Pirkanmaa aims to strip heritage protection from Kauppi hospital's A and B buildings

Pirkanmaa wellbeing area (Pirha) announced on Friday that it had launched a zoning change to remove heritage protection from the A and B buildings on the Tampere University Hospital (TAYS) campus in Kauppi, saying the protections restrict future development. The announcement was reported by YLE.

Tampere city published a participation and assessment plan tied to the change the same day. According to the wellbeing area, the A-, B- and K-buildings in the heart of the campus will be left empty once the new M-building is completed; the 1960s structures are approaching the end of their usable life and cannot reasonably be refurbished for specialised care.

The tall, tower-like B building and the A building that housed the hospital's old main hall currently carry protection markings; lifting them would not itself allow demolition, but would open up options for redevelopment in coming decades. "We must also secure for future generations the possibility to develop the area amid changing requirements," TAYS renewal programme project director Veli-Pekka Tanhuanpää said in the statement.

The change follows the wellbeing area's recent move to buy the Kauppi plot for a new university social and health centre and related redevelopment plans buying the Kauppi plot, after the board had earlier discussed the acquisition board consideration of the purchase.