Included in this newsletter
The Vahanen Group’s PutkiremonttiPlus service model is
the Quality Innovation of the Year
 The Vahanen Group’s PutkiremonttiPlus service model has been awarded the Quality Innovation of the Year prize by Excellence Finland. The service model ranked first in the small and medium enterprises category. PutkiremonttiPlus® is a renovation service model based on the needs of the residents; the shareholders of the housing company are able to have a say in the planning and implementation of a renovation project right from the start.
- The challenge in pipe line renovations is not the technique but the fact that most of the residents are not familiar with building projects, though pipe line renovations are conducted at their expense and in their flats. PutkiremonttiPlus helps the decision-making process in housing companies, so that the outcome is more consistent with the residents’ needs, comments Atte Stambej, main developer of the service.
- With the PutkiremonttiPlus, we have been able to develop our own processes and to spread the good practises of project management and communications across the industry.
Earlier, PutkiremonttiPlus received an honourable mention in the Housing Company Action of the Year 2008 competition organised by the Finnish real estate industry players, and a replumbing project implemented according to the model, was named Replumbing of the Year 2010.
Further information:
Unit Head Atte Stambej
Residential Services, Vahanen Group
+358 (0)41 515 2453
firstname.lastname@vahanen.com
More information on the PutkiremonttiPlus model
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One of the biggest accessibility projects in Finland completed in Mikkeli:
28 lifts, 14 houses, and eight years
 A rental housing company Mikalo Oy in Mikkeli carried out one of the biggest accessibility projects in Finland by having a total of 28 lifts retrofitted in 14 of its buildings between 2003 and 2010. Four lifts were fitted during a year, resulting in total project duration of eight years. Architectural design and design engineering in the project was carried out by Planekar Oy, a Vahanen Group company. In addition to lifts, the buildings were equipped with accessible entrances. The chief design engineer in the project was Vesa Kourula.
-Unlike in our other lift projects, this involved rental housing units managed by a single landlord, which provided us the opportunity to deviate from the restrictions placed on lift projects in housing companies. The proposal we submitted to the competition was based on a lift shaft opening to the floor landing that was to be placed in one of the flats. Although the solutions in principle had been very carefully thought out, the implementation required a lot of extra thought. Structural and building service technology alterations were made within a reasonable framework whenever applicable, Kourula explains.
The lifts were built one house at a time, allowing the best practices to be discovered during the lengthy process. When considering the best location for the lift shaft, attention was paid to potential needs of altering the size and arrangement of flats to cater to rental demand.
According to Mikalo Oy’s Managing Director Veli-Pekka Sinkko, a major challenge was to discover a new solution for placing lifts in residential buildings with 3.5 floors. The staircase was too small for the lifts, and building new staircases outside the houses was not the desired solution.
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We organised a small-scale 'design competition' that did not include a prize for the design teams that submitted proposals, but the winning proposal was promised the assignment of equipping 14 blocks of flats with lifts. We received proposals from eight design engineering firms. Planekar Oy was the only one that came up with an idea to place a new entrance across the existing one by digging down half a floor to reach the basement level, Sinkko recounts.
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In Planekar Oy’s solution the lift shafts were built by taking the space required for the shaft from a flat, which means only three flats per staircase had to be emptied for the duration of the work. Residents in other flats were able to stay in for the duration of the construction work, which was something we had hoped for. All in all, the eight-year project was completed flawlessly - everything happened on schedule and the plan was implemented without problems, Sinkko concludes.
Project contractors were Rakennusliike Avikainen Oy, JL Rakentajat Oy, Seppo Rossi Oy and Pieksämäen Ysiysi-Rakennus Oy.
Further information:
Managing Director Anssi Kourula
Planekar Oy, Vahanen Group
+358 (0)40 535 613
firstname.lastname@planekar.fi
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Vahanen to relocate to new business premises
– 100 architects under the same roof
Due to the Group’s strong growth, the current premises in Kannelmäki, Helsinki, are becoming overcrowded and Vahanen Group is therefore relocating to new premises in Leppävaara, Espoo, at the beginning of 2011. The new Quartetto premises will be built by Hartela construction firm. The new premises have been designed to meet the needs of different work profiles at Vahanen, and particularly to support flexible group and remote work. Workspace Oy consultancy firm was also involved in designing the premises.
In addition to Group management, the majority of units that operated in Kannelmäki will also relocate to Leppävaara. At the same time, the architectural firms Innovarch Oy and Eduarch Oy, which are part of the Vahanen Group, also move under the same roof. The units providing housing company and project management services will remain in Kannelmäki, as will the rock and infrastructure engineering services firm Fundatec Oy.
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The city centre block in Hyvinkää makes urban structure more compact
A large-scale office and business property construction project has been launched in Hyvinkää with the objective of making the city centre structure more compact. The project involves creating a block in the city centre offering Hyvinkää residents retail, restaurant and specialty store services. The permitted building volume in the block is 79,000 square metres and room for a parking facility holding 1,600 cars. The city hall, old municipal administrative building and a fire station currently located in the city block will be torn down to give way to new buildings.
The construction of the city block, 'KEKO', will take place in three stages, the first one having been launched this spring.
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The retail giant K-Citymarket is the biggest tenant, and the KEKO1 shopping centre will also include premises for specialty stores and restaurants. The upper floors are reserved for office use, explains Ari Suikki, the project manager in charge of HVAC engineering at Instakon Oy, a part of the Vahanen Group. According to Suikki, solutions applicable in shopping centre design have been used in the HVAC engineering process.
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We have used less conventional design engineering solutions in the parking hall where a directed pressure blowing system is used both for ventilation and for smoke removal, Suikki says.
The 27,000-square-metre K-Citymarket and the surrounding commercial and office centre is scheduled to open in March 2012. The entire city block is scheduled to open in 2013. The client in the project is Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, architectural design is provided by Arkkitehtitoimisto HKP Oy, structural and geological design engineering by A-Insinöörit, and electrical engineering by E-Plan Oy. The contractor in the project is YIT.
Further information:
Project Manager Ari Suikki
Instakon Oy, Vahanen Group
firstname.lastname@vahanen.com
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Mikael Lindgren, Business Area Director of HVAC services:
"Vahanen represents the third era for me"
 Mikael Lindgren joined Vahanen as the Business Area Director of HVAC services on 1 September 2010.
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I joined Vahanen because they are building an international multi-disciplinary service house, and I wanted to be a part of this process.
Lindgren studied heating, plumbing and ventilation engineering at the Helsinki University of Technology. He took his time to graduate, and even took a few years off and was engaged in the student union’s activities.
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Towards the end of my studies, I took a temporary job at Granlund and after that at ABB. When YIT acquired ABB, I joined YIT. I’ve had time to work with basic design engineering, servicing and maintenance, and contracting assignments. Change suits me, but routine not so much, Lindgren says.
Lindgren’s competence is not restricted just to HVAC.
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I completed a cross-disciplinary study programme with learning organisation as a minor subject and Leenamaija Otala as my professor. It’s quite a coincidence that Otala is now a Board member at Vahanen, and competence management is a very current issue at Vahanen, too.
Lindgren is concerned about the lack of skilled people in the HVAC business.
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Qualified and competent design engineers are not available in the market, which reflects the scarcity of students in the 1990s. Skilled project managers don’t graduate from schools; several years of work experience is required before you can do the job properly. Another big challenge is fulfilling the increasingly strict energy efficiency requirements. Lindgren would like to see design engineers from different fields around one table.
- At Vahanen this is easier, because we are physically located under the same roof.
In his leisure time Mikael is into triathlon. Next summer, he plans to complete a half-triathlon in Joroinen.
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Vahanen to take part in an international E2 timber development competition
Kuva: Stora Enso Oyj
Vahanen Oy participates in an E2 timber development competition arranged by the City of Kouvola with the objective of establishing a new tradition of building environmentally friendly industrial multi-storey timber buildings. The City of Kouvola is organising the competition in co-operation with the Finnish Forest Industries, the Finnish Innovation Fund SITRA, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation TEKES, KSS Energia and the Regional Council of Kymenlaakso.
The construction competition involves designing and building an industrial multi-storey timber building solution following an example building located in Kouvola. Vahanen is participating in the competition in a team lead by the Danish Bjarke Ingels Group (B.I.G.). Vahanen is responsible for developing a structural system solution together with the Swiss Pirmin Jung and Stora Enso, and for serving as the expert in sustainable building in the Finnish climate.
The E2 competition is arranged as an open international competition. Registrations were received from 26 teams from seven countries, and four teams were short-listed. The selection criteria included the composition of the teams, selected approach, key members’ competence, and references of earlier activities related to sustainable development and timber construction. The short-listed teams were experienced in innovative design engineering, timber construction and the supporting business functions.
Specialists from Vahanen have previously participated invited teams in the Low2No competition arranged by Sitra and in the Viikki Synergy Building competition arranged by the Finnish Environment Institute.
Further information:
Senior Advisor Vesa Peltonen
Vahanen Oy
+358 (0)400 600 378
firstname.lastname@vahanen.com
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Services now available in the Jyväskylä region: Services provided locally by Insinööritoimisto Mittatyö Suomi Oy
A new addition to the Vahanen Group, Mittatyö Suomi Oy has extensive experience in the renovation and new building design of residential, business and office properties and of public and industrial buildings, as well as of geotechnical surveys and engineering. In addition, Mittatyö Suomi has significant competence in research and renovation associated with humidity, microbial and indoor climate problems. The business acquisition also covered the Estonia-based subsidiary, Insinööritoimisto Mittatyö Eesti Oü.
Further information:
Managing Director Jukka Holopainen
Insinööritoimisto Mittatyö Suomi Oy, Vahanen Group
Tel. +358 400 242 980
etunimi.sukunimi@mittatyo-jh.fi
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Vahanen promotes sustainable building in Romania and the Middle East
The Vahanen Group spoke in support of sustainable building at the Expertise for Healthy Environment seminar it arranged in Bucharest, Romania, on 29 September. The event was organised in co-operation with the Finnish Embassy and Finpro and it attracted one hundred local participants. Topics discussed at the event included the current status of sustainable building in Romania, future projects and research news.
This series of seminars began in Helsinki at the beginning of the year, and next in line after Bucharest are Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Bahrain where the theme to be addressed is Green Building.
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For more information, contact
Vahanen Group
Halsuantie 4, FI-00420 Helsinki
Tel. +358 20 769 8698
info@vahanen.com
www.vahanen.com
Vahanen Oy, Halsuantie 4, FI-00420 Helsinki
Tel. +358 20 769 8698
Vahanen Oy, Visamäentie 33, FI-13100 Hämeenlinna
Tel. +358 20 769 8608
Vahanen Environment Oy, Halsuantie 4, FI-00420 Helsinki
Tel. +358 20 769 8698
Vahanen Tampere Oy, Itsenäisyydenkatu 17 B 21, FI-33500 Tampere
Tel. +358 20 769 8638
Eduarch Oy, Ratakatu 1 B A 13-14, FI-00120 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 6811 180
Fundatec Oy, Halsuantie 4, FI-00420 Helsinki
Tel. +358 20 769 8648
Innovarch Oy, Piispanpelto 3, FI-02200 Espoo
Tel. +358 20 762 1600
www.innovarch.fi
Instakon Oy, Halsuantie 4, FI-00420 Helsinki
Tel. +358 20 769 8698
www.instakon.fi
Mittatyö Suomi Oy
Raitatie 18, 40250 Jyväskylä
Tel. +358 (0)20 720 9705
www.mittatyo.fi
Planekar Oy, Luukkaantori 7, FI-53300 Lappeenranta
Tel. +358 10 396 6400
RTC Vahanen Turku Oy, Ratapihankatu 53 B, FI-20100 Turku
Tel. +358 20 769 8618
RTC Koulutus Oy, Halsuantie 4, FI-00420 Helsinki,
Tel. +358 20 769 8658
www.rtckoulutus.fi
Vahanen Romania S
.R.L.
12 Sfantul Spiridon Street, ap. 6, 020982 Bucharest
Tel. +40 312 261 060
Read our previous newsletters
http://www.vahanen.com/in_English/News/Newsletters.iw3
Feedback and ideas
For questions and comments regarding the Vahanen Newsletter, please send email to info@vahanen.com.
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Vahanen-yhtiöiden PutkiremonttiPlus-palvelumalli on palkittu Laatukeskuksen myöntämällä Vuoden laatuinnovaatio -palkinnolla. PutkiremonttiPlus® on korjausrakentamisen palvelumalli, joka lähtee asukkaan tarpeista. Toimintamallin mukaan toteutetussa korjaushankkeessa asunto-osakeyhtiön osakkaat pääsevät vaikuttamaan korjaushankkeen suunnitteluun ja toteutukseen alusta lähtien.