Metsä Fibre and Lehto Sign Agreement to Build Operating Office for Kemi Bioproduct Mill

The future office building will be an impressive, four-storey wooden structure, comprising the main control room for the Kemi bioproduct mill, office and social facilities, as well as a cafeteria and conference rooms.

Aug. 30, 2021 - Metsä Fibre 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 — wood from Finalnd — will be used in construction.

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.

Totaling EUR 1.6 billion, the Kemi bioproduct mill is the largest investment in the history of the Finnish forest industry. 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%.

The fully fossil-free bioproduct mill will start up in the third quarter of 2023.

Metsä Fibre is a leading producer of bioproducts and bioenergy. Metsä Fibre produces pulp and other bioproducts at four mills in Finland: Joutseno, Kemi, Rauma and Äänekoski; and also has six sawmills: Kyrö, Lappeenranta, Merikarvia, Renko and Vilppula (in Finland) and in addition, Metsä Svir sawmill in Russia. To learn more, visit: www.metsafibre.com.

SOURCE: Metsä Fibre