The race hall’s pipes and survival station will soon be available for athletes

In summer The renovation of the Töölö Kisahalli starting in 2028 will bring a significant improvement to Helsinki’s sports and event facilities.

The city of Helsinki plans to build the Kisahalli’s old shells with a modern interior like the Olympic Stadium.

Halls A and B of the race hall will be renovated in a basic renovation costing 115 million. At the same time, the conditions for sports events taking place in B-hall will improve.

Among sports clubs, the most important event users of Hall B are Helsinki Seagulls, the reigning champion of the men’s Korisliiga, and Torpan Pojat, who play in the women’s Korisliiga.

“With regard to hall B, the idea is to develop public and event spaces in addition to the sports facilities. We are also investigating the possibilities of increasing the capacity of the stands, not reducing them,” says the project manager of sports venue construction Eeva Haapanen From the city of Helsinki.

At the moment, Kisahalli’s B hall has a thousand seats, and with exceptional arrangements, the hall has accommodated around 1,500 spectators in Seagulls matches.

In the plans of the city of Helsinki, B-hall would be used for sports outside of events as it is now, but there would be more space.

The current grandstands will be demolished, and retractable telescopic grandstands will be built in their place, as is the case, for example, in Mäkelänrintine’s Urhea-halli. Outside of events, Kisahalli could accommodate, for example, two basketball courts instead of the current one.

“In the renovation, the aim is to better take into account the requirements of different species and the safety distances.”

Space for additional stands could be found in the gables when the spaces behind the wall are put to new use. These facilities would also be used for sports outside of events, and the new stands would have to be assembled.

Haapanen does not take a position on how many new seats could be added to Kisahalli with spatial arrangements. The views of the Helsinki City Museum will also be heard in the discussions.

“In the renovation, the aim is to take better account of the requirements and safety distances of different sports. New stands are not built at the expense of sports facilities.”

During the renovation, changing rooms and toilets will be added. The aim is to build the dressing rooms mainly in the basement floor, where the police station and survival station used to function. The public toilets also serve the users of the sports facilities.

“We hope that we can get spaces in Kisahalli that enable the organization of events, and at the same time are multipurpose sports facilities, meaning they are not empty at other times,” says Haapanen.

The entrance to the hall will be from street level in the future. Cafe and restaurant facilities will be placed on the side facing the Olympic Stadium, on the side of Paavo Nurmi kuja.

“We understand today’s need for events for sales and customer service and ancillary service facilities.”

Renovated The arena is scheduled to open in the summer of 2031. Thus, for example, the Helsinki Seagulls would have to be in evako for three seasons.

The Seagulls’ temporary venue would probably be Mäkelänkatu’s Urhea-halli, which has room for 1,400 spectators. It is the only hall in Helsinki big enough for league games.

Hall A of the Töölö Kisahalli was completed as the Helsinki Exhibition Hall in 1935. In addition to exhibitions, concerts, parties and sports events were held in the hall.

Hall B was completed in 1950 as a modern event space by the standards of its era. The halls remained fully used for sports in 1976, when the new Messuhalli opened in Pasila.

Read more: The Urhea Hall myth was shattered with a bang

Read more: Helsinki and Espoo have an embarrassing problem – and no solution is in sight

Read more: Helsinki is in trouble if the Garden is not realized: “Unfortunately, the situation is like that”