Rovaniemi will turn protected police building into courthouse

Rovaniemi’s nearly 80-year-old police building is being converted into a courthouse in a rare Finnish state construction project, Yle reports. The interior of the building, completed in 1949, will be demolished while its exterior walls are preserved.

The Lapland police department left the building after staff developed symptoms there, and the premises had also become outdated and impractical. No mould has been found in the building, however. The police will continue to use its detention facilities, firing range and vehicle garage, while new police premises are built outside the city centre.

The state-owned property manager Senate Properties decided to convert the protected building’s facade into a courthouse. All organisations operating under Finland’s Ministry of Justice in Rovaniemi are expected to move there by the end of 2028.

Interior to be rebuilt from floor to ceiling

Demolition inside the building has continued for six months. Workers wearing respiratory protection are using small excavators indoors, while demolition waste and sand are being moved outside largely with wheelbarrows.

Kimmo Puttonen, Senate Properties’ construction project manager, said no moisture damage or mould had been found in the structures. Odours that have been interpreted as the smell of mould came from water used to saw through the upper slab and from removing organic filling, he said.

“We are building entirely new structures inside, from the floor to the ceiling. In other words, it will be like a new building inside the old walls,” Puttonen said.

The project covers four separate parts of the building, including sections built in the 1980s. In one part, an intermediate ceiling will be removed to make room for a large main courtroom. Smaller courtrooms will be built in a new section on the site of the police service area being demolished.

The future rooms are still being designed because the demolition is taking so long. Puttonen said he knew of few comparable projects in Finland in which everything inside a building had been removed.

The roofs are in good condition and were replaced 10 years ago, but keeping them in place during the reconstruction is a challenge. The windows are still usable but will be replaced to improve energy efficiency.

Opposite the former police building is a former provincial government administrative quarter that is being converted into a hotel.

Courthouse staff await new premises

All Ministry of Justice organisations in Rovaniemi will move into the renovated building. Their future users have taken part in planning the new premises, although the existing structure has limited what changes can be made.

The Lapland District Court currently operates in premises affected by indoor-air problems, and some employees can work there only part-time.

The prospect of moving into a police building known to have had problems has nevertheless concerned staff, said District Court Judge Anne Kurtti.

“Will the premises be healthy when it is known that previous repairs have not removed the indoor-air problems?” she said.

Kurtti said the current premises are also impractical, and staff hope the new building will improve the situation.

The Northern Finland Prosecution District and the national prosecution service have taken part in planning on behalf of prosecutors. Leading District Prosecutor Kirsi Männikkö said prosecutors’ needs had been well considered, including in the design of the courtrooms.

Männikkö said shared facilities with the district court would be a clear improvement to the current arrangements for hearings.