The Turku Student Village Foundation (TYS) has commissioned the construction of a new student housing location, called Tyyssija, in the Student Village. The location’s construction work will be launched in April 2020, and the site is planned to be completed in late 2021. The total costs of this ARA-subsidised project are about EUR 30 million, and the site’s main contractor is Peab Oy.
The main and architectural designer of the building to be built in the middle of the Student Village is Sigge Arkkitehdit Oy. In total, the location will have 186 student apartments, most of which are one-room apartments and the rest two-room apartments. In addition to the apartments, the building will have indoor and outdoor recreational spaces in the tenants’ shared use as well as laundry, sauna and storage facilities.
“The project has been prepared carefully; the architects’ tendering process was started as early on as in 2017. During these exceptional times, it is wonderful that we can start building this new and unique student housing location with highly competent and experienced partners. As regard to its size, the Tyyssija project is significant to the Turku Student Village Foundation and, also, more comprehensively to the entire Turku economic area,” says Risto Siilos, the Managing Director of TYS.
The building’s planned form of heating energy is district heating combined with geothermal heat. Furthermore, around 200 solar panels will be placed on the roof to provide the region’s resident with electricity. There are also plans to utilise the condensation heat of cold rooms, and the possibility to connect the building to a district cooling network has been reviewed. The energy solutions will be specified further as the project progresses.
“When selecting the location’s energy forms, we have strived to make green and climate-friendly solutions that will help promote the City of Turku’s goal of becoming a carbon-neutral city by 2029. The Foundation’s nearby housing location, Aitiopaikka, already has 516 solar panels. Together with these, the solar panels of Tyyssija will be able to meet the electricity demands of about 2,000 tenants at the Student Village,” says Ismo Aaltonen, TYS’s Property Manager.
The objective is to create a clear, functional centre in the Student Village area, ‘the heart of the Student Village’, reinforcing the identity and unique character of the Village and linking it to the campus area. Additionally, the objective is that Tyyssija will improve and modernise the services of student housing and support communality, multiculturalism and the effortless everyday life of students. Grocery store K-Kylänvalinta and TYS’s housing office will move into the building, which will also house new services: an Arkea student restaurant and a CampusSport gym.
“We have carried out a service needs survey among the tenants of Student Village, and a grocery store, a gym and a student restaurant were the most wanted services. Now, we are happy to share that the tenants’ wishes will be met,” says the Account and Communications Manager of TYS, Pirjo Lipponen-Vaitomaa.
An information bulletin about the project will be sent to all the apartments in Student Village West, Nummenranta, Aitiopaikka and Ikituuri. TYS will forward Peab’s newsletters about the work’s progress and the future work stages to the local tenants by email every month. Additionally, all work stages or changes to site arrangements that may cause disruptions as well as works causing loud noise, water or power outages, changes to pathways or long-term exceptions to normal workhours will be reported to the tenants separately by email.
The construction project has its own webpage on TYS’s website at www.tys.fi/en/tyyssija, which offers more information about the project and its progress. Tenant Newsletters will also share information about the different construction stages.
