemistry whose mission is to change the world. The property is owned jointly by A. Ahlström Real Estate Ltd, Kemira Church Pension Fund and Aktia Life Insurance Ltd.
Crazy Town is a community of hundreds of growth-seeking companies, where thousands of experts collaborate and innovate.
Crazy Town is one of Finland’s and Europe’s oldest community-driven workspace operators.
Ahlström Real Estate Ltd manages A. Ahlström’s real estate and forest holdings, including the historic ironworks in Noormarkku.
Kemira is a global leader in sustainable chemical solutions for water-intensive industries. Our focus is on pulp & paper, water treatment and energy industry.
The EriCa project of Kemira, Ahlström Capital, Kirkon Eläkerahasto and Aktia Life Insurance Ltd starts in Espoo
The building and innovation investment of Kemira, Ahlström Capital, Kirkon Eläkerahasto and Aktia Life Insurance was published in spring 2021. The building plan is now legally binding, and the construction of the EriCa Green Chemistry Park can get started.
The planning and the concept development of Kemira’s new technology center has proceeded well and the building permit has been applied for. The building plan for Rusthollinrinne got legally binding in the end of December and on January 5, 2023, the plot owned by Kemira’s pension foundation Neliapila was acquired. The project starts with excavation in the beginning of 2023.
“EriCa is a long-term investment for us and our partners, the Church Pension Fund, and Aktia LifeInsurance Ltd. We’re happy that we can develop this unique business and science center in Espoo together with NIB, Kemira and the joint venture,” says Pia Lindborg, Director Real Estate at A. Ahlström Real Estate Ltd. (subsidiary of Ahlström Capital).
The first phase of the project delivering approximately 3,100 square metres of lettable office area, an 8,600 m2 lettable laboratory area, a 730 m2 lettable conference area and a restaurant. The construction will be in accordance with the environmental certificate BREEAM with the goal of obtaining “Very Good” as a minimum. Kemira Oyj will lease approximately 70% of the total Phase I area with a long-term lease agreement. The other Phase I lettable spaces include approximately 2,900 m2 of laboratory and office space as well as a common space of around 730 m2 containing restaurant and meeting facilities which will be leased to other companies for chemical research. The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) will partly finance the building and the construction of the phase I and the acquisition of land.
”Great that the planning process is now finished and that the construction of the new laboratory and office premises of the Kemira research centre will be able to start in early 2023. The Kemira research centre has been located in Finnoo for over 50 years and will continue in the same location as we move to the new EriCa Green Chemistry Park once it is completed in 2025,” says Kemira Director of Real Estate and Investment, Jari Tolvanen.
”We are eagerly waiting for EriCa to be constructed in Finnoo, Espoo. We often get inquiries about laboratory facilities like this. We are finally able to direct companies to the Green Chemistry Park at EriCa, where the companies can have office, research and laboratory premises in the same building and joining a community of expert from different fields of Chemistry. The sustainable ecosystem in EriCa fits well in Espoo as the city has many times won the title of the most sustainable city in Europe” says Jaana Tuomi, Managing Director of Enter Espoo Oy.
More about the EriCa-projects next phases can be read at www.ericagcp.fi
Kemira to launch a new Growth Accelerator unit – Sampo Lahtinen appointed to lead the team
Kemira is launching a new Growth Accelerator unit to drive Kemira’s long-term growth in selected strategic initiatives. The new unit has two main objectives: to accelerate the commercialisation of new and unique biomaterials in Kemira’s current markets and to create business opportunities in new adjacent markets for both new and existing Kemira products.
Kemira’s strategy targets long-term growth through sustainability and being the leading provider of sustainable chemical solutions. Furthermore, Kemira has set a target of growing the revenue from Kemira’s biobased products to more than €500 million by 2030. Establishing the new unit is a concrete step that will help Kemira execute its strategy.