Loviisa advances 17.5 million euro library and sports projects

Loviisa City Council has decided to advance plans for a new sports hall and a combined library and culture house, Yle reports. The projects are expected to cost almost 17.5 million euros in total for the city of about 15,000 residents.

The sports hall is planned for Kuningattarenranta, while the library and culture house would be built in the city centre. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2028 or 2029.

Decades of delays

Both projects have been under discussion for decades. Loviisa’s current sports hall was completed in 1980 and has reached the end of its life cycle. Indoor air problems have also been identified in the building, although the city’s culture and welfare director, Leif Eriksson, said there is currently no acute indoor air problem.

The new hall would include one 1,215-square-metre playing court and is intended to serve major ball sports, including futsal, floorball, basketball and volleyball.

The council approved a maximum cost estimate of 8.73 million euros for the sports hall. The city will still examine financing options, including leasing and life-cycle models, before making a final decision on implementation.

The library has also faced long-running problems. In the mid-1990s, the city decided to preserve the old Seurahuone building and locate the library there. Indoor air problems were later discovered, forcing the library to move to temporary premises in an old commercial property.

That temporary arrangement has lasted for years. Eriksson said the current library is too small and outdated, while its location on two floors creates accessibility problems because there is no accessible access to the lower floor.

Culture house depends on outside funding

The library and culture house are planned next to Seurahuone, on the area known as the Ståhls property. The city intends to acquire and demolish the existing property to make way for a new building.

Eriksson said the property owner’s asking price and the city’s offer currently do not match. The council’s decision therefore states that if the property cannot be acquired at a reasonable price, project planning will begin on the Seurahuone plot instead. The city has not yet defined what it considers a reasonable price.

Loviisa wants outside funding for the culture house, particularly from Swedish-language foundations. The city is looking to the model of Fokus, a culture house in Karis in western Uusimaa, which received significant funding through the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.

The council has required that at least 75 percent of the culture house’s estimated three million euro cost be covered by external funding. The library and culture house are being planned as one project, but construction of the library could begin separately if necessary.