Case Study: Kamppi Bus Terminal achieves early-warning smoke protection for thousands of commuters with Xtralis VESDA

Kamppi Bus Terminal - Customer Case Study

Kamppi Bus Terminal in central Helsinki is Europe’s largest underground bus terminal, handling around 700 departures and some 170,000 passengers daily across 25,000 m². The facility’s scale and harsh winter conditions (cold, wind-driven humid air) made early smoke detection difficult and ruled out traditional detectors, so Siemens Building Technologies, led by Jari Salminen, sought a performance-based solution that would provide reliable, early warning without nuisance alarms.

Siemens installed a performance-led system combining VESDA VLP aspirating smoke detectors and FibroLaser® linear heat detectors, placing aspirating pipes ahead of the terminal’s smoke extraction shafts to use natural airflow for fast detection. The configurable VESDA alarm levels meet the design code, are easy to maintain, reduce false alarms, and deliver reliable early warning to protect passengers, staff and property—making Kamppi a flagship performance-based fire protection project in Finland.

Kamppi Bus Terminal

Jari Salminen

Siemens Building Technologie