Kiruna's new landmark

In central Kiruna, Skanska has developed and built a new hotel. The hotel has been sold to LKAB and was completed in February 2022. The tenant, Scandic Hotels, welcomed the first guests in April 2022.

In 2013, the municipality of Kiruna opened a land design competition for several of the buildings that would become part of Kiruna's new center. Skanska won the tender for a new hotel. Early in the process, a collaboration with Scandic was initiated.

A parking garage was added

In 2018, the project grew to include a parking garage with space for 172 cars. The parking garage is owned by the municipality. In 2018, Skanska bought the land and we accessed the area.

The construction started in April 2019 with ground and foundation work for both the hotel and the parking garage. Since the hotel and the parking garage are attached, the works were carried out jointly for both properties. In 2019, we started to cast concrete slabs and mount prefabricated parts.

Milestones during construction

In October 2020, the last lift of the framework was made and the walls came into place. The next step was the roof, and in the beginning of 2021 we had a tight house. Installation work was carried out in 2021.

Attractive and central location

The hotel has a very attractive and central location, right next to the city hall by the main square in the new Kiruna center. The property is thirteen floors high and 14,000 square meters. The hotel has 231 rooms, a restaurant, conference rooms, a gym, a relaxation area and a sky bar.

The hotel offers a high level of accessibility for all guests. At least ten percent of the hotel rooms are accessible to guests with disabilities, which is higher than the building norm.

More efficient work with prefabricated products

Large parts of the property are prefabricated, which allowed us to work efficiently. In total, 3,000 prefabricated concrete parts were used; some weighed close to 20 tonnes. 

We used bathroom modules, which means that we did not have to install the bathrooms on site. The bright concrete facade is also prefabricated.

The hotel's south-western part is a tower with thirteen floors. The building is 45 meters high. The upper part of the tower has panoramic windows facing west.

Staff from other parts of the country

The work took place far up in the north of Sweden, in a city where Skanska had not previously been present. This means that we had to staff the project from Stockholm, Umeå and Luleå. We hired a number of Kiruna residents and found employees locally. The goal is to build more projects in Kiruna.

A new landmark

The hotel is a new landmark and a meeting place in the new Kiruna. The entrance floor is open and inviting. Along the facade is a screened roof that creates protected zones for the pedestrians in the city.

The idea is that the hotel's appearance should remind of the mountain Kebnekaise. The interior reflects the exterior, and together they offer hotel guests a breathtaking experience.

Certified according to LEED gold

We focused on sustainability through the whole project. The goal was for the hotel to be certified according to LEED gold. This means, among other things, that we create a property with low consumption of fresh water, and with a well-insulated and well-thought-out design that optimizes and ensures that the hotel has a low energy consumption.

The hotel and the parking garage were completed in the beginning of 2022.