Alma Media will move into new office building in the centre of Helsinki

Alma Media Corporation  Press release  May 19, 2010 at 12:00 EEST

ALMA MEDIA WILL MOVE INTO NEW OFFICE BUILDING IN THE CENTRE OF HELSINKI
The media building of the future will also include apartments

Alma Media’s staff in Helsinki will move into a new office building to be constructed in the Töölönlahti Bay area in the autumn of 2012. Iltalehti and Kauppalehti are among the publications that will be made in this media building of the future. The eco-efficient new building by the Töölönlahti Park, between the Finlandia Hall and the main railway, is designed to also include apartments and a café.

With the office building project, Alma Media, a constantly renewing media corporation, will take an active part in developing the landscape around the Töölönlahti Bay. The city plan stipulates that the new 12,000-square metre building, of which Alma Media will occupy a major part, will be five storeys high. Its façade must be plaster-finished and light-coloured.  Buildings on the park side must also use wood as a façade material. An architectural design competition for the building will be organised in autumn 2010. Keywords for the design will be transparency, easy approachability and a concept that is different from the prevailing “glass wall” architecture. Apartments, business premises and a café open to the public are also planned in the eco-efficient building.

The large floor area, more than 2,000 square metres, enables totally new opportunities for designing the functions of a rapidly renewing media corporation. Alma Media is looking to use the new office solution to tighten its internal cooperation between the staffs of its various business units in accordance with its strategy. Personnel from Iltalehti, Kauppalehti, Lehdentekijät, Alma Media Marketplaces, Alma’s Helsinki desk and the Group parent company, more than 500 people, will move into the new building.

– Now we are in a position to do in Helsinki what Satakunnan Kansa did in Pori a year ago in summer: create a modern office environment in the heart of the city that will support future ways of media publishing. The new location will be very visible to the inhabitants of Helsinki, which is why we are aiming at a human-size, interesting and easily approachable place where you can pop in for a cup of coffee while strolling in the Töölönlahti Park, Alma Media’s President and CEO Kai Telanne promises.

Alma Media has been looking for a solution for its offices in Helsinki for several years. Demands on the location placed by modern media work have drawn out the process and caused many prospective places to drop off the list. The new building on Töölönlahti Bay will be built by Etera.

More information:

Rauno Heinonen, Vice President, Corporate Communications and IR, tel. +358 10 665 2251

Tapio Valtanen, Property Manager, tel. +358 10 665 3324

Alma Media in brief

Alma Media is a profitable and internationally expanding company with a focus on the future of newspapers and online services. Its best known products are the Aamulehti, Iltalehti, Kauppalehti and Etuovi.com.

Alma Media’s net sales in 2009 totaled MEUR 307.8 with an operating margin of 13.5 per cent. The company’s share (ALN1V) is listed in the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Exchange. Read more at www.almamedia.fi.

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