The new tripodal fac-functionalized building block, fac-ruthenium-( II) tris-(5-hydroxymethyl-2,2'-bipyridine), has been synthesized as a single geometric isomer and used as starting point in the isolation of a kinetically inert heterometallic helicate by the stepwise inclusion of additional 2,2'-bipyridine chelating groups followed by a second metal ion. This stepwise synthetic methodology gives access to a new range of chiral nanoscale structures inaccessible by traditional self-assembly procedures.