Estonia, Good for Business, Port, Tourism, Transport

Peeter Nogu, chief infrastructure development officer at Tallinna Sadam, said that builder Nordecon has done good work and in its work has reached a stage where the first stage of the D terminal can be opened. "As of today, visitors of Tallinna Sadam will have access to bright and modern premises suitable for Estonia's largest sea and tourism gateway. Modern materials, natural wood and light colors have been used in the interior of the terminal," he said.

On the first floor of the building, passengers will be greeted by a spacious atrium and shop, with inclined moving walkways taking people to the second floor, where the ticket windows and the check-in area are located. The third floor of the building will be meant only for ticket-holding passengers. The windows offer a view of the Old Town as well as the port area, the passengers will be able to use considerably larger waiting and seating areas, a cafe and a store. In the future, passengers arriving by ferry will be able to travel from the third floor straight to the first floor by inclined moving walkways.

According to the port company, the facade of the new terminal building is suitably representational for a sea gateway -- the backlit double-glass facade is covered by large-scale wall panels and a decorative mesh.

"The process of constructing the new section of D terminal has been quite challenging, mainly because the terminal is simultaneously operational for daily passenger service. At the same time, of course, it is an exciting opportunity for any builder to build an object of such weight and significance, which millions of visitors pass through every year. Phase one is completed and about half of the old part has been reconstructed, where work is still ongoing," Nordecon AS project manager Marek Soot said.

"Not everything in the new terminal and terminal portion is ready yet. The logistics of passengers moving onto and off the ship will initially have to be resolved on a temporary basis in the area completed so far. Also, some old furniture will be used in the renovated part for a couple of months and we have to accept the fact that the old part of the terminal, which has been used until now, will be separated from the new one by temporary light walls," Nogu said. "One third of the terminal still requires reconstruction and therefore noise can still be heard in the terminal and building materials and structures not yet demolished can be seen around the terminal," he added.

The port's D terminal is being built by listed builder Nordecon and the final completion of the building has been planned for summer 2020.

The author of the architectural portion of the building as well as the interior design is architectural firm R-Konsult led by Irina Raud. The construction and special parts of the construction were designed by SWECO Projekt AS and the electricity, weak current and automatics by Rausi OU. The Building Information Modeling (BIM) method was used in designing the terminal and technical systems.

The reconstruction of the D terminal was co-financed by the European Union.