“The approval of the sports park concept is a significant milestone in the development of the sports park,” says Timo Sivula, Kokkolan Urheilupuisto Oy’s Managing Director. “We now have the authority to start putting together an alliance and designing the sports park. My aim is for us to be able to submit the binding offers and schedules of the sports park alliance to Kokkola City Council before next summer.”
According to the concept, the aim is to create a construction and renovation project implemented by an alliance, with a budget of approximately EUR 50 million. The building complex outlined in the concept includes two covered training ice rinks and indoor running tracks, a refurbished ice rink, the renovation of the listed part of the sports hall with a basketball court and a refurbished gym, and a new large indoor arena.
The indoor arena includes:
- modern and adaptable facilities for exhibitions, trade fairs, concerts and conferences;
- facilities for sports activities as well as rooms for doctors, physiotherapy and a test laboratory, for example;
- multi-purpose sports facilities for indoor sports;
- high-quality restaurant facilities and services for corporate events;
- a press room that can serve as a classroom during the day;
- facilities and equipment that will attract young people.
The first phase of the project includes a football stadium with 2,000 covered seats. The football stadium will be built on the side of the indoor arena so that football players can also access the arena’s changing rooms and other facilities. One option is to build a fully covered stadium in the second phase.
The sports park alliance and plans are expected to be completed by summer 2022. Construction work is scheduled to begin in 2023 and to be completed in 2025. The next key milestone is the Council’s decision on funding, which can only be made in spring 2022 once the alliance and plans are ready.
What is a concept?
A concept is a rough, preliminary vision of what the project will achieve. It describes what the aim is. The planning phase that follows the concept defines how the aim will be achieved. The planning, thus, starts with an approved concept. The details, schedule and budget will be specified during the planning phase.
