CBRE advises DNA on New Headquarters Search

DNA Oyj, one of Finland's leading telecommunication companies, was looking for office space for over 1 000 employees to serve as their new headquarters in Finland.

DNA had a clear vision of how they wanted to reflect their modern way of working, and together with CBRE’s Workplace team, they converted the vision into a workplace concept to be executed. From the beginning, the most important factor in DNA's new premises design was further developing the employee experience - to create a meeting place supporting community and well-being.

"There has been an increasing wish by DNA’s employees that our office space supports the community, and the new premises meets that requirement. Since the building is new, we can design and build the spaces to meet all our needs. I believe that Ilmalanlinna will become an important meeting and collaboration place that will add value to our work", says DNA’s Jaakko Happo, VP of Treasury and Administration.

CBRE Finland performed a vast Request for Proposal -process for approximately 4 000 sq m office in the capital region of Helsinki. CBRE tenant representation experts and DNA’s project group reviewed over 60 offers and conducted 15 site visits.

As a result, the project team presented 10 sites to the DNA Senior Management group from which the top five sites were selected. From there, CBRE conducted an ESG location analysis to map and compare the different sites’ ESG aspects and operational carbon and commuting emissions.

Ilmalanlinna in Ilmala, Helsinki was chosen as the primary option for the new headquarters, and CBRE negotiated the most suitable terms and conditions for DNA’s lease.

“Despite the challenging market situation, we secured a lease agreement that included all the main aspects DNA asked for. The main objective was to strive for a commercially beneficial lease agreement, with flexibility for future aspirations. I believe that we managed to do exactly that.” says Mathias Kvarnström, Senior Advisor of CBRE Finland.