Reconversion of former military sites into industrial parks
EU-Phare – Pilot Project Reconversion of former Military Sites into Industrial Parks (Tapa and Paldiski)
- Institution
- Ministry of Economics, Tallinn
- Location
- Tapa, Paldiski
- Service
- Team leader/Project design
- Duration
- 1999


Feasibility Study
From pre-accession funds, the EU funded a study on reconversion of former military sites around 45 minutes drive from Tallinn in Estonia. Fully-fledged regional analyses were carried out for Lääne-Viru and Harju to determine potentials and possible origins of investment funds. Tapa is a major rail junction (and continues functioning as an army base) whereas Paldiski hosts air and naval bases and features a harbour with regular connections to Scandinavia and other European ports.
As usual under RegioFuturi’s structured development support, the following activities were conducted:
- a review of the regional background based on official/statistical data
- questionnaire-based surveys of enterprises and local administrations, virtually all of these face-to-face so as to get a good feeling of the situation on the ground
- presentation and discussions of findings in a participative planning workshop
- strategy and action plan, including proposals for potential industrial park projects
- design of an industrial park project in Tapa, based on existing municipal plans
- study trip to military conversion projects in Germany and Hungary
The concept for Tapa was agreed as follows:
- Develop the industrial park on the former military site (with a management concept developed by the project team)
- Focus on woodworking and engineering enterprises
- Develop a state-of-the art woodworking training centre
- Improve the rail connection to Tallinn
- Elaborate a policy to promote tourism to the area
For Paldiski, the development strategy was to be based on the following points:
- Make available premises for logistical and industrial purposes and market the locations professionally
- Try to attract at least one research institute to Paldiski
- Make sure that vocational and professional education is in line with market needs (for instance tourism, logistics)
- Draw up land-use plans clearly defining protected areas and zones reserved for recreational purposes
- Improve the quality of rail services to Tallinn
- Elaborate a policy to promote tourism to the area
The project led to an Interreg III B Baltic Sea Region co-operation First Class Industrial Parks