Turku, Finland: A 1960s nursing home that has long since outgrown the needs of modern elderly care is about to be replaced entirely, and the project says as much about Nordic demographic pressure as it does about construction. NCC has been commissioned by Hemsö to build a new nursing home in Turku, Finland, in a contract worth approximately €17.4m, jointly developed by the two companies and set to be operated by Varha, the Wellbeing Services County of Southwest Finland.
The new facility will comprise approximately 7,800 m² and 170 care places, replacing a decades-old building on the same site that could no longer be upgraded to meet contemporary care standards. Construction begins this month and is scheduled for completion in spring 2028, with the project targeting BREEAM Excellent certification, a marker increasingly expected of new-build healthcare infrastructure across the Nordics rather than treated as optional.
"The demand for healthcare and care services is increasing, making well-planned and functional facilities more important than ever. Together with Hemsö, we are now developing a facility that promotes residents' well-being and provides excellent conditions for Varha's employees for decades to come," said Esa Lehmusvuori, Department Manager, NCC Building Nordics.
What deserves attention from investors and developers watching Nordic social infrastructure is the replacement dynamic driving this project rather than the contract value alone. Finland, like much of Northern Europe, is confronting a wave of ageing care facilities built decades ago that simply cannot be retrofitted to modern accessibility, staffing and sustainability standards, meaning wholesale rebuilds, not renovations, are increasingly the only viable route to compliant capacity. That structural obsolescence is quietly becoming one of the more reliable demand drivers in European healthcare real estate, offering developers a repeatable pipeline of similar replacement projects across municipalities facing the same ageing building stock.
"Our goal is to create flexible, long-term sustainable facilities for Varha that will support both elderly care and rehabilitation, as well as employees' work, for a long time ahead. We are pleased that the project is now moving into the construction phase," said Heini Jokinen, Construction Manager at Hemsö.
NCC is one of the leading construction companies in the Nordics, with sales of approximately €4.9bn in 2025 and 11,500 employees, listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. The order will be registered in NCC Building Nordics' business area in the third quarter of 2026.
People mentioned
- Esa Lehmusvuori, Department Manager, NCC Building Nordics
- Heini Jokinen, Construction Manager, Hemsö
Companies mentioned
- NCC, Nordic construction company building the new nursing home
- Hemsö, social infrastructure company jointly developing the project
- Varha, the Wellbeing Services County of Southwest Finland and future operator of the facility
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