Espoo’s Kera as a Residential Area

Kera’s stakeholders work closely together in an open, long-term, and broad collaboration to achieve development goals. Open information sharing helps adopt and spread best practices and new ways of working quickly.
Every project takes into account Kera’s long-term development objectives and promotes a wider regional perspective. Partners seek committed participants for all stages of the land use process to ensure alignment with these goals.

The goal of Kera’s development is to create a local, carbon-neutral heating solution. Properties will have access to heat produced by a local heat pump plant and distributed through a district network. By connecting to this system, buildings help achieve the area’s energy-positive target. The solution also supports future building- and block-level systems, enabling two-way energy solutions for properties. Whenever possible, waste heat generated in the area will be utilized in production.
Energy solutions for buildings will follow the energy-saving and energy-producing technologies listed the Land Use Agreement. For profitable electricity production, joint solutions will be explored, such as energy communities.

During Kera’s transformation and development phase, the area will serve as a platform for innovative food production solutions and circular economy services, such as temporary use of buildings and a recycling center. The goal is to ensure that solutions promoting sustainable use of natural resources and serving residents become a permanent part of the future living environment.

In Kera, people live and work in well-designed spaces where quality and comfort come first. A diverse range of housing options makes it possible for residents in different life stages to find a home. Along with zero-emission construction and digital solutions, the design focuses on well-being, safety, health, and supporting community and urban culture in both outdoor and indoor spaces. Residents and workers in the area will have opportunities to participate and influence its development. Smooth everyday living is a priority even during the construction phase, and solutions and services that make life easier will be introduced early in the building process.

Construction projects will pilot and apply high-quality, durable design solutions that follow the principles of carbon-neutral circular economy. Whenever possible, the use of recycled materials and products, as well as low-carbon or carbon-binding materials, should be the starting point for all material and product choices. Each project will include calculations of the building’s life-cycle climate impact, and efforts will be made to minimize it. To reduce process and material waste, planning for logistics, site services, storage, and other actions will aim for joint coordination and shared, centralized services between different projects. Disruption to residents caused by construction sites will be minimized. As part of the area’s carbon-neutrality goal, all construction projects will aim for fossil-free sites in line with the objectives of the Green Deal agreement for Emission-Free Construction Sites signed by the City of Espoo.

In demolition and earthworks, we aim to maximize material efficiency, follow the waste hierarchy, improve sorting by waste type, and achieve a high recycling rate. Demolition projects follow the practices of the Sustainable Demolition Green Deal agreement. A demolition survey is carried out for all buildings to be demolished. Demolition materials are processed and reused as close to the site as possible and for the most valuable purpose. In earthworks, we use as much recycled soil material as possible, in compliance with the MARA regulation and the upcoming MASA regulation. For cleaning contaminated soil, an assessment of contamination and the need for remediation must be prepared. If remediation is needed, the assessment will include a sustainability review of the cleaning options. Excavated soil containing harmful substances should be treated and cleaned whenever possible so that it can be reused.

Walking, cycling, and public transport will be made the most attractive ways to move around in Kera. Shared vehicles will primarily be electric or run on recycled fuel. All logistics will be organized efficiently so that transport capacity is optimized and causes as little disturbance as possible to the environment and other traffic.

Digital solutions in Kera will be used for planning and optimizing material and energy-efficient construction, waste management, and energy consumption. The goal is to create fast network connections and enable local actors to use data for developing new smart services and solutions. All locally collected data should be as openly available and usable as possible. Data-sharing practices will be developed together in a responsible way, respecting privacy.