Messukeskus

Coming up! An event hotel of the future with completely new ideas

Messukeskus Helsinki is buzzing again! The hotel facilities and its service concept are renovated entirely. The renovation completed within 2018 will cover the entire building from hotel rooms to service points and from technology to interior design. In other words, the hotel will go through a complete makeover.

And we will not stop at renovating the frame! We will also update our service concept to match the needs of our event-attending customers even better than before.

Our ambitious goal is to make Holiday Inn Messukeskus the best event hotel in Northern Europe!

The hotel will continue to offer 245 double rooms for its customers. The new service concept also includes an Open Lobby. The hotel lobby and restaurant will be transformed into a shared living room where it is easy for the guests to make themselves cosy. The Open Lobby is a relaxing oasis for eating, drinking, working, resting and socializing. The Open Lobby doors will also be open for everyone in town.

The Messukeskus hotel is directly connected to the Messukeskus exhibition halls and conference rooms. The location is terrific: flexible public transport takes you quickly to the Helsinki Airport and the railway station as well as the city centre.

After the renovation, the hotel will be called Holiday Inn and it will be part of the leading Nordic hotel chain Scandic.

We will reopen full of new ideas in early 2019. The hotel will be closed during the renovation from 20 February 2018.

During the renovation, you can find service in other Restel hotels: Cumulus City & Resort, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo. Book here >>

We welcome you back to renewed Holiday Inn Messukeskus in 2019!

Helsinki – The Science of a great congress

Science is about expanding human understanding. So is travelling. Combine the two and bring it to the northern capital of cool, Helsinki. That’s a recipe for a meaningful and enlightening experience. Helsinki wants scientists to come over and together to have a good time and work for the good of all of us.

Howy Jacobs, Professor in molecular biology stars in the new Congress marketing film for Messukeskus and in the shoot he is fresh back from a United States work trip but his boyish punk rock charm doesn’t show a sign of exhaustion. “I do travel a lot – but for a scientist, it’s the best way to keep abreast of the field. It allows us to develop new concepts based on personal chemistry, by meeting people face to face“.

Travel is a mix of comfort and discomfort. Helsinki wants to get rid of the “dis”. Easy to travel to, immediate access to and from the airport, stunning and booming culinary scene from street food to fine dining  and, needless to say, spot on congress facilities combined with an ultra clean urban environment close to the nature is what Helsinki is about. “Scientists often try to cram too much into congress visits: the key to a successful meeting is to operate at one’s usual pace, combining intense scientific discussions with relaxation and getting to know people properly”, says Howy.

Finland invests in science and education. Helsinki is arranging more and more international scientific events. Academics want accessibility, top-notch arrangements but also a cool place to bring people to work together. Messukeskus does a lot of research how to serve science conference guests in an outstanding manner. Head of Congresses in Messukeskus, Paula Blomster explains how extraordinary service is what Helsinki wants to be known for: “We are not happy with just ordinary. We aim to be the leading congress venue in the Nordic countries and have for example, as the first large venue implemented fixed Augmented Reality services within our premises. But the secret of our success is our devoted staff who always take an additional yard to meet the expectations of the client.”

Digital, cool, a bit exotic and culturally rich – take a couple of minutes to learn about Helsinki by viewing this film.

Howy’s Helsinki tips

• Restaurant – Silvoplee in Kallio, fresh and delicious vegetarian buffet food
• Entertainment – Lepakkomies, also in Kallio, a mainstay of Helsinki’s alternative music scene
• Science – the Institute of Biotechnology, Finland’s flagship institute of life sciences (and my own home institute)
• Personal bonus – (1) Haltia, the Finnish Nature Centre, on the edge of the city, a must for any visitor with a half-day to spare, AND
• (2) Lapland – it’s maybe cheating a bit to list here, but one of the great attractions of Helsinki is how close it is to the arctic, just an hour’s domestic flight away from Europe’s most splendid wilderness

Photo: Jouko Högmander, Bothnian Sea, National Park

Paula’s Helsinki tips

• Restaurant Olo is pricy, but truly creative culinary experience, where you might even end up eating the table decorations
• Entertainment: after a long day of sitting I recommend to explore the beauty of Helsinki; rent a bike and stroll along beaches, dip into an outdoors Olympic swimming pool, a green oasis in the city center or go native and try one of the public saunas from a traditional wood-heated sauna in Harju to a more modern versions like Löyly
• Science: Tiedekulma / Think Corner Space where academics and brilliant students share their research topics with common walkers
• Personal bonus: Helsinki Design District and the wide music scene from classical music concerts to Finnish heavy metal bands

“Olo’s gastronomy is quite simplistic and natural. I hope that people come to us and enjoy themselves. It doesn’t really matter how you hold the fork. Overall experience is what makes the difference.” the Chef, Jari Vesivalo, Olo Restaurant

Welcome to Helsinki and Messukeskus!

Did you know? We were awarded as an energy-smart event venue

The Energy Authority and Motiva have awarded Messukeskus for its distinguished energy efficiency efforts.

Messukeskus has an energy efficiency programme extending to 2018. As a result of the programme, the amount of energy saved is 33,000 MWh, which would suffice for heating 1,300 single-family houses with electricity for one year. We aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 7,300 tonnes. This is comparable to driving around the world 1,440 times by car.

We utilize effectice housing technology

“What is good for the environment is also good for us as a company. In addition to environmental friendliness, investments in energy efficiency lead to concrete financial savings. In the extensive energy efficiency project of Messukeskus, this is already evident,” says Patrik Kuhlman, head of the Facility Unit at Messukeskus.

“We are very happy to receive the award. A high-quality event venue is always also an event venue that takes its environmental responsibility with genuine seriousness. Energy smartness is part of the corporate responsibility of Messukeskus and an integral part of the transparency and quality of our operations. We encourage our customers to pay attention to practical energy actions when selecting a venue for their event or conference,” says Anni Vepsäläinen, Managing Director of Messukeskus.

Our latest steps

The premises of Messukeskus correspond to eight full-scale football fields. In this scale, energy efficiency is achieved mainly by the use of the latest building technology.

When we renovated Galleria at Messukeskus, we built a completely new heat recovery system for the ventilation machines and switched the lighting to LED technology. To tackle water consumption, we equipped all faucets at our facilities with bubble spray aerators.

Messukeskus is visited each year by more than one million trade fair and conference guests, and during large public events, there may be up to tens of thousands of visitors on the premises at the same time. We have improved the ventilation machine control systems of the halls in such a manner that the indoor air conditions can be adapted to the number of people and to the uses of the halls. In the office renovation in summer 2016, we also replaced the lighting and ventilation of the personnel’s workspaces with energy-efficient solutions. We have our own competent facilities maintenance team to ensure that our premises are in good condition, and of course, it is also the duty of every Messukeskus employee to promote environmental responsibility.

Behind the scenes of the record-breaking EAACI Congress

The practical arrangements of the congress were coordinated by EAACI’s central office and its experienced partner network. It took care of everything from registration, accommodation, exhibition and connections with the event location and innumerable details. This enabled the Finnish hosts to focus on the scientific content.

Seamless co-operation between all the parties led to great results!

Science, latest developments and meeting people

Professionals get a lot out of science congresses. The latest research findings were offered in the EAACI Congress in a number of ways at the same time – seminar rooms, workshops, panel discussions, the exhibition area and by meeting colleagues. This took up all the meeting rooms and seminar halls. At best, we had some 3,000 in the same space.

The exhibition formed a key part of the science congress, with companies meeting their core target groups. The exhibition area was fully booked well before the congress started. Congresses are also excellent places for networking. During the EAACI welcome event in the first evening, people had a chance to meet old acquaintances and learn to know new people in a relaxed atmosphere.

Congresses are important meeting points to see the latest news and services and to network with colleagues around the world.

Messukeskus has expertise for all needs

Project Manager Päivi Tikkinen was in charge of the congress arrangements at Messukeskus.

“Overall coordination was in the hands of EAACI’s central office,” says Tikkinen. “They were assisted by Interplan, specialising in exhibition arrangements. The registration and posters were done by K.I.T. Security, cleaning and some of the reservations were handled by VOBE. The AV technology partner was MiceMedia assisted by the AV specialists of Messukeskus SVV for video communication and Schenker for logistics.”

The network connections of the congress require special attention. SVV brought in their expertise. The connections had to work at all times, as thousands of participants logged into the network simultaneously. The visitors were thrilled of free Wi-Fi which worked.

Fazer Food Services played a big role, too, offering several lunch options, while the fixed restaurants of Messukeskus were also open throughout the congress. Catering services received a lot of positive feedback from tasty food to flexible and fast service – 500 extra lunch bags was arranged for the next day!

Functional signs are important part of the visitor experience.

The Messukeskus construction and furnishing services did a fantastic job. During the nights, things were taken down and new things were built. Come the following morning, some of the areas looked quite different than they did the previous day. Messukeskus designers and construction experts also took part. For example, EAACI’s own information desk and the design of certain exhibition areas were done by them.

The Messukeskus graphics services took care of the signs. Moving from one area to the next had to be quick and easy. This is where signs played a major role.

Security was taken care of by Messukeskus partner Securitas. Cooperation with EAACI’s security experts was close.

“Implementing a huge congress requires particularly close and detailed cooperation between all parties,” says Tikkinen. “When this was successful, so was the end result, and the participants had a memorable experience.”

Happy EAACI visitors praised the congress, its services, tasty food, the venue and Helsinki as a destination.

Helsinki attracts congress visitors

A record-breaking congress summer 2017 attracted thousands of international visitors to Helsinki and Messukeskus. All congress organizers exceeded the expected number of visitors. In addition to EAACI there was two other congresses who had the all time high number of delegates.

International congresses have also a major financial impact on Helsinki. The 6 big summer congresses brought more than 25,000 visitors and EUR 50 million to the Helsinki metropolitan area in which EAACI had a share of EUR 12 million.

Messukeskus maintains close contacts with Finnish universities and organisations in order to support their efforts in bringing international scientific and organisational congresses to Finland. We do a significant part of this work in close cooperation with Finpro, Visit Finland, Helsinki Marketing and various convention bureaus. We also hand over the Scientific Conference Power Player prize sponsored by the Finnish Fair Foundation each year. The prize goes to a person who has put significant efforts to promote the organisation of international scientific conferences in Finland.

“When we work together we get good results. Success stories are the best PR for us”, says Anni Vepsäläinen, the CEO of Messukeskus.

 

 

Original text: Juha Kontu

Illustration: Pekka Hannila