Summary
- atNorth has completed the principal structure of its five-storey FIN02 expansion in Espoo.
- Skanska's €100 million contract covers an 11,200 sq m building, including data halls, offices, and technical fit-out.
- Construction completion is targeted for Q3 2027, while reported campus capacity figures use different definitions and do not establish commissioned capacity.
atNorth has completed structural work on the latest expansion of its FIN02 data centre in Espoo, Finland, reaching a construction milestone in a €100 million programme being delivered by Skanska.
The new five-storey building will extend the company’s existing facility at Sinimäentie, near Helsinki, with additional data halls and supporting accommodation. Completion of the expansion is scheduled for the third quarter of 2027.
atNorth confirmed the topping-out milestone during the week of 21 October. The development forms part of the company’s investment in Finnish computing infrastructure, where it is expanding its existing facilities while advancing several larger projects.
Skanska’s construction contract, announced in May, is valued at approximately €100 million and covers 11,200 square metres of additional floor space. The new building includes three floors intended for data halls and additional office accommodation.
The contractor had previously agreed to deliver the building’s core and shell before securing the wider construction and fit-out contract. Work began in April 2026, combining structural construction with preparations for subsequent technical installation.
Topping out establishes that the principal structure has reached its intended height. It does not mean that the electrical infrastructure, cooling plant, communications systems, and computing accommodation have completed installation or commissioning.
The expanded FIN02 site is associated with two published capacity figures that require separate treatment. Skanska stated in May that the completed facility would have a gross capacity of 45MW, while atNorth’s current campus specification lists 40MW of campus power capacity.
Those descriptions use different terminology, and the companies have not supplied a reconciliation that would justify treating them as interchangeable. Neither figure should be used as evidence that the full amount of capacity is presently commissioned and serving customers.
FIN02 already contains operational infrastructure. Its original 15MW development was announced in 2023 and entered service in October 2025, establishing the existing campus before construction of the new building.
Extending an operating data centre creates different engineering requirements from building on an entirely undeveloped site. Construction activity must be managed alongside existing access arrangements, electrical services, security, and the systems supporting customer equipment.
Depending on the final design, integration may involve new electricity distribution equipment, standby power, cooling systems, building controls, and connections between the existing and expanded areas. The companies have not published detailed commissioning sequences for the individual new data halls.
Once the building is structurally complete, mechanical and electrical works remain central to delivery. High-density computing requires appropriate heat removal, electrical protection, and controls, together with network infrastructure and maintenance access.
Testing must also establish that the installed systems operate reliably under the conditions expected of customer equipment. Successful construction handover cannot automatically be equated with the availability of the entire intended IT load.
atNorth promotes FIN02 as a high-density campus designed around efficient cooling and waste heat recovery. Its published site description includes an intended arrangement for using residual data centre heat to provide heating and hot water to the local community.
Heat reuse depends on more than the availability of waste heat from servers. The recovered energy must have suitable temperature characteristics, a connection to potential users, and sufficient demand to absorb it when generated.
The operator has previously announced a Finnish heat reuse partnership with Kesko and an electricity capacity arrangement involving distribution company Caruna. These establish elements of the site’s wider energy infrastructure but do not provide measured performance figures for the newly topped-out building.
atNorth’s published efficiency specifications also describe design expectations rather than independently measured annual performance for the expansion. Actual energy efficiency will depend on installed equipment, computing utilisation, cooling operation, and the completed facility’s supporting systems.
The development sits within a growing Finnish data centre portfolio. Separate atNorth projects include planned capacity at Salo and further infrastructure in the Kouvola area, alongside existing operations serving the Helsinki region.
Those projects occupy different development stages. Proposed or contracted electricity capacity should not be added to the operating estate without accounting for construction, commissioning, and the electrical arrangements necessary to serve customers.
Skanska’s involvement reflects the scale of engineering and construction resources required for the Espoo expansion. Its contract includes the technical fit-out needed to convert the building structure into an operational facility, with work continuing towards the agreed completion target.
The next measurable milestones will involve installation and testing of the expanded site’s electrical and mechanical infrastructure, integration with existing operations, and confirmation of the new capacity available for customer use.
For now, the topping-out announcement confirms progress on the physical building, while the third quarter of 2027 remains the target for completing the construction programme.
