Sofigate moves to the Lepakko Office Building – and at the same time Ruoholahti will have a new common living room open for all
Press release:
Sofigate, a leading Nordic business technology company, is pleased to announce its relocation from Otaniemi in Espoo to a new office space in Ruoholahti, Helsinki, effective September 2024. The new office is located in the Lepakko Office Building owned by the pension insurance company Ilmarinen. At the same time the lobby area of the building will be developed into an inviting community space open to all, providing a cozy place to meet and work for the tenants and thier partners, as well as for everyone in the area.
The design of Sofigate’s office is driven by the core principles of fostering a vibrant working community, creating a welcoming atmosphere, and providing new opportunities for meeting people. These principles were also highlighted in the the staff premises survey: employees express a strong desire to come to the office for the purpose of connecting with colleagues and engaging in various activities such as meetings, workshops, and collaborative events.
We wanted an inviting environment worth the commute, while also ensuring the office caters to diverse needs. There is a growing need for comfortable team working spaces that inspire creativity.
Good accessibility by bike, car, and public transport, as well as proximity to the center of Helsinki, also contributed to the decision to move.
Meeting others to counterbalance remote working
Belonging to a work community and connecting with others are vital for mental well-being. Face-to-face interactions facilitate learning and building relationships.
”The workstations of Sofigate’s new office are located strategically on the same floor to encourage spontaneuous encounters in the office. The interior design prioritizes coziness and incorporates recycled materials where possible. Diverse spaces include areas for quiet work alongside multifunctional spaces for both focused tasks and socializing. Throughout the renovation process, the focus is on recycling as many materials used in the property as possible”, says Anna de Torres, Sofigate’s HR and Communications Director.
“The efficiency and flexibility of remote working is a given. At the same time, however, it’s good to remember that meeting colleagues face-to-face is a proven way to build team spirit and trust, speed up decision-making and encourage creative ideas. Therefore, it is important that office spaces accommodate diverse work styles and foster meaningful encounters. The importance of encounters cannot be underestimated, as meeting colleagues has been proven to support an individual’s personal well-being and help prevent work-related fatigue,” says Sami Ärilä, Ilmarinen’s HR Director.
A renewed lobby space becomes a shared living room
Hybrid work is here to stay, and there’s no turning back to the old ways. Workplaces and office spaces are now expected to be both attractive and flexible to adapt to different situations.
“It’s great that, together with Ilmarinen and other Lepakko tenants, we can develop a new kind of work community that also fosters business-to-business encounters. The premises form an ecosystem that enables an extended and interesting work community,” says Sami Karkkila, CEO of Sofigate.
The new lobby of Lepakko will host exhibitions and other events open to all, welcoming partners, customers, friends, and family. The café area will offer a comfortable meeting and working space for everyone in the Ruoholahti area. Additionally, the lobby will feature a training space for internal Sofigate events, as well as customer and other events organized by the Sofigate Academy and the Business Technology Forum.
Sofigate will occupy approximately 3,000 square meters in the Lepakko office building in Ruoholahti. Besides its locations in Tampere and Oulu, Finland, Sofigate operates in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, and Hungary.
Overall, Lepakko offers 36,000 square meters of office space along with comprehensive amenities including a high-quality lunch restaurant, café, spacious gym, group exercise room with panoramic views, and car and bicycle parking. Its double façade conserves cooling energy, while featuring the largest on-site solar power plant in the capital region on its roof.
More information:
Anna de Torres
Sofigate
Head of People & Culture at Sofigate
tel. 050-5766015anna.de.torres@sofigate.com
Sami Ärilä
Ilmarinen
HR Director at Ilmarinen
tel. 0400 271 066
sami.arila@ilmarinen.fi
About Sofigate
Sofigate is the leading Business Technology company in the Nordics. We create fast value by combining our transformation expertise with low/no-code platforms and generative AI. In practice, that means helping our customers develop the interplay between business and technology: to design, build and implement transformations and business-friendly technology solutions, like Salesforce, ServiceNow and SAP.
We are the founder of the Business Technology Forum, the developer of the Business Technology Standard. Our team of 700+ professionals are spread across 9 offices across 6 countries: Finland, Sweden, Norway Denmark, Hungary and Poland. Sofigate is a privately owned growth company with the net sales of EUR 145 million in 2023.
Learn more about us at www.sofigate.com
About Ilmarinen
Ilmarinen’s task is to ensure that our customers receive the pension they earned from employment. We promote a better working life and thus help our customers succeed. In total, we are responsible for the pension cover of some 1,1 million people. We have investment assets of close to EUR 60 billion to cover pension liabilities. For more information, please visit: www.ilmarinen.fi