Smart Building Certification is proud to award Citycon, the Finnish real estate developer focused on mixed-use centers, a GOLD level Smart Building Certification for their Lippulaiva Urban Hub development. This is the first certification that goes beyond a single building and into the realm of smart cities. In an incredible case study, Lippulaiva stretches Smart Building Certification into its first smart city project through their energy strategy that goes beyond the walls of Lippulaiva and into the greater Helsinki area. Lippulaiva will become the flagship of local energy production. The largest geothermal heating and cooling facility for a commercial building in Europe has been built under the shopping center, and it will generate carbon-free energy to meet almost the entire heating and cooling needs of the shopping center and surrounding areas. Not only have we certified the Lippulaiva property, but we have worked together to identify gaps, opportunities, and bring heightened education and innovation through the SBC network to further inform their developments moving forward. We are excited to support Citycon as their astute focus on environment and the zero carbon pledge goes beyond their developments and aims to educate and share this capability to the greater market.

“Citycon is paving the way for better understanding and realization of energy and sustainability goals with clear strategy, innovations, applications, and solutions that push the market to think differently. The practices we are learning about from Citycon are not only good for the environment, but are good business. The entire world should take note of what they are doing and follow their lead.” - Nicholas White, Head of Operations and Strategy at Smart Building Certification

Schneider Electric is the primary partner in the smart building backbone and their solutions have paved the way for incredible control of energy management and consumption throughout the Urban Hub. 

“The Lippulaiva is a concrete example of what can be achieved with modern technology, strong partnership, and end-to-end owner involvement. Ambitious sustainability and energy efficiency goals, can be achieved with an integrated solution controlling all aspects of energy flows and building operations. Citycon has with Lippulaiva urban hub and citycentre raised the bar for a future-proof building that not only uses but also produces energy, carbon free, never compromising functionality and comfort. It has been energizing to work with SBC and Citycon, and we look forward to continuous collaboration and co-creation of carbon free smart buildings and environments - – Jari Vuori, Vice President, Schneider Electric

The new Lippulaiva has a total of 44,000 square meters of leasable area and over 100 different shops, cafés, restaurants and services. Lippulaiva will also function as a key public transport hub. A station of the second phase of the western metro extension and a commuter bus terminal will be located under the shopping center.

The requirements for the Smart Building Certificate are classified in 6 categories

1) building usage 2) building performance 3) health safety and security 4) building environment 5) user experience and collaboration 6) connectivity and integrative design. Citycon strives to score as high as possible for each category, but also with heightened focus on the benchmark and what can be learned from others following a similar journey. These themes set a framework for continuous exploration and discussion.

 “We are honored and proud to be the first certification of a project within smart cities. Lippulaiva is an outstanding proof that there is much we can do as individuals and corporations to connect and enlighten the places we live and work which is also demonstrated by Lippulaiva's participation in the EU's smart city initiative, the SPARCS project. Citycon will continue to drive innovation and change in this important area, and through the process with Smart Building certification, we have also gained new, valuable insights we can use continuing to implement our company strategy in a sustainable manner.” – Kirsi Simola-Laaksonen, Chief Information Officer, Citycon

The Smart Building Certification, which has been developed to promote wellbeing, sustainability, performance, innovation, and health and safety in the built environment, recognises buildings that have smart tech infrastructure in place to evaluate a building’s behavior and performance. The first building awarded Platinum Smart Building Certification was EDGE Olympic Amsterdam.