Main contractor withdraws from Kouvola data centre project

The main contractor has withdrawn from a data centre construction project in Kouvola, southern Finland, even though the work was nearing completion, Yle reports. The client, Icelandic data centre services company Atnorth, says the project will still be completed on schedule next year.

CTS Nordics Oy, which began construction at the site in Ummeljoki about two years ago, declined to explain why it stopped work. Chief executive Marcus Toiviainen said by phone that he could not comment on the matter.

The company has also not disclosed how many employees or subcontractors were working at the site when construction stopped.

Toni Malmström of the Finnish Construction Trade Union’s international labour unit said he was not familiar with the details of the project, but considered it highly unusual for a main contractor to leave a site unfinished so close to completion.

Atnorth communications manager Bylgja Pálsdóttir confirmed that CTS Nordics was no longer the main contractor. She did not give a reason and declined to answer questions about the workers’ future or wage payments, referring those questions to CTS Nordics.

Company owned by Swiss-based multimillionaire

CTS Nordics was established five years ago and focuses on data centre construction. Its entire share capital is owned by Belgian national Filip Gilbert K Schelfhout.

Swiss authorities list Switzerland as Schelfhout’s country of residence. He is best known in his former home country, Norway, for data centre projects that expanded rapidly.

According to Norwegian tax authority information, Schelfhout had earned income and assets worth more than 37 million euros in 2024. Norwegian financial publication E24 reported that he had changed his country of residence to Switzerland because of its favourable taxation.

Project was nearing completion

Atnorth is building a campus consisting of several data centres on both banks of the Kymijoki River, around Ummeljoki and Myllykoski in Kouvola.

The project is called FIN04. CTS Nordics was responsible for the first construction site to begin and the one that had progressed furthest.

Atnorth has previously said it plans to bring the first phase of the centre into operation next year. The company has already hired employees to start its operations.

Atnorth said the change of main contractor would not affect the planned commissioning schedule. It has not disclosed which construction company has agreed to complete the data centre.

Inspection found shortcomings in worker records

The occupational safety division of the Permits and Supervisory Agency carried out five inspections at the CTS Nordics construction site in Ummeljoki in 2025 and 2026.

The inspections found shortcomings, including in the legally required employee lists. The lists did not, for example, include the names and contact details of representatives in Finland for foreign workers, which are required when foreign labour is used at a construction site.

Atnorth is also beginning construction on the other bank of the Kymijoki River in Myllykoski. Four additional plots in Kouvola are planned for data centres, but their construction is not as advanced as the site previously managed by CTS Nordics.