Industry has left a strong mark on the buildings in Tampere.
Though engineering workshops no longer rumble at the Finlayson and Tampella factories, these areas are full of new life. In its time, Finlayson's six-floor factory building was a breakthrough in modern industrial building in the Nordic countries. Now the historic milieu of Finlayson is home to ICT and media companies, museums, restaurants and cinemas.
Tampella's workshops have been replaced by IT companies, offices and apartments. In their time, workers' housing areas were located on the Pispala ridge and in Amuri. A small area of the old Amuri has been preserved as a museum in the midst of residential apartment blocks. The old landscape of narrow alleys and steep slopes in Pispala is now protected.
New openings and plans include the development of the Ratina area for residential and office use in the city centre and the building of a new suburb, Vuores, on the border between Lempäälä and Tampere.
The refurbished Finlayson factory milieu was awarded in 2004 as the third best quarter out of almost a hundred European projects in the international DIFA-AWARD urban development competition. The jury praised Finlayson as a vibrant and functional entity that develops the entire city by reviving the areas around the historically important factory area into a district of diverse services. The jury emphasized the role of public areas in the way the area has been enlivened.
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