Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, and the construction company Lehto Group have entered into an agreement to build an ecological operating office from wood for the Kemi bioproduct mill in Finland. The operating office will have a high degree of Finnish origin, approximately 80%, Finnish wood and high-quality products made from it will play a major role in the construction project.
Kerto® LVL wood products from Metsä Wood, part of Metsä Group, will be used in construction. They are made from Finnish wood in Finland. The future office building will be an impressive, four-storey wooden structure, comprising the main control room for the bioproduct mill, office and social facilities, as well as a cafeteria and conference rooms. The total area of the building will be 4,235 square metres. Lehto is currently also building a 40,000-square-metre product warehouse for the bioproduct mill in the Ajos harbour in Kemi.
“We appreciate how Lehto Group utilises renewable wood products and are pleased to be able to continue our collaboration not only to build the harbour warehouse, but also the bioproduct mill’s operating office. We’re building a modern mill complex in Kemi with the best professionals in their field,” says Jari-Pekka Johansson, Metsä Fibre’s Director of the bioproduct mill project.
“Lehto and Metsä Fibre have previously agreed to build a pulp warehouse for the Kemi bioproduct mill in the Ajos harbour. The agreement on the wooden operating office is a great and natural continuation of our existing cooperation,” says Perttu Haapalahti, Area Director of Lehto Tilat Oy.
The Kemi bioproduct mill project is progressing according to plan. During the construction phase, the mill’s employment effect will be approximately 10,000 person-years, more than half of which will be carried out in Kemi. The total number of employees working during the construction phase is expected to be about 15,000. Around 450 people are currently working at the site. You can follow the progress of the construction at the mill site and the product warehouse being built in the Ajos harbour via real-time webcams at www.metsafibre.com/webcamskemi.
Totalling EUR 1.6 billion, the Kemi bioproduct mill is the largest investment in the history of the Finnish forest industry. Through its direct value chain, the new bioproduct mill will employ around 2,500 people in Finland, some 1,500 more than the employment effect of the current Kemi pulp mill. The bioproduct mill project has a high degree of Finnish origin, approximately 70 per cent. The fully fossil free bioproduct mill will start up in the third quarter of 2023. In addition to pulp, the new mill will produce other bioproducts such as tall oil, turpentine and bioelectricity. The bioproduct mill will produce 2 terawatt hours of renewable electricity annually, which accounts for 2.5% of Finland’s total annual electricity production. The mill will have an electricity self-sufficiency rate of 250%.
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