Töölönkatu parking hall

The Töölönkatu parking hall is located in a central location in the Helsinki neighbourhood of Töölö, in the proximity of Mannerheimintie, one of the main thoroughfares of the city. The parking hall is partially underneath the large hotels along Mannerheimintie. The entrance to the parking hall is from Töölönkatu by the Kivelä park. The parking facility consists of four parking halls with parking spaces on three levels.

YIT was selected as the contractor of the project after long contract negotiations. The customer, Töölönkadun Pysäköintilaitos Oy, wanted to find a suitable contractor with whom a common goal was created. Key selection criteria included schedule, quality and staying on budget.

Special challenges for infrastructure work

The project was realised as a turnkey contract, which means that it included all the phases of the contract from planning and design to construction. The construction included an access tunnel and three vertical shafts. Special challenges included fitting the structures of the concrete tunnels underground, connecting the parking hall to the structures of the adjoining Hotel Scandic and the underpinning of existing district heating piping in the excavation area.

In addition, the long span lengths and loads of the structures as well as the thickness of the rock face roof that amounted to only approximately 1.9 metres required special attention. Because of this, a combination structure was designed that acted as the reinforcement of the rock face and as the adjoining structure of the concrete and rock tunnel.

Increased comfort

Attention has also been paid to environmental friendliness. Heat collected from the air exchange system is recovered for heating use. Direct access to the parking hall improves the area’s air quality and smoothness of residents’ daily life by decreasing the need to drive around looking for a parking spot along the streets. In addition, the aim is to reduce cold starting in winter. The parking spaces are supervised, and the aim has been to make the access ways wide and use materials that age beautifully. Outdoor air used in the hall is cleaned, and the outgoing air is cleaned before the exhaust.

During the excavation phase, the project used the real-time SAMPO production management system that provides information of the pull of the blasting work. It can be also used to track machines’ rate of usage and analyse drilling data (rock quality, crushing, etc.). In addition, the customer can also use the SAMPO production management system to track the progress of the excavation work remotely and in real time.

• 107,000 m3 of solid cubic metres, approximately 5,400 m3 of concrete
• Parking hall’s area approximately 10,000 m2 and floor surface area 24,000 m2
• Parking halls on three levels, in all 810 parking spaces