Demolition of Leppälinnunkuja playground

The demolition of the Leppälinnunkuja playground is based on the city’s goal of concentrating local playground activities in the new playground and exercise area to be built in the nearby Nurmilinnunpuisto between 2024 and 2025. The aim of the Nurmilinnunpuisto project is to improve local recreational services for residents of all ages and offer children more versatile playground and exercise facilities than what is available in the Leppälinnunkuja playground. 

You can find the Nurmilinnunpuisto plan through this link. 

The equipment in the Leppälinnunkuja playground is old and near the end of its useful life in terms of safety, so it is almost time to demolish it. However, the playground equipment will not be demolished until Nurmilinnunpuisto has been built. 
In the future, the open space on Leppälinnunkuja will serve as a leisure area and it will be made more pleasant with new furniture and plants in connection with the demolition of the playground. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to build a new playground, exercise or sports area etc. because of their high construction and maintenance costs.

In March 2024 a survey was organised to give residents a chance to share their wishes regarding the demolition of the playground and the further development of the space. You can find the report on the survey results on this page under “Downloadable files” (in Finnish).

In January of 2025, a draft plan was drawn up and it was published on this page for the residents to review. The report prepared from the comments can be found on this page under "downloadable files" (in Finnish)

The final plan is available on this page under “downloadable files” (in Finnish)

You can find the city’s playground programme on the espoo.fi website through this link (in Finnish). 

Espoo’s public playgrounds and residents’ parks form a network of nearly 200 playgrounds, and their services are steered with the help of the programme. During the preparation of the programme, the city examined this network and determined the needs for new playgrounds and those to be maintained, renovated or demolished during the 10-year programme period. This was done, among other things, by examining demographic forecasts, the city’s land use plans, and the density and repair needs of the existing playgrounds. The aim is to ensure a diverse network of playgrounds that serve all Espoo residents equally. 

New playgrounds have been established and existing playgrounds have been renovated and maintained in areas where they have been deemed necessary, for example due to the growing number of residents or the long distance to other playgrounds. The most common reason for demolishing a playground is its closeness to another playground as well as the age and poor condition of playground equipment, which would require extensive repairs and resources. The city aims to concentrate playground services to those playgrounds that offer better facilities than nearby playgrounds to be demolished.