Laura Schrey, Property Development Manager

Reviving property potential

My work can affect our daily lives for more than a hundred years.

I enjoy working with professionals from different fields. The result is a city that is changing piece by piece, as new uses and new owners are sought through local detailed planning for properties that the state no longer has any use for.

What particularly interests you in your job?

I particularly like working with different professions. In multidisciplinary cooperation, you learn to look at properties from many perspectives and evaluate solutions from the point of view of, for example, a traffic planner, urban planner or construction company. The best times are when teamwork carries away the whole group and everyone exudes enthusiasm for us to achieve something great together. Projects can take years, so zoning development requires perseverance, and the completion of part-projects is worth celebrating.

Our unit’s job description differs from Senate’s main mission. The Real Estate Development and Sales Unit is tasked with selling properties that the government no longer needs for its own use. We evaluate each property separately from the perspective of its development potential. Sometimes it’s a good idea to amend the detailed plan before selling the property, and then the project ends up on the property development manager’s desk. Sometimes the projects to be developed involve individual plots, sometimes larger areas.

Senate Properties does not implement plans, but looks for developers, which may include construction companies, for the plots. The end result is buildings and urban spaces with new functions, and our work can affect our everyday lives for up to the next hundred years.

Widespread working from home and changes in the space needs of central government agencies are creating a lot of welcome extra work for our unit! At the same time, the prevailing market situation has brought a new kind of challenge to our sales and development properties.

Who do you work with?

One of the most important partners in property development projects are municipalities and cities, which are responsible for the local detailed planning of their area. In the early stages of planning development, we discuss the starting points of planning, such as the efficiency to be studied, purpose of use and other main solutions, and agree on a target schedule. Authorities such as the Finnish Heritage Agency are also sometimes involved in our negotiations. In planning development projects, you do not need to know everything yourself, but we are assisted by experts from different fields, such as architectural firms, nature, soil, traffic and property development consultants.

We often involve future buyers in planning development projects. This is how we ensure that the local detailed plan will be suitable for the project and that all aspects are also taken into account in terms of implementation. In other words, I also work with construction companies, developers and end users of properties. I also make use of the wide-ranging expertise within Senate’s organisation. We enjoy working when everyone generously helps each other!

Which project has particularly stuck in your mind?

One of my most interesting projects at the moment is the old provincial prison in Oulu, which has been put up for sale following the relocation of prison operations to a new, modern facility. The site has been used for prison operations for more than 200 years. The first building on the site was completed as a crown prison in the middle of fields in the late 1700s! The city has developed around it over the years, and we now have a park-like, culturally and historically rich, sparsely built oasis in the city centre, where infill development appropriate to the environment has been planned.

It’s fascinating to reflect on what kind of stories and life destinies are connected to the prison site. History has become more and more interesting to me during my work at Senate, where we get to work with a variety of buildings, often protected. It’s great to see how the site will eventually evolve in the future with new owners and actors.

3 principles that guide your work?

• Project management. When sales and development projects in different stages are running simultaneously, the reins need to be kept tightly held.
• Continuous learning. In projects, it is important to utilise the expertise of different professions and increase your own understanding of different perspectives. I always keep my eyes and ears open, because the more you understand the views of other parties, the smoother the projects progress. Even if you listen to others, you have to have a common thread in mind.
• A team spirit and being solutions driven. Each actor and profession involved in the projects looks at a project from their own point of view, so the work is also about finding compromises. You need to think about the things that are most important for each project and where you can be flexible. It’s also important to maintain a good team spirit in the group, and to motivate and thank whenever the chance arises!

About me

I joined Senate as a Property Development Manager in August 2020. Before then, I worked as a land use engineer at the City of Espoo’s plot unit, where I was responsible for the sale and lease of residential plots. I’ve also worked as a project engineer for the City of Helsinki in the West Harbour area construction project. When I started working for the City of Helsinki, Jätkäsaari, which was part of the project area, was a vacant asphalt area following the relocation of the cargo harbour. I graduated with an MSc (Technology) from the Land Survey Department of Helsinki University of Technology in Otaniemi in 2006.