Sustainable building

In many countries, the construction industry has struggled to balance engineering and the environment. In Finland, however, a preference for natural materials and the clever use of technology are industry hallmarks, ensuring the country has become a global leader in environmentally conscious engineering.

With vast areas of the countryside thickly forested, it is hardly surprising that wood is a staple material for many construction projects. The Finnish company Honkarakenne — internationally known as Honka — has been manufacturing wooden houses since 1958. “Our products have been sold to more than 40 countries,” says Esa Rautalinko, CEO of Honkarakenne. “We promote healthy living through aesthetics, safety, durability and ecological design. Our innovation allows all the excellent properties of a traditional log house to be incorporated into modern urban living.”
In addition to manufacturing more than 70,000 residential homes, Honka has completed commercial properties. “In Europe, 95 per cent of our sales are for residential properties,” says Rautalinko. “But we have also built many commercial properties, including a hotel in Verbier in Switzerland for Sir Richard Branson.”

Excellent raw materials

Honka manufactures its houses from one single species — the red pine from the forests in the north of Europe. The pine trees have exceptional qualities, making them an ideal building material, as Rautalinko explains. “The wood provides excellent heat insulation and it reduces temperature variations. The wood absorbs and maintains the humidity of the ambient air. It also has a long life cycle, ensuring it resists external aggression.”
Under Finnish Forest Certification System certification rules, forested areas cannot be diminished and each year, Finland afforests 30 million new plants. According to Rautalinko this practice is endorsed by Honka. “For Honka, loving nature also means taking care of the health and the future of Finnish forests,” he says. “Honka aims to contribute to slowing global warming by allowing the forest to grow."

Honka is also committed to another environmentally friendly initiative — energy saving. On February 1, 2005, Honka became the first company in its field to gain the exacting EC accreditation. “Honka complies with European rules and satisfies the requirements of the EC label, including those regarding energy savings,” says Rautalinko. “Honka produces its own energy by burning its waste. The power station, which is located next to the manufacturing plant, generates ten megawatts, which is enough to supply local industry and a nearby town.”
Skanska Finland is another company that has made environmental awareness top priority. “One of our aims is to enhance green expertise throughout our operations,” says Juha Hetemaki, CEO of Skanska Finland. “We want to be an industry leader in green building and sustainability and are striving to do more to reduce our environmental footprint.”

Green technology

Hetemaki says that implementing green technology is an important aspect of high-quality construction projects. “When designing homes, energy efficiency, the indoor climate and choice of materials are focal points for sustainable building,” he says. “With construction operations, the main emphasis in sustainability is to ensure efficiency, which leads for instance to less waste and less carbon dioxide emissions from transportations and site operations.”
While pioneering environmental issues may be an important focus, it is not at the expense of innovative technology, says Hetemaki.

“IT development is very much focused on and around building information modelling (BIM) and there are national programmes
to drive BIM development and use in Finland,” says Hetemaki.

Advanced business workflow
“It is widely believed BIM will provide great opportunities in various phases of design, project delivery and maintenance. The results are difficult to measure in monetary terms, but there is clear evidence that with help of BIM, customer decision making is easier, design or detailing have less errors, and production plans are more accurate,” says Hetemaki.
As in other countries, the construction industry in Finland has recently experienced turbulent times. While it is widely expected the market will improve, Hetemaki believes the sector will face other challenges in the near future. “When the economic conditions do get better, there will be a problem to find enough skilled workers, as a lot of the professionals and skilled workers working within the industry will retire in the next few years,” he says.