Water damage at Viikki Infocenter affects students’ everyday: libraries, UniCafe and teaching facilities closed until further notice

Water flooding to the Infocentre.
Bulletin 14.8.2026

(Translated with help from AI.)

The facilities and services at Viikki Infocenter are closed to students until further notice due to repair work following water damage that occurred in July.

The completion date of the repairs is not yet known, but at this stage the work is estimated to take four to six months. The estimate will be refined as further investigations and drying work progress.

  • The Viikki Campus Library and the Helsinki City Library services in the building are closed until further notice. Library materials are being transferred to other libraries and temporary storage facilities. Please follow library communications for further updates.
  • The UniCafe restaurants in the Infocenter are closed. Opening hours and lunch menus for other restaurants are available on the UniCafe website.
  • The HelsinkiUni Help service point in the Infocenter is closed. The HelsinkiUni Help digital service and service points on other campuses remain open as usual. Temporary premises for the Viikki service point are currently being sought for the duration of the repairs. Please follow updates in the Studies service.
  • No teaching will be arranged in the Infocenter during the autumn term. Students will be informed as soon as possible about new arrangements for courses originally scheduled to take place in the building.

What happened?

Heavy rainfall occurred in Viikki on Saturday, 4 July. A failure in the building's stormwater drain connection in the area of the first-floor UniCafe and entrance lobby caused extensive water damage in the Infocenter.

A self-service customer of the City Library alerted the rescue services, and initial damage mitigation measures were carried out immediately after the incident. The water damage affects large parts of the facilities on the first floor and in the basement level.

Repair work underway

ATL Rakennushuolto Oy has been selected as the contractor responsible for the demolition and drying work.

The repair work includes, among other things, removing floor coverings and skirting boards, removing damaged lower sections of internal partition walls, drying building structures, and finally restoring the facilities to their original condition. The premises will be protected throughout the construction work.

The relocation of furniture and materials from the affected areas to temporary storage is ongoing, and the water damage repair work is progressing in phases throughout the building.

Photo: Jaakko Linnansaari (University of Helsinki)