YIT Group publishes the magazine titled "ing" twice a year. The magazine is designed especially for our clients, partners, shareholders and also for the public. In magazine "ing" you can read about our international activities in all areas of our products and services.

1. www.yitgroup.com
YIT maintains Kesko stores
A modern motorway built
between Koskenkylä and Kotka
The Gorelovo business park
in St. Petersburg
YIT Studies guarantee the future
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YIT Corporation Stakeholder Magazine 1/2012
Towards
the futureThe Konepaja area in Helsinki is a prime example
of YIT’s work. It has a century of colourful history
behind it. Ahead are new, bold and innovative
implementations that pay homage to the old.

2. 2
YIT History
book published
Hundred years of experience is a chronicle
that tells a story of YIT’s progress to become
an international company.
*Saimaa Canal locks
built by YIT’s predecessors
Pohjarakenne Oy: Ilistoye
Insinööritoimisto Oy
Vesto: Tsvetochnoye Oy
Yleinen Insinööritoimisto:
Iskrova, Brusnichnoye.
All four locks were
located in the canal
section leased from
the Soviet Union.
2

3. YIT helped
to build
the Saimaa Canal
TEXTTimoherranenPHOTOYITArchive
T
he Saimaa Canal was the flagship of
Finnish construction engineering in the
1960s. The predecessors of today’s YIT
participated in the canal project, making
a significant contribution to the result.
For example, the companies built four of the canal’s
eight locks. Its technical execution made the Saimaa
Canal a high-quality traffic system, and the lease
agreement was renewed a few years ago for another
50 years.
During the canal’s construction, YIT’s predeces-
sor was known as Pellonraivaus Oy. The subsidiaries
of this conglomerate – Pohjarakenne Oy, Oy Yleinen
Insinööritoimisto, and Insinööritoimisto Oy Vesto
– participated directly in the building of the canal.
A five-year project, construction of the canal,
started in the autumn of 1963. In addition to the
locks, these companies built canal sections, ports,
and bridges. The conglomerate’s dredging fleet deep-
ened the waterways from the Bay of Vyborg to the
canal. The fleet’s suction-tube dredgers Tursas 2 and
4 and the dipper shovel dredger Pera I, along with
boring platform Pera 7, assisted with the dredging.
The significance of the Saimaa Canal, opened in
1968, was not limited to the traffic it conveyed. The
successful completion of the canal convinced the
Soviets of the skills of the Finns. In 1970, the Soviet
Union commissioned the building of the industrial
complexes in Svetogorsk and Kostomuksha from
Finns. These border area projects meant a great deal
to for the economy of the construction companies
and for Finnish employment.
3

4. On this special year for YIT, we can look back in our company's history in a spirit of celebration
for the results we have achieved. With the strong competence of its staff and the strength
of its company culture, YIT has advanced good living environments for people already for
a hundred years. All of us at YIT and all our customers can today be proud of the people
who have steered the company so well even through the toughest times. Being a trailblazer
sometimes means facing rough stretches along the way.
The beginning of the new century bears little resemblance to the last, the time when
YIT started in Finland. We no longer see horse-drawn carts hauling goods from the countryside
to population centres, for example. They have been replaced by heavy vehicles that require
good road connections, including bridges. Agricultural Finland has urbanised, and people have
migrated to cities and towns.
Construction focuses on cities and towns and their neighbouring regions. Cattle pastures
have been transformed into residential areas, traffic routes and industrial sites. After the wars,
YIT cleared land for Karelian refugees to live and farm on. Now YIT designs and develops
entire residential areas. Even older city districts, such as
the Konepaja area in Helsinki, will be given a new look – by
building new and paying homage to the old.
The E18 road, a modern motorway built between Kotka
and Koskenkylä, will create new opportunities in Russian
trade. The news broke recently that the motorway will be
extended all the way to Vaalimaa on the Russian border,
thanks to the 240 million euros allocated for the Hamina-
Vaalimaa stretch by the Finnish government. This secures a
considerable amount of work for the road builders.
YIT needs builders of the future. Collaboration has started
with six universities of applied sciences. We will be in charge
of the training, provide the students with practical training
positions and guarantee them jobs after graduation.
Kesko Corporation is among our largest partners. YIT’s
competencies in building technology and energy efficiency
have been at the service of Kesko already for years. In Kes-
ko’s properties, our maintenance provision covers a total area
of one million square metres. Both parties benefit from this.
Ragnar Kreuger (4 August 1897–27 October 1997) was
the strong leader of YIT through the decades. We respect
and honour his valuable legacy of courage and innovation in
what we do today.
I wish you a useful and enjoyable read!
A valuable centennial tradition
“After the wars, YIT cleared
land for Karelian refugees
to live and farm on. Now
YIT designs and develops
entire residential areas.”
Eija Sandberg
Editor-in-Chief
4
YIT Corporation Stakeholder Magazine 1/2012

5. Looking back –
what do you see?
YIT, a diverse company
Results through
collaboration
Clean air
New business
premises available
in St. Petersburg
Studies that
combine school with
building site work
Reino Hanhinen and Esko Mäkelä talk
about interesting things in YIT's history
An interview with President
and CEO Juhani Pitkäkoski
Kesko’s commercial properties are
well cared for without compromising
energy efficiency.
A solution developed by
YIT in Germany purifies
air for industrial plants.
YIT developed a business park
in the St. Petersburg region.
YIT Studies guarantee
a supply of competent
construction people in the future.
11 Pekka Helin forecasts
the emergence of customised
living circumstances
6
14
www.yitgroup.com/YIT_
GROUP/about-us/Media
The -ing magazine
and other YIT publications
are available at
a single location.
18
26
33
44
www.yit.fi
Get the information
you need about
YIT’s services and
topical news.
yit100.yit.fi/yit100/YIT100_uk/
Learn more about
our history at
our anniversary site.
22 The modern
motorway is
safe and green.
Painotuote
441 032
YIT is a major European
service company catering
to the real estate and
construction sectors
and industry.
We construct, develop
and maintain a good
living environment in the
Nordic countries, Russia,
the Baltic countries and
Central Europe. In 2011,
YIT’s turnover was around
€4.5 billion. The Group now
has approximately 26,000
employees. YIT’s share is
quoted on NASDAQ OMX
Helsinki Oy.
Publisher: YIT Corporation, P.O. Box 36, FI-00621 Helsinki, tel. +358 20 433 111, www.yitgroup.com
Editor-in-Chief: Eija Sandberg Editorial board: Kirsi Hemmilä, Tuija Hirvonen, Sari Malka, Elena Vanhanen,
Katja Tiitinen, Tuija Vilhomaa Editorial secretary: Terhi Paavola, Maggie Oy Layout: Maggie Oy | Zeeland
Cover: YIT Printing house: Erweko Painotuote Oy Paper: Edixion ISSN: 1795-7850 Read -ing online:
www.yitgroup.com/media/publications Source of address: YIT's customer and shareholder register
Change of address: postit@yit.fi or tuija.jamsa@yit.fi Feedback and ideas about articles can be sent to:
eija.sandberg@yit.fi The next -ing will come out in October 2012.
Engineering for Living – YIT Corporation Stakeholder Magazine
28 Old meets new
at the Konepaja area
in Helsinki.
PEFC/02-31-120
5
6 2812 44

6. 6
TEXT Leena Koskenlaakso PHOTOS Juha Törmälä
Looking back
- what do
you see?
YIT Group’s former executive power duo
Reino Hanhinen and Esko Mäkelä got together to discuss
the ups and downs during the recent decades.

7. 7
YIT
has been successful because we are
proactive, development-oriented, creative
and innovative. A good example of this
was the realisation – made long before
the oil boom – that what was needed
in the Middle East was clean water. It led to us delivering wastewater
treatment plants to Jordania in the 1960s, says Reino Hanhinen, former
CEO and current vice chairman of the board of YIT Group.
“Yes, in the 1970s we operated successfully in many Middle Eastern
countries,” says Esko Mäkelä, former executive vice president and
financial director of YIT Group.
“But by the mid-80s we had to pull out of the Middle East because
European construction firms could no longer withstand fierce Korean
competition.”
Out into the Big World
Hanhinen says another secret to YIT’s success has been its long-term
strategic development and renewal.
“Finland is a small country, and when we started searching for growth
opportunities, we had to start looking beyond our own borders. In the
1970s, growth was found in the Middle East, but during the decades that
followed we have turned our gaze first to the Baltic Sea region and then
to Scandinavia, Central Europe and Russia,” he notes.
“Ever since the late 1980s we have focused on construction and
technical building systems. Our strategy has been slightly modified along
the way, but for the last 25 years it has remained strictly aligned. Growth
has been achieved through project deliveries, building maintenance and
lifecycle services.”
YIT's founding is
traced to the Swedish
engineering company
Ab Allmänna
Ingeniörsbyrån (AIB),
which opened up
a branch office in
Finland in 1912.
1919 The
Great War,
Finland’s independence
and the Finnish Civil War,
all contributed to a rapid
deterioration of the com-
pany’s momentum, leading
to the company's withdrew
from the Finnish market.
1920 The
operations
of AIB’s Helsinki office
were resumed in the form
of a new Finnish company
of the name Ab Allmänna
Ingeniörsbyrån –Yleinen
Insinööritoimisto Oy.
1924 The
company
went bankrupt, but
operations continued
uninterrupted
under the leadership
of Ragnar Kreuger.
1912
Reino Hanhinen
started his career
at YIT 45 years ago.
He led the company
until 2005.

8. 1930 At the end
of the 1930s
the company’s operations
expanded to include
companies in the forest
industry. YIT designed
and implemented extensive
water management systems,
with pipelining using
large wooden pipes made
of plans and other
customised equipment.
1955 YIT
expanded
its operations from
water management to
other sectors of the
construction industry.
1958 YIT was
awarded
its first construction
exports project in Iraq.
1940s During the
wartime
YIT was engaged by the
acquistions departments of
the armed forces of both
Finland and Germany.
1940 On 1940 the
legal predeces-
sor of the present-day YIT
– Pellonraivaus Oy – was
founded as an important
national venture to clear land to in-
crease the amount of arable farm-
land needed in the post-war years.
1948 YIT expanded to
include a new line,
the import and sales of water-
supply pipes.
1949 YIT bought its
own workshop
for its workshop operations.
8
Esko Mäkelä’s career
in YIT spanned
a total of 41 years,
from 1987 to his
retirement in 2006.

9. Focusing on building systems
“Technical building systems require less working capital
than the construction of residential buildings, which evens
out economic cycles. Building systems brings in revenue
faster, levelling out YIT’s cash flow and supports our cyclic
construction business, Mäkelä, a meticulous numbers man,
points out.”
“The acquisition in 1995 of Huber, a Finnish plumbing
company, and the purchase of ABB’s Scandinavian, Baltic
and Russian building systems business in 2003 were among
the most memorable events during my career, he adds.
“Ordinary people and many investors still regard us as
a construction firm, although more
than 60% of YIT’s annual revenue
comes from building systems and real
estate maintenance,” Hanhinen says.
“That’s true. And YIT is still
taken for a Finnish company,
although our staff in other
countries – a total of some 16,000
– outnumbers the less than 10,000
people we employ in Finland,”
Mäkelä responds.
Particular strengths
When asked to name things that YIT
has been particularly good at, Hanhinen does not hesitate.
“We have been able to develop and manage our personnel
so well that during economic fluctuations we were saved by
reacting quickly to the warning signals in our operating
environment. Of the four major Finnish construction firms,
we were the only one that survived the severe recession in
the early 1990s.”
Mäkelä agrees, “I would say we have been good at transi-
tion management. We were able to get all employees involved
by telling them we were all in the same boat. We had to lay
off many people, but it was a matter of saving the rest of
the YIT Group.
“The importance of personnel development and speaking
to people in words that they understand cannot be stressed
enough. We employ close to 26 000 people, and the group’s
bottom line depends on their daily accomplishments. What’s
1960s YIT's
competitor
Pellonraivaus Oy acquired a
controlling interest in YIT as
well as in another competitor
Insinööritoimisto Vesti Oy.
1961 Pellonraivaus
completed
its first construction project
in Soviet Union.
1985- 1987
YIT, Vesto
and Perusyhtymä were merged
to form YIT Corporation.
1987- 1988
YIT underwent
one of the most extensive
reorgansations in the economic
history of Finland.
1964 YIT returned
to the Middle
East, this time to Jordan.
1968 Pellonraivaus
Oy changed
its name to Perusyhtymä,
Vesto and YIT continued
to operate under the
ownership of Perusyhtymä
as independent companies.
1970s YIT made
a strategic
decision to expand its opera-
tions and venture into the
maintenance of steel struc-
tures and industrial pipelines.
1984 YIT
launched
its housing construction
business.
more, all our managers have a deep understanding of what
our daily business is about,” Hanhinen says.
“Our bold recruitment policy is also one of our assets.
We systematically recruit many young trainees to grow with
us. They provide the potential for building a superior team,
he adds.”
Mäkelä suggests that the decision to become a listed
company, made in the mid-1990s, contributed to YIT’s growth
in a major way.
“Our time on the Helsinki Stock Exchange is one of
the most successful periods in Finnish economic history. We
hold an unsurpassed record for being able to raise dividends
for our shareholders every single year
between 1995 and 2007. The fact that
old shareholders have been able to
sell some of their YIT shares has
protected us from a hostile takeover.”
Times of crisis
Looking back, it has not been only
sunshine and successes. There have
been crisis periods when YIT was
living on a knife edge.
“In the construction business, firms
are often close to financial meltdown. For
us, the most dramatic years occurred just
after the mid-1980s. We were so close to crashing into a concrete
wall that we had to make a financial U-turn,” says Mäkelä.
“By that time, the Perusyhtymä Group had been established
but it was a dispersed group where the companies, Perus-
yhtymä, YIT, Vesto and Makrotalo, were competing with
one another, trying to increase their shares of the Finnish
construction market. Perusyhtymä had also diversified into
other fields, such as industrial engineering,” Hanhinen explains.
Hanhinen was appointed CEO of YIT, the first company to
land in serious difficulties, in 1985. Eighteen months later,
having remedied the problems at YIT, he grabbed the steering
wheel at Perusyhtymä, YIT’s mother company, which had,
meanwhile, gone downhill and was now in crisis. During the
following year it became clear that if the group was to be saved,
all companies had to be bundled together. Finally, 1987 saw
the establishment of the YIT Group.
“Our time on
the Helsinki Stock
Exchange is one of
the most successful
ones in Finnish
economic history.”
9

10. “It was a really big operation where we had to let large
numbers of people go, and several business lines were sold. But
it paid off. When the economy slumped in the early 90s we had
already resurfaced and were full of drive. We reacted to the
situation faster than our competitors, choosing an eye-of-the-
needle strategy. We decided to squeeze ourselves through what
we considered a tight spot by reducing our fixed costs. Later we
saw it was not a tight spot, but a long and tightening pipe. But
we emerged from the slump in the 90s with only minor bruises.”
Bad decisions vs.
things to be proud of
At certain times there has been
too much risk-taking and poor
judgement. Mäkelä recalls the
renovation project of Hotel
Metropol in Moscow, which
turned out to be a protected
museum-class building
requiring extra sensitive working
methods that sent costs soaring.
“Back in 1986 it threatened to
capsize YIT’s boat.”
“But the thing I’m very proud
of is that YIT was the first to introduce a residential mortgage
system into Russia in 2002. Today, about 40% of the homes we
sell in Russia have been financed through a mortgage. This is
very important for the growth of the residential construction
market, and something I will mention to St. Peter when I arrive
at the Pearly Gates,” Mäkelä claims.
1990 YIT
commenced its
last Soviet Union project.
1992 The company
moved its
headquarters to Panuntie
in Helsinki.
1995 The acquisition
of Oy Huber Ab
strengthened YIT's position
and opened up new
oppurtunities in Sweden.
1997 The company bought
a controlling interest
in the St. Petersburg-based consturction
company Lentek.
2003 the acquisition of ABB's
building systems business
also involved new business operations
in Sweden, Norway, Denmak, the Baltic
countries and Russia. Building system
services were later expanded to
cover Central European countries such
as Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech
Republic, Hungary and Romania.
Reino Hanhinen,
M.Sc. (Eng.), D.Sc. (Tech.) hc
Reino Hanhinen worked for YIT from 1967
until 2005, acting as the Chief Executive
Officer of YIT Group from 2000 until his
retirement in 2005. From 1985 until 1987
he worked as the CEO of YIT, and after that
he changed jobs and became the CEO of
Perusyhtymä, where he continued working
for 18 years until 2005. He has been member
of YIT’s Board since 1988. He held the
position of Chairman of the Board twice, first
from 1989 to 2000 and again between 2006
and 2008. He is currently Vice Chairman of
the YIT Board. In addition, Reino Hanhinen
plays a prominent role in the governance
of other Finnish top companies. He has
been the Chairman of the Board of steel
firm Rautaruukki since 2009, and a member
of the Board of elevator and escalator
manufacturer Kone since 2005.
Esko Mäkelä,
M.Sc. (Eng.), MBA
Esko Mäkelä’s career in YIT spanned a
total of 41 years. Between 1987 and his
retirement in 2006, he was the Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of
YIT Group. Prior to that, he worked as CEO
of YIT from 1986 to 1987. Earlier on in his
career, he held various positions in Finland
and abroad, including YIT’s regional manager
in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s. Esko Mäkelä
was the first person to hold a position in
the Perusyhtymä Group organisation when it
was established in 1981.
“Our 26,000
professionals
serve customers
in 14 countries
and the number
of shareholders
is over 30 000.”
2012
10

11. 11
Agenda
Pekka Helin
Director,
Development
of Residential
Construction
“The forms of social interaction are evolving.
Alongside the use of social media,
a strong desire is emerging for people to get
together and do things together.”
G
lobal trends can also be seen in the way people live, and they have an effect on
what kind of housing is built, and when, where and how this is done. Sustainable
development, ageing populations, continuing urbanisation and new forms of
social interaction have an impact on the way people live in the most concrete
ways. Sustainable development means, among other things, more stringent
energy regulations for housing. The builder’s challenge is to meet the requirements for energy
efficiency in a way that is not evident on the outside or compromise the comfort of living.
Conversion opportunities are needed as teleworking increases as part of the sustainability trend,
making it necessary for part of the home to also serve as an office. Flexibility of spaces is
important, also in the everyday lives of reconstituted families where the number of family
members may fluctuate during the week, sometimes by multiple persons.
Population ageing means that soon three out of every four households will have one or
two persons living in them. How do ageing people like to live? There must be plenty of choice,
because the category of ageing people is heterogenic, with varying hopes and needs.
Accessibility is needed, but the same goes for shared spaces as well as individualised solutions,
even to a high degree of customisation.
Meanwhile, urbanisation is increasing at an ever faster pace. In twenty years, the number of
people living in the Greater Helsinki region will be 1.5 million. Elsewhere in the country, regional
centres that are able to evolve dynamically are growing as well. Builders need to understand
the changes taking place in their respective areas. In the capital region, the dearth of building
land is a reality today, and it is extremely important
to be involved in ensuring that there will be afford-
able housing available in the future as well.
The forms of social interaction are evolving, too.
Alongside social media, a strong desire is emerging
for people to get together and do things together.
This means that we need living rooms to share –
something completely different from the uninviting
hobby premises in housing blocks of old.
Builders also need to remember that a home is
more than walls, ceilings and floors. Only rather
recently have Finns learned to demand individuality
in housing. For a long time we settled for the housing norms created as a consequence of
two migrations, one after the Second World War and the other resulting from urbanisation in
the 1960s and 1970s. Wishes of homebuyers are easy to fulfil in the construction stage.
We used to wonder whether individual solutions have an effect on the resale value. Now we
begin to comprehend that these homes are built for us, not for prospective future buyers.
Customers will surely welcome the comprehensive and tailored housing solutions that we
have come up with at YIT. They feature opportunities for integrating technical solutions to make
everyday life easier. The eHouse helps you to monitor your water and energy consumption,
among other things, and keep your house documentation up to date. And how does the
opportunity to acquire cleaning or shopping services together with the apartment sound to you?
Or getting a professional interior decoration service for your new apartment?
More and more people are answering yes.
How does the opportunity
to acquire cleaning
or shopping services
together with the apartment
sound to you?
11

12. 1212

13. The egg of Aepyornis maximus,
an elephant bird species, is the
largest known bird egg in the world.
Elephant birds weighing some
500 kg used to lay eggs big enough
to fit in a bucketful of water.
Modern-day ostrich eggs truly
shrink in comparison.
Elephant birds became extinct
hundreds, perhaps thousands of
years ago. The egg in the photo
may be up to 10,000 years old.
Only a few eggs of Aepyornis
maximus remain intact in the whole
world. One of them is part of the
egg collection of the Museum
Oologicum R. Kreuger.
Eggs were a hobby of Ragnar
Kreuger (1897–1997), the founder
of YIT and the head of the company
for 50 years. He assembled one of
the world’s most remarkable egg
collections. The collection covers
the entire globe and features a
number of rarities.
In the 1960s, Kreuger donated
his collection to the University
of Helsinki, and the eggs have
since been in the custody of the
Finnish Museum of Natural History.
The collection has immeasurable
scientific value, and it is still being
utilised for research purposes.
The collection is not open to the
public.
World’s biggest egg
PHOTOSJannelehtinen
Broods of European Honey Buzzard.
Docent Torsten Stjernberg
has worked at the Museum
Oologicum R. Kreuger
since the 1960s.
1313

14. According to President and CEO Juhani Pitkäkoski, the driving forces
that have made YIT a trailblazer are courage and a hands-on mentality.
This feature in YIT’s culture has remained the same for a century,
in everything that YIT endeavours to do.
Towards
the future
with diverse approaches
TEXT Eija SanDberg PHOTOS Juha Törmälä
14

15. W
hen I think of bold
moves in the history
of YIT, one that
comes to mind is the
company’s decision
to take on projects in
the Middle East. That was quite a leap into
a virtually unknown market area, one whose
predictability was questionable. Already then,
Ragnar Kreuger, the founder of YIT, was
laying a foundation for an approach that
was both bold and ahead of its time, says
Pitkäkoski.
The company delivered a water supply
plant and two steel water tanks to Karbala,
Iraq in July 1960. The delivery was preceded
by tough and complicated bidding negotia-
tions that started in 1957 and were conducted
in Ragnar Kreuger’s quintessentially unyield-
ing style. This was followed by a contract for
wastewater treatment plants in Amman and
Akaba, Jordan, when YIT was already setting
its sights on Saudi Arabia.
The journey continued in the Middle East,
when in 1967 YIT headed for Riad to build
a water pre-treatment plant and three water
supply plants. The next move was to go to
Medina with a partner to strike a deal on the
running and maintenance of the city's water
purification plant. In 1978, the company un-
dertook a water supply plant project for the
city of Jeddah, and a couple of years later it
took on a wastewater treatment plant contract
together with a partner.
“We build, develop and maintain a good
living environment for people in accordance
with our mission. The YIT culture continues
to rely on its familiar strengths: having the
initiative to be a pioneer and having the cour-
age to make bold moves. We have staff who
think creatively and in new ways. They have
the ability to develop things and see them in
a new light, from the customer’s perspective,
listening to the customer,” Pitkäkoski boasts.
In the Medina project, the courage of YIT's
people was indicated by the fact that almost
thirty employees of the company along with
their families moved to a community in the
desert. They could not have stayed in Medina,
a holy city in Islam, due to the differences in
cultural customs and leisure habits. The mat-
ter was solved by building these one hundred
people a community of their own. This truly
created a sense of unity among them. They
collaborated on many fronts, such as arrang-
ing schooling and leisure-time activities for
their children and spending free time together.
There was a strong “can-do” spirit in the air,
and you could see it both in the grown-ups
and in the children.
“I have been personally involved in plans
and projects related to the development of
building technology, and one such scheme,
in particular, is firmly imprinted in my mind:
the acquisition of ABB’s building technol-
ogy business, a move that required a great
deal of courage. The key persons behind
the move were Reino Hanhinen, Esko
Mäkelä and Sakari Toikkanen. I learned
a whole lot from the transaction process and from fa-
miliarising new fellow workers with YIT’s culture. Every
business acquisition is a unique process where you can
always learn something new for the next case," Pitkäko-
ski reminisces.
The number of YIT staff roughly doubled when the
ABB business was acquired in 2003. As a result of the
acquisition, the company's competence in building tech-
nology expanded to also cover Scandinavia, the Baltic
countries and Russia.
“Building technology must always work flawlessly,
regardless of building size or type. Our competence in
building technology is second to none in the market, and
our service concept in technical property maintenance is
more wide-ranging than what you find elsewhere. Pre-
ventive maintenance and regular and need-based repairs
help the customer to maintain the value of its property.
By developing and improving the technical systems,
the property's energy consumption and carbon dioxide
emissions can be reduced,” Pitkäkoski underlines.
“We take responsibility of the management of building
technology, energy consumption and services offered in
the premises. In matters related to technology and sys-
tems, our competencies include heating, water, air con-
ditioning, electricity, cooling, security and data communi-
cation systems, automation, servicing and maintenance
of technical systems, increasing the efficiency of energy
consumption and optimising energy consumption.”
To extensive
markets by
acquisitions.
15

16. “The range of our Construcions
services is wide. It covers the con-
struction of new residential, office,
commercial and logistics premises,
entire residential areas, free-time
centres and service centres, as
well as renovation, modernisation
and conversion of existing proper-
ties into new uses. In Finland, we are developing
energy-efficient construction. In the future, energy
consumption in our new buildings will be about half
of the normative energy consumption level deter-
mined by the Finnish government.”
“The Tilanero (“space genius”) concept is a good
example of how we contemplate future concepts
for office premises together with our customers and
how the solutions should address not just the use
of space but also building technology and interior
decoration. One of our related pilot projects is lo-
cated at Kalasatama in Helsinki. The Motor-Center
concept, aimed at companies in the vehicle service
business, is another example of YIT's concept de-
velopment.”
“One of our goals is to bolster our position as
Finland's largest player in the residential construc-
tion business. Last year, our most substantial future
investment in Finland was the preliminary agreement
made with VR, the national rail company, on construction rights in
Helsinki, Turku and Hämeenlinna.
Area development and premises concepts of the future can be
seen in our pilot construction projects.”
“In the future, one considerable site of area development will
be the district of Niemenranta in Tampere, where fifteen different
properties will be erected. In Lauttasaari in Helsinki, in the area of
Merenkulkijanranta, we have already built apartments with consid-
eration to combining comfort of living and energy efficiency. Our
construction work continues there,” Pitkäkoski says.
“Our various service concepts make life easier for homebuyers.
Listening to the customers and forecasting future living needs is
an important part of our develop-
ment and design work.
Our infrastructure construction
offers a wide range of services:
earthworks, foundation works, rock
construction, water construction,
municipal engineering and streets,
roads, bridges, harbours, sports
areas, parks and waste handling
areas.”
“In the improvement of Ring
Road I, one of our segments was
the “Mestarintunneli” tunnel, which
features eight underground driving
lanes on a stretch of 500 metres. For the most part, the tunnel
was cut through solid rock. A total of 200,000 cubic metres of
rock was cut from the line of the tunnel. During the construc-
tion stage, as many as 70,000 vehicles by-passed the tunnel site
every day, which was extremely challenging also in view of traffic
arrangements and traffic flow.”
“Currently we are involved in the E18 motorway project. This
is a project where we can exhibit our best competencies in
infrastructure construction. The main project responsibility lies
with the Finnish Transport Agency that ordered a service package
including design, construction, maintenance and finance from a
consortium established jointly by YIT, Destia and Meridiam.”
“We have also signed a letter of intent with Lemminkäinen on
collaboration concerning nuclear plant construction projects
in Finland. Together we can offer the required resources and
competencies both in terms of quantity and quality. It is highly
justifiable for us to join forces in these kinds of challenging
contracts whose duration is long,” Juhani Pitkäkoski states.
A good living
environment for people
16

17. “We offer services for industrial
maintenance and investments. We
develop services related to pipe-
lines, vessels and electric, automa-
tion and ventilation systems on a
continual basis. Energy efficiency
is always the starting point in all of
our planning work.”
“Our job is to help our custom-
ers increase the efficiency of their
production throughout the plant
lifecycle.
We have a competitive advan-
tage in that we can offer our customers a number of dif-
ferent maintenance service concepts, from the servicing of
individual pieces of equipment all the way to maintenance
partnership agreements,” Pitkäkoski says.
“YIT has a new kind of service centre at the Kilpilahti in-
dustrial park in Porvoo. The centre can meet all of the needs
of our customers from industrial services to building technol-
ogy solutions. Our main customers there are Neste Oil and
Borealis Polymers. A year ago, Borealis Polymers Oy and YIT
signed an agreement on maintenance partnership in Finland.
The purpose of the partnership agreement is to develop a
strong and competitive maintenance concept for Borealis’s
manufacturing plants at Kilpilahti, Porvoo. Pre-manufacturing
is mainly done at YIT’s engineering workshops. In Sweden,
YIT upgrades the converter equipment at SSAB's steel mill
in Luleå.
According to Juhani Pitkäkoski, the
demand for new investment projects
in Central Europe was at a good level
last year.
“We expect the demand for our en-
ergy services to increase in the future,
as European countries are adopt-
ing more stringent energy efficiency
norms. In Germany we have extensive
opportunities to achieve – and experi-
ence – further development as the
most competent company in the business. The devel-
opment of YIT’s services will be supported by the com-
pany’s own product development centre in Aachen,
Germany. We have also examined opportunities to
utilise renewable energies, particularly solar energy.”
Services
for the needs
of industry
Central European
and Russian markets
“Our services are aimed at sustainable
development, and our implementations
are based on lifecycle thinking. We are
constantly developing innovative solutions
of our own in technology, service, energy
efficiency and construction. In the lifecycle
model, we take responsibility for the
design work and implementation, but also
of site maintenance during operation and
services for a period that is agreed on with
the customer.”
“in Finland, an example of this is the
Huhtasuo school and daycare centre of
the City of Jyväskylä, which is based on
the lifecycle model. In addition to building
the facility, we will be in
charge of the building
technology solutions
and maintenance and
all lifecycle services
until 2033,” Pitkäkoski
explains.
“In Finland, we have
good opportunities to
strengthen our position
further.”
Sustainable
development
and lifecycle
thinking
“In Russia, we have developed a service concept
for homebuyers together with local banks. The
concept facilitates housing purchases with mortgage
programmes, and its popularity is steady. The
fact that those purchasing a YIT Home can get
a mortgage on affordable terms is a competitive
advantage for us.”
“Commencement of housing development in Rus-
sia is another bold expansion we have made, and it
will provide us with amazing opportunities for many
years to come. We have always made big moves
and made changes. Now we are an important resi-
dential builder in Russia and the Baltic countries.
Furthermore, we have started residential construc-
tion at a good pace in the Czech Republic and Slo-
vakia as well,” Pitkäkoski says.
17

18. O
penness, trust and genuine partnership. Together we
can achieve more than on our own, and both sides will
benefit from the collaboration.
Jari Pihlajamaa, Maintenance Manager at Kesko says
that the collaboration between YIT Building Services
Finland and Kesko Corporation has strong foundations. The relationship
has been developed continuously, and both parties have strived system-
atically to enhance it for the last 11 years.
“We have worked towards the same goals. You need to be open when
you contemplate things together. The established operating procedures
are good only if both sides benefit from them.”
At the beginning of the new millennium, Kesko was among the first
major companies in Finland to outsource its building services operations.
At present, Kesko controls about 950 properties in Finland.
YIT and Kesko have collaborated in the provision of services for
Kesko trading sites since 2001.
to maintain
YIT maintains 350 Kesko Corporation
properties. “Optimal conditions” are the key
words in the long-standing collaboration.
TEXT Pertti Suvanto PHOTOS Jussi Vierimaa
One million
square metres
1818

19. Finland’s largest
K-citymarket is lo-
cated at Länsikeskus
in Turku. In a hyper-
market of gargantuan
proportions where
cooling, heating and
ventilation must be
properly maintained
and serviced. Matti
Santanen and Sami
Pasi inspect that eve-
rything is working right
in the machine room at
the top of the building.
1919

20. The service agreement currently
covers the building technology man-
agement, technical service and mainte-
nance, energy management and manage-
ment of property services at 350 Kesko
trading sites in south-western Finland,
Finnish Lakeland, East Finland, North
Finland and Osthrobotnia. The ag-
gregate total area of the properties
amounts to about one million square
metres. The storekeepers at the trading
sites are also involved in the arrange-
ment.
Long collaboration and partnership
constitute a good basis for productive
operations and development. Annual
themes have been selected for the col-
laboration, and the agreement has been
reviewed and revised along the way. The
annual themes guide the development of
the collaboration, and target achieve-
ment is monitored at regular intervals.
“For us, the number one thing has
been the ability to make changes if it
leads to better results. A good atmos-
phere is conducive to ideas for changes.
They may be minor and simple, but with
a property volume as large as this, they
can be reduplicated, and sometimes
small things may become something
bigger.”
Pihlajamaa mentions an example in
sourcing related to property develop-
ment.
“Based on the feedback from YIT’s
managers, we have been able to focus
our purchases on more long-lasting
products. An example of this are the
automatic doors that are very important
for shop operations.”
Energy efficiency
is key for Kesko
Long-term collaboration has also gener-
ated good results in the improvement of
the properties’ energy efficiency.
In Kesko’s world, energy efficiency
is important both in view of ensuring
business profitability and protecting the
environment. Corporate responsibility is
one of the company's key values.
The K-group is a signatory to the
energy efficiency agreement of the com-
mercial sector and is committed to cut-
ting its power consumption by 65 GWh
by the end of 2016; the targeted reduc-
tion equals the annual energy consump-
tion of some 3,250 detached houses
heated by electricity.
Since 2008, Kesko Corporation has
sourced exclusively carbon dioxide free
power for the K-group. This makes a
difference, since Kesko’s business is
very energy-intensive, and the company
accounts for about one per cent of all
power consumption in Finland.
The energy theme was brought up in
the context of the collaboration back
in 2004. The annual theme year created
savings of about one million euros for
Kesko.
“About 3 to 4 years ago, YIT carried
out a project called “the energy rally”
in 259 of our properties. In the project,
YIT inspected the sites to see how the
technology was working in practice and
performed fluid analyses for the heating,
cooling and ventilation networks. This
helped to eliminate functional problems
in the systems. These “rallies” brought
us considerable savings in energy con-
sumption,” Pihlajamaa touts.
“Our guys”
Additionally, YIT systematically com-
missions its partners to perform “clean-
liness audits” at Kesko sites, intended
to demonstrate to the customer how the
service works by means of photo mate-
rial. The audits cover the cleanliness
of the properties' outdoor areas, roofs,
technical facilities, main entrances and
loading areas, and the results are com-
piled in a report a few pages long.
In 2010, efforts began to make com-
panies in the trading sector committed
to energy efficiency, and storekeepers
took a keen interest in this. A substantial
share of the trading sites have been con-
nected to YIT’s central building control
room, and their conditions and building
systems are monitored continuously.
“Through YIT’s managers we can
train storekeepers in energy efficiency
matters. In connection with their site
visits, YIT managers provide storekeep-
ers with insights on how energy savings
can be achieved in the operations.”
Pihlajamaa stresses that when col-
laboration has a long history behind it,
you know that it works right. This gives
the customer a basic sense of safety and
trust.
“YIT’s technical managers have been
with the company for a very long time,
and they are well acquainted with our
local people. They are like a part of our
own organisation, even though they don
YIT’s colours. Another good result from
the long-standing collaboration is the
development of a good management
culture. Both parties know what needs
to be done and what it takes to get it
done. In addition to day-to-day mainte-
nance, we have plenty of development
work and projects going on between us.”
“For us it is important that the
work is done at the same quality level
20

21. throughout the country. This has been
one of YIT’s strong suits. When you are
dealing with large volumes and a myriad
of events, a key thing is to get things
done in an easy way.”
“Take safety for example. Our execu-
tive management has defined it as the
absolute bottom line in everything we
do. We have had no issues with snow
loads in the winter. The accumulation
of snow is measured regularly, and the
snow is removed from the roofs im-
mediately when necessary. Problems are
brought up in good time, and people are
aware of what they need to do. The sys-
tem works, and we can rely on it.”
Optimal conditions
According to Pekka Pöykkö, Director
of YIT Building Services Finland, the
key to providing Kesko with property
services is to successfully combine the
viewpoints of technical management,
technical service, remote monitoring
and energy competence
The values of both Kesko and YIT
highlight leadership, the ability of
changing with the times, development
and responsibility. An example of this
is the newly-developed “fourth genera-
tion” agreement, building on the open-
ness and trust that are the collabora-
tion's foundation and on the efficiency
of both parties. The collaboration has
shifted from calendar-based service
intervals to need-based servicing: meas-
Kesko is a leading provider of trading sector services. It is engaged in the
food trade, the home and specialty goods trade, the building and home
improvement trade, and the car and machinery trade. Kesko’s chain oper-
ations comprise about 2,000 stores in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Belarus.
Kesko was included, for the eighth time, on “the Global 100 Most Sus-
tainable Corporations in the World” list, announced at the meeting of the
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2012. On the list,
Kesko is the 43rd most sustainable company in the world. Kesko has been
on the list since it was started in 2005.
The most substantial direct environmental impacts of Kesko’s opera-
tions are the emissions from the production of electrical and heating en-
ergy required by the properties, the emissions from transports and the
waste from warehousing operations. Indirect impact arises from the man-
ufacture, use and disposal of sales articles and their packaging.
In its environmental operations, Kesko aims to continuously reduce its
direct environmental impact in relation to the volume of its business. In its
environmental calculation, Kesko monitors the effects of its environmental
measures on its financial result.
Responsibility
on a global scale
urements, analyses
and procedures as
needed.
“It is not about
how you arrange your
snow removal, lawn
mowing or emptying
of waste bins. The
biggest effects on trading site conditions
and the cost structure can be achieved
by managing overall circumstances
and the property life cycle. We join our
forces to determine the optimal level for
building maintenance and related costs.
At the same time, we are looking for
innovative solutions, also in developing
the maintenance work,” Pöykkö says.
An agreement concept based on cost
responsibility encourages both parties
to create savings without adverse affects
on the circumstances or availability of
properties.
One goal is to efficiently utilise the
companies’ state-of-the-art reporting
and monitoring systems.
To optimise property maintenance
and the level of costs, you need to be
able to obtain sufficient quantities of
relevant data that is specific and up-to-
date. Information is collected in many
ways, including YIT’s 24/7 building
control room and the information
systems and ERP systems of both
companies. Through maintenance
it is possible to create the desired
circumstances in the properties in a
way that is as energy efficient and cost
efficient as possible.
“One basic notion is that we want
to purchase circumstances instead of
a mile-long list of individual tasks.
Another thing is that we feel uncomfort-
able about speaking of cost minimisa-
tion. There may be easy ways to cut
costs right down to the bare minimum,
but these often bring less than desirable
results. What you have to do is find the
optimal level of costs together,” says Jari
Pihlajamaa, Maintenance Manager.
Jukka Itkonen,
shopkeeper at
the K-citymarket
in Länsikeskus,
is satisfied with
how the building
maintenance
works.
YIT commissions cleanliness
audits on properties’ outdoor
areas, for example. YIT’s
Matti Santanen and Sami Pasi
are going over a report.
21

22. T
his modern motorway has been designed and is
built with attention to its surroundings and the
environment, providing the best possible user
comfort for people and also respecting the need
to provide secure circumstances for other living
species. The project is carried out by Tieyhtiö
Valtatie 7 Ltd, a joint venture between YIT, Destia, Meridiam
Infrastructure Projects S.á.r.l. and Ilmarinen Mutual Pension
Insurance Company. TYL Pulteri, a work consortium formed
jointly by YIT and Destia, is in charge of building it.
In autumn 2011, the work consortium started the rebuild-
ing of national road 7 into a motorway between Koskenkylä
in Loviisa and Kyminlinna in Kotka. This stretch is one of
four remaining projects carried out to develop the E18 road
between Turku and Vaalimaa. And it is also among the worst
problem areas on the E18 road. Rebuilding the stretch into a
motorway will improve traffic safety, facilitate trade between
Finland and Russia, and boost the growth of logistics services
and travel.
The work was ordered by the Finnish Transport Agency that
invests altogether nearly 650 million euros into the project.
Beside the construction expenses, the sum covers project fund-
ing and road maintenance until 2026.
The existing dual carriageway will be developed into a
motorway from Koskenkylä to Loviisa, on a distance of 17
km. Furthermore, 36 km of new motorway will be built from
Loviisa to Kotka. Six new grade-separated interchanges will
A modern
motorway
Earth moving equipment are already rumbling between Kotka and
Koskenkylä, excavating the ground and grading it into a road base.
But the sights have been set much further ahead. E18 is
Finland's own “silk road” that may one day lead as far as Asia.
be built on the motorway, at Loviisa East, Ruotsinpyhtää,
Ahvenkoski, Pyhtää, Siltakylä and Heinlahti. Additionally, the
grade-separated interchanges at Loviisa West and Sutela will be
improved.
The stretch will also have 56 bridge locations that will feature
68 bridges in all. Of the bridges, 14 will run over water, 26 will
provide crossings and 5 will be “green bridges”, i.e. wildlife
crossings. Underpasses will also be built, 4 for wildlife and 7
for pedestrians and bicyclists. There will be three rest areas on
the road stretch. Two of these will be a new pair of rest areas at
Pyhtää, and the third one is the Ahvenkoski rest area that will
be revamped. Altogether 19 km of new pedestrian and bicycle
lanes will be built at and around population concentrations.
New noise barriers will be erected over a total distance of 35 km,
and new groundwater protection will cover a distance of 4 km.
In addition to the Kotka-Koskenkylä motorway YIT is
accompany with Kesälahden Maansiirto Oy to carrying out
bypass in Hamina.
Respecting nature and habitation
In the area that will be affected by the E18 road, municipali-
ties and companies have started a project entitled “The Green
Motorway” together with the government. The purpose of the
project is to examine opportunities for making the E18 motor-
way an international pilot in the development and introduction
of more sustainable road traffic and road technology.
“The Green Motorway project is set out to make the new
TEXT Tuija Vilhomaa PHOTOS the Finnish Transport Agency
LoviisaEastconnection
TheMarkinamäkitunnel
theAhvenkoskibridges
LoviisaWestconnection
Koskenkylä
22

23. E18 road a test bench and display window for ecological solu-
tions and renewable energy forms such as biofuels and electric
cars,” says Jere Keskinen, Planning Manager at TYL Pulteri.
“We are involved in The Green Motorway thinking, and
want to achieve development particularly in energy efficiency.
For example, we aim to reduce the consumption of electricity
in road illumination with smart controls and LED lights. We
are also looking for opportunities to harness solar energy or
geothermal energy.”
Thanks to the extensive noise barriers, the 55-decibel noise
limit, which is considered the limit for harmful exposure, will
not be exceeded in residential areas once the road is ready.
From the environmental standpoint, the most essential area
in the project is Ahvenkoski. Only there does the road run by
the seashore. The shores and waters of Ahvenkoski are in-
cluded in the Natura 2000 preservation scheme.
“The Ahvenkoski bridge, for example, provides simply mag-
nificent views, and thanks to the fully transparent noise barri-
ers, these can be enjoyed from the road as well. The impressive
arch bridge of Ahvenkoski with its Langer girder structure
also has a connection to the historical constructions in the
area, reminding us of the region's historical bridges," Keskinen
says.
A rock tunnel to be built at
Markkinamäki in Ahvenkoski
“Green Motorway” also means that green bridges, underpasses
and animal crossings will be built to facilitate the safe move-
ment of wildlife. In forest areas, green bridges will be built
across the motorway, and landscaped to make them appear
natural. The bridges will be connected to the landscape on
widths of up to 60–70 metres, and they will narrow to about
35 metres in the middle.
In Finland, there are a couple of previous examples of road
structures built for animals.
“Up to the present time, actual green bridges have only been
built at the other end of the E18 road, at Lohjanharju and
National road 7 is a busy road. During recent years,
heavy vehicle traffic of goods transports between
Finland and Russia has increased in particular.
Between 1998 and 2008, car traffic increased by 24
per cent, while heavy vehicle traffic grew by as much
as 50 per cent. Traffic jams, environmental problems,
near-accident situations and actual accidents were all
too frequent on this stretch of road. Once the current
project has been completed, traffic safety and traffic
flow will improve there.
Traffic telematics – including weather-controlled
variable speed limits, warning signs, info boards and
traffic monitoring equipment such as cameras, traffic
measurement points and road weather stations – will
be built from Porvoo to Kotka's Rantahaka over a
distance of about 83 kilometres.
“The implementation of telematics is challenging,
particularly as the road segments are introduced
gradually once they have been completed. Another
challenge arises out of the fact that the Finnish
Transport Agency is simultaneously building and
developing its own data communication and
telematics projects with which the E18 telematics
must connect seamlessly,” Jere Keskinen explains.
Safer travel
Ahvenkoski
Pyhtää
Siltakylä
Heinlahti
Sutela
Kymilinna
Jumalniemi
Left: Thanks to the
transparent noise barriers
along the new motorway, the
magnificent scenery can be
admired from the road.
Illustration of the mouth of
the motorway’s rock tunnel at
Markkinamäki in Ahvenkoski.
23

24. In the life cycle model, the service
provider is responsible for project
planning and designs, construction,
finance and road maintenance
throughout the agreement term.
The Finnish Transport Agency,
which ordered the Koskenkylä-
Kotka project, has signed a service
agreement with Tieyhtiö Valtatie
7 Ltd that in turn has made an
agreement on the road design and
construction work with TYL Pulteri
(YIT and Destia). The construction,
care and maintenance of the
motorway will be carried out as a
complete service until 2026.
Part of the motorway will be open
for traffic in 2013, and all of it in
2014. The road arrangements will
be entirely completed by the end of
2015.
E18 Koskenkylä–Kotka motorway
according to the life cycle model
Sammatti. Building the road in a rock tunnel also helps to keep
natural areas more intact and facilitates the safe movement of
wildlife. There are already plenty of green bridges elsewhere in
Europe and in the USA, and they are considered a natural part
of a contemporary motorway. The monitoring data suggests
that animals learn well how to use the bridges and underpasses
as intended,” says Seija Väre, M.A. at Sito Oy.
Elk fences and exclusive wildlife crossings drastically reduce
the number of road traffic accidents involving animals.
“The green bridges and underpasses on the Kotka-
Koskenkylä motorway will also be important in the sense that
the road, once completed, will not isolate coastal fauna from
inland wildlife," Väre points out.
Future growth corridor from
Oslo to St. Petersburg
National road 7 is part of Finland's international E18 road
connection – the country’s most important road connection
– and the Nordic Triangle traffic system prioritised as impor-
tant by the European Union. The Nordic Triangle connects
the Nordic capitals to one another, to the rest of Europe and
to Russia. National road 7 is also part of the Trans-European
Networks (TEN). In its budget framework session in April, the
Finnish government provided good continuation to the previ-
ous decisions concerning the E18 motorway project by grant-
ing 240 million euros for rebuilding the stretch from Hamina
to Vaalimaa.
The E18 road connection is important for Finnish and inter-
national business life, both in the concrete sense by providing
port and airport connections but also by the message sent by
its very development.
“The road project will generate a new kind of interest in
Finland among international logistics clusters,” says Eero
Hattari, Director at YIT’s International Construction Services.
Landscape construction by means of art
Of all routes of entry to Finland, the E18 road is the busiest
one, and it gives many newcomers a first impression of the
country. The road is intended to present the surrounding areas
in a pleasant way, with respect to their defining features, his-
tory, nature and business life. Landscaping is intended to blend
the road with the surrounding nature and scenery.
The road environment design also involves an art concept,
one that was created separately. Detailed finishing is most vis-
ibly apparent in bridge columns, noise barriers and illumina-
tion and landmarks along the road.
“The bridge columns and noise barriers at the interchanges
of Loviisa East, Ruotsinpyhtää and Siltakylä will be provided
with a patterned appearance. A noise barrier featuring an art
theme has also been designed for the main village of Pyhtää.
Wood is used in noise barriers and bridges, for example.
Additionally, we will use landscape lighting to highlight sites
that are particularly spectacular, such as the surroundings of
the tunnel opening at Markkinamäki,” Jere Keskinen says.
24

25. Well oiled
collaboration
YIT has taken care of
maintenance at Mildola Oy’s
vegetable oil plant since 2002.
TEXT Marikka Nevamäki PHOTOS Shutterstock
M
ildola Oy, a company based
at Kantvik in Kirkkonummi,
Finland, develops and produ-
ces vegetable oils for the food,
restaurant and catering in-
dustries, as well as compressed
animal feed blocks for the animal feed industry.
YIT and Mildola have collaborated closely in in-
dustrial maintenance for over 10 years already.
“Our job is to make sure that the technology
at the Kirkkonummi production plant works
smoothly,” says Antti Huttunen, head of unit at
YIT Industrial Services.
“Outsourcing service and maintenance this way
works well for us, as the agreement guarantees
flexibility in resource management and makes
the entire range of YIT’s comprehensive services
25

26. T
he Clean Air Solutions team specialises in
eliminating volatile organic compounds, or
VOCs, from industrial production. The team
has developed equipment that purifies ex-
tract air by thermal means. With the equip-
ment, different gases emitted in printing
processes and in the manufacture of paints and coatings
can be filtered so that they present no hazard to health or
the environment.
“Our customers are
companies that
manufacture paints,
coatings and covers in the
plastics, chemical, pharmaceutical,
printing and paint and coatings industries, for
example. In Germany, we also have a new and rather
substantial customer group in biogas plants,” says Ernst
Luthardt, Sales Manager.
Clean Air Solutions was established in 1985 in Germany,
when the country’s air protection legislation set limits for
VOC emissions. YIT acquired the company in 2010. The
introduction of air protection legislation around the world
ensures a continuing market for the business.
“We are headquartered in Germany, but we operate
on a global scale. We have delivered some 250 extract air
purification systems around the world. Most of them are
in Germany and other European Union countries, but they
can also be found in Russia, Asia and South America.”
Steady market
Clean Air Solutions has strong competencies in research
and development, and carries out its projects from start
Clean air
from plant
emissions
Gas and odour emissions from the
use of solvents are a problem in many
industrial processes as they pollute the
air. But with YIT's Clean Air Solutions,
all such emissions can be removed.
available for us. In addition to getting
the basic work done, we can rely
on YIT in vibration measurements,
thermal imaging and compressed air
surveys with minimal effort on our
part. We also performed an energy
review of the production plant together
with YIT,” says Toni Oravakangas,
Maintenance Engineer for Mildola Oy.
Smooth and seamless
YIT has 9–10 employees stationed at
Mildola’s plant. Their responsibility is
to ensure flawless operation of the pro-
duction equipment.
“Our success is measured in many
ways, including how the availability
targets for plant technology are met in
practice. The customer expects us to
be able to propose improvements and
development where necessary to further
increase its business efficiency. This type
of active collaboration is important
for us,” Huttunen explains. Mildola’s
Oravakangas is very pleased with how
smooth the collaboration has been.
“For us, high quality is a key competi-
tion factor. Interruptions would pose a
risk both to quality and product safety.
To be able to rely on highly competent
people who are willing to discuss all
matters in a good team spirit
brings us peace of mind,”
he concludes.
Mildola Oy
Mildola Oy is a production company
owned by Avena Nordic Grain Oy. Mildola
produces annually about 40,000 tons of
vegetable oils for the food, restaurant and
catering industries as well as 80,000 tons
of high-protein animal feed blocks for the
animal feed industry. The production plant
at Kirkkonummi, Finland has a staff of
about 40 persons, some of which work for
the parent company Avena and others for
YIT. Avena Nordic Grain Oy is part of the
Lännen Tehtaat group. Avena sells Mildola
products in Finland, other Scandinavian
countries and the Baltic countries.
TEXT Merimari kimpanpää PHOTO YIT ARHIVE
26

27. A sales trump in energy efficiency
Clean Air Solutions started out by selling
thermal oxidisers. But today, there is not much
demand for them. They have been subsumed
by catalytic combustion plants and regenerative
thermal oxidisers that are considerably more
energy-efficient. Energy efficiency and utilisa-
tion of process heat are sought after since the
cost of equipment, including installation, rang-
es between 200,000 euros and 1 million euros.
“Companies may relate to extract air
purification as a mere expense item. It is a
statutory procedure that does not add to
the production. Minimising the costs and
recovering at least a part of them serves the
companies’ best interests. This is why the energy
efficiency of the equipment is important, and
the equipment that we provide is truly energy
efficient. Back in 1985, the energy efficiency was
extremely low, but today we can utilise a large
share of the heat created in the purification
process,” Luthardt says.
Clean Air Solutions
• Established in the Federal Republic of Germany
in 1985
• Part of the YIT Group since 2010;
headquartered in Aachen, Germany
• Manufactures systems for different industries for
the removal of harmful gases
• Has a staff of 22 highly educated employees
• The 2010 net sales amounted to almost
9 million euros
A system built in
summer 2011 for
an automotive
industry company
in Germany. A
combination of
technologies
featuring a
concentrator
or a catalytic
combustion plant.
Corresponding
systems are used
by other customers
in China and Brazil.
to finish. In 2010, its net sales amounted to almost 9
million euros.
“Our growth opportunities within the European
Union are limited. To a large extent, the related
legislation is already in effect. In Asia and South
America, the markets are growing. Countries in these
areas have adopted legislation either according to the
European model featuring absolute thresholds or the
U.S. model where the regulations are based on target-
ing a relative decline in emission volumes. We need to
have a presence there,” Luthardt says.
Clean Air Solutions must also pay attention to the
changing market.
“In the 1980s and 1990s, our main customer was
the printing industry. Now our sales to printing hous-
es have diminished virtually to naught, because print-
ing production lines feature integrated equipment for
the purification of extract air. Our main markets are
where equipment replacements are needed.”
Seeking synergies
Clean Air Solutions currently has a staff of 22 per-
sons, who are sent on assignments to customer sites in
countries where the company does business.
“Every system is different. The equipment is bulky
in size and weighs in at 10–100 tonnes. There are in-
stances where you simply cannot transport it; instead,
you have to build it in situ. To have reliable local part-
ners is, therefore, crucial for us,” Luthardt explains.
Clean Air Solutions has not yet collaborated exten-
sively with YIT companies in different countries.
“We set out to examine YIT's customer pool to
identify prospective cases for us, and currently our
search is focused on the Scandinavian countries,”
Luthardt says.
27

28. 28

29. Dockside in London, Tribeca in New York and Konepaja in
Helsinki. All these areas represent new and modern city centre
living, where an old industrial area is converted for the use
of the expanding city and its people.
Bold architecture derives from industrial history and combines
the old with the new. A new city district emerges, one with
a focus on the standard and comfort of living.
Konepaja in Helsinki
pulsates with life
TEXT Sari Malka PHOTOS YIT Archive
29

30. 1
A
hundred years ago, at the time of Finland's
industrialisation, this was a place where they
built steam locomotives. The engineering
workshop, entitled “Konepaja” in Finnish, was
a lively community in its own right, providing
accommodation and the means of living for
up to 2,000 people. Lately, Konepaja has experienced a revival.
It is one of the most important residential schemes of the City
of Helsinki, in collaboration with VR (the Finnish national rail
company) and YIT. The area will be home – a YIT Home – to
2,500 people, and almost as many jobs will be based there.
“The Konepaja area is something unique; seldom does the
opportunity arise to draw up plans for multiple square blocks
of residential housing in the inner city of Helsinki. It is an
ideal location, with all the services ready, and with a back-
ground suggestive of industrial history commemorated by the
old buildings. Construction of the area takes place at a time
when Helsinki is facing a dearth of building plots and the city
is falling short of its residential programme targets. In view of
this, there will undoubtedly be a high demand for apartments
in the area,” says Harri Isoviita, head of YIT's Residential con-
struction business.
The new embracing the old
along Aleksis Kivenkatu
Construction of Konepaja started in summer 2006 in the
Sahamäki area, at the western end of Aleksis Kivenkatu. This
was based on an invitational competition arranged by the City
of Helsinki, YIT and VR. The competition was won by the
architects' firm Arkkitehtitoimisto Nurmela, Raimoranta, Tasa
Oy with their proposal dubbed “Expres”.
The design work was done by a team led by Professor Jyrki
Tasa, and the result is a pleasant, colourful and community-
oriented whole, comprising blocks of buildings interspersed
nicely by rowhouses that add a touch of life to the scene. The
glassed balconies of the houses bring a lively feel to the court-
yards that are protected from traffic noise.
Architectural solutions pay homage to the milieu’s tradi-
tion by applying red brick as the primary material on building
facades. The roof storeys, building ends and the ground floors
feature colourful metallic surfaces that add variation to the fa-
cades. Passing through the square block is the “art axis”, where
metal surfaces with different colours rotate, and the coloured
surfaces are illuminated during the dark hours. The history of
the area resonates in the steel gates, fences and lighting fixtures,
among other things.
Diversified living across generations
The first houses of Konepaja already have residents. Many of
these people moved there from nearby areas, and understand-
ably so; the new, high-quality apartments are truly appealing.
Another familiar sight are families with children, for whom
there is good day-care and schools in the area. In a number of
houses, the residents represent several generations.
Timo Paju moved to Konepaja three years ago from North
Helsinki, where he lived for over 30 years in a detached house
and a row of houses. He says that when he bought the new
apartment he actually got more than just a place to live; he is
very happy with Konepaja and the services at hand.
“We moved to the inner city once our
kids had flown the coop. And we have
liked it here. My mother also lives here,
in one of the new buildings. We feel like
we are in the city centre, because the tram
takes us right to the Stockmann depart-
ment store, and the Opera House, the
National Theatre, the Hartwall Arena and
the Olympic Stadium are all within walk-
ing distance. And the opportunities for
outdoor exercise are simply excellent here.
A walk around Töölönlahti Bay is just the
right length for an evening stroll.”
Timo Paju is Chairman of the housing
cooperative's board and pays close
attention to the development of the area.
“Obviously we are looking forward to
the completion of the entire area and the
end of construction work here. It is also
interesting to see what will be done with
the old warehouses. In our opinion, they
could serve in a similar capacity as now,
1 An “art axis” runs
through the block,
where metal sur-
faces with different
colours rotate. The
coloured surfaces
are illuminated
during the dark
hours.
2 The old buildings
provide a point of
comparison for
the architecture of
the new residential
buildings. The
area will be given
a new look, that
of a modern city
district.
3 Timo Paju has
lived in the Ko-
nepaja area for
three years. He
considers the area
to be right in the
centre of Helsinki,
because you can
catch a tram there
to the Stockmann
department store.
4 YIT Homes for
2,500 residents.
30

31. Konepaja’s industrial
history dates back 100 years
The Finnish National Railway's engineering workshop
at Pasila was inaugurated in 1903, in the middle of
Finnish industrialisation.
A total of 50,000 freight cars, 2,000 wood-framed
passenger cars and over 700 steel-framed passenger
cars were manufactured there, along with components
for complete railway bridges. Konepaja was like “a city
within the city”. It had its own shop, doctor, health con-
tribution fund, welfare fund, power station and training
school as well as hobby circuits in sports and cultural
activities. The number of people working in the area
was near 2,000 at most, and Konepaja was one of the
largest industrial employers in Helsinki.
The National Board of Antiquities has rated the con-
centration of buildings at Konepaja as one of Helsinki’s
most important cultural environments.
3 4
2
31

32. as bases for small businesses. For example, the circus school
that operates on the premises has performed at our courtyard
party.”
A “dragon house” erected on Teollisuuskatu
Construction of the block of housing on Teollisuuskatu
commenced in November. The block, known as “the dragon
house”, comprises 12 housing companies and about 300 apart-
ments – YIT Homes – of different sizes. This block of housing
was designed by Hannu Huttunen and Markku Erholtz of
ARK-house arkkitehdit Oy.
The colourful line of buildings be-
longing to “the dragon house” is made
up of an uninterrupted brick base that
is six storeys high with towering cubes
topping the base, and protruding over
the eaves of the base on the side of
Teollisuuskatu. The “star houses”
bordering on the park differ from the
buildings on the street both in terms
of dimensions and essence.
The residential buildings together
constitute a large square block sur-
rounding a large communal yard that
is both noise-and car-free. The communal yard is located above
the level of the park that is in the centre of Konepaja, and the
base wall on the communal yard creates a separate territory
for the yards of each building. The parking spaces are situated
beneath the communal yard.
The first site under construction, Asunto Oy Wilhelm, will
be completed in the summer of next year. Located on the cor-
ner of Traverssikuja and Teollisuuskatu, it will form the first
part in the grand scheme of “the dragon house”. It will emerge
eleven storeys high and comprise spacious city homes, each
featuring a balcony as wide as the apartment plus a sauna.
Think about the balconies and how nice it will be to cool off
there after sauna, enjoying the bright lights of the city.
More housing plans to be drawn
The plan for the third stage of residential construction at the
eastern end of Aleksis Kivenkatu, is under preparation and
should be ready this year. The residential buildings in this area
will complement the range of residential buildings that are
currently designed or under construction, and they have been
designed by Anttinen Oiva Arkkitehdit Oy.
Design work is underway for an oasis-type city park to be
situated at the heart of Konepaja. The park’s ambience will
be enhanced by the line of brick struc-
tures at the end of the engine hall. The
park will be pierced by a pedestrian/
bicycle lane, Konepajanraitti, and the
Venttiilikuja street, which will connect
Teollisuuskatu and Aleksis Kivenkatu
with one another.
The old buildings of Konepaja cur-
rently house a variety of businesses, and
are also used for leisure activities. A new
plan for this area has not been approved
yet; the future use of the area is currently
in the planning stage, and the same goes
for the business complex on Sturenkatu.
Konepaja is part of Greater Pasila
In the future, the Konepaja area will be firmly connected to
Pasila, which also is a central component in the evolving met-
ropolitan area of the Helsinki region. It is planned to become
the second centre of Helsinki. It is already home to a concen-
tration of Finnish digital media, an expanding congress and
fair centre and Finland's largest sports and events area.
Central Pasila, to be built in the place of the rail yard that
will be taken down, is planned to become the new vibrant cen-
tre of Pasila. The new area that links the eastern and western
sides of Pasila will feature residential housing, office and busi-
ness premises and a wide range of services.
“It is an ideal location,
with all the services
at hand, and with a
background suggestive
of industrial history
commemorated
by the old buildings.”
The new Konepaja is
located at Vallila, a
mere three kilometres
from downtown
Helsinki, between
Alppiharju and the
Vallila industrial zone.
Tram line no. 9 runs
between downtown
Helsinki and Konepaja,
the bus connections
are very good and the
Pasila railway station
is well within walking
distance.
32

33. Industrial Park
112 ha
Murmansk
St. Petersburg
GorelovoGorelovo
M
oscow
Kiev
Tallinn
Pulkovo
airport
Ring road
Ring road
Helsinki
Port of
St. Petersburg
Port of
Bronka
Port ofUst-Luga
St. Petersburg
Gorelovo is off
TO a flying start
in Russia
TEXT Pirjo Kupila PHOTOS YIT ARCHIVE
YIT’s industrial park at Gorelovo,
St. Petersburg facilitates a smooth
entry into the Russian markets
for Finnish industrial SMEs.
33

34. Finnvera, a specialised financing company owned by the
State of Finland, markets Gorelovo to Finnish businesses to-
gether with Finpro, an organisation promoting the growth and
success of Finnish companies in international markets. Finnish
SMEs setting up shop in the industrial park can also acquire
financing from Finnvera for equipment purchases and to shore
up their working capital.
Pietiläinen considers leased premises a viable alternative for
SMEs, even larger ones, looking to expand into Russia.
“The number of Finnish SMEs that are able to acquire pro-
duction premises and recognise the expense directly on their
balance sheet is diminutive,” he points out.
According to Pietiläinen, a Finnish company must have an-
nual net sales of at least 10 million euros and a very profitable
domestic operation so as to have the opportunity to set up a
modern production system in Russia. But companies can se-
cure the necessary volume by networking with other companies
in the field.
“The clusters planned for Gorelovo will provide SMEs with
many synergy benefits that will balance out the higher expenses
of premises in the industrial park. In a market this big, no-one
needs to be afraid of treading on someone else's toes, because
there will be enough customers for everyone,” he says.
Production premises that are worth their price
Maria Kravtsova, Sales Director at YIT Lentek in St.
Petersburg explains how foreign companies often find it diffi-
cult to comprehend that the idea of coming to St. Petersburg in
the hope of setting up cheap production is not valid. Her job
is to sell premises at the Gorelovo industrial park to corporate
customers.
“According to calculations prepared last year by the as-
sociation of automotive spare parts manufacturers in the St.
Petersburg region, an investment project in the St. Petersburg
economic area requires 30–50 per cent more capital than a
project of the same size elsewhere in Europe,” Kravtsova says.
But the association’s calculations also showed that the market
volume and growth rate make the investment worthwhile.
When Atria went to Gorelovo in 2006, it was the first large
industrial manufacturer in the area.
One year earlier, the company had acquired the entire stock
of Pit-Product, a St. Petersburg-based meat processing com-
pany. At that time, the Russian company had two production
sites, one of which was located in a multi-storey building on
the banks of the Neva river. It was clear that a new solution
was needed, one that would better support Atria's growth tar-
gets in Russia.
F
our out of five Finnish companies establishing a
presence in Russia start out in St. Petersburg, and
with SMEs, the proportional share is even larger.
In Russia, purchase and leasing of building plots,
zoning, securing of permits and connections and
construction work are subject to many risks.
The industrial park developed by YIT in Gorelovo,
St. Petersburg differs from many of its local competitors,
because it provides production companies with an environ-
ment that is ready for use and operated on the basis of Western
contract principles.
“At Gorelovo, we have resolved the two main risks related to
investments in Russia, plot ownership and public infrastruc-
ture,” says Eero Hattari, Director at YIT.
Companies have the opportunity to buy directly from YIT a
plot that has already been zoned and provided with all the nec-
essary connections, or leasing premises that YIT has built and
will secure an investor for.
The investor can be a private entity or a consortium of real
estate companies. For investors, YIT offers a ready fund solu-
tion that has been tried and tested in Russia. Investors will be
guaranteed a steady return through the long-term leases with
reliable tenants. Additionally, the favourable location of the
area will facilitate an increase in the value of the properties’
value.
Joining forces creates more volume
The Gorelovo industrial park is situated by the south-western
border of St. Petersburg in the vicinity of the new ring road
and the Pulkovo Airport. The area is part of the Leningrad
Oblast that surrounds St. Petersburg.
Thanks to the ring road, the entire economic area of St.
Petersburg and the main roads leading to the different corners
of Russia are easy to reach from Gorelovo. The area is also
well served by rail connections. Waterways – the port of St.
Petersburg – are 15 kilometres away from the industrial park.
A number of foreign companies are already operating in
the industrial park, the largest being Pit-Product, the sausage
factory owned by the Finnish food processing company Atria,
and Gorigo, the logistics centre owned by a Finland-based real
estate capital fund.
About 300,000 square metres of unused building rights are
still available in the industrial park, and YIT is planning to
establish clusters of industries there, among them the building
product industry and the engineering industry. Negotiations
are well underway with companies that will be the central en-
gines of these clusters.
“Why should every Finnish SME learn the making of green-
field investments in Russia the hard way, when even bigger
Western companies fail to master this,” says Timo Pietiläinen,
head of Finnvera’s representative office in St. Petersburg.
34

35. Atria had a lot of requirements related to infrastructure and
logistics which weighed in on the decision about location. For
example, the new processing plant would require over 2,000
cubic metres of water per day, whereas even a larger logistics
centre basically needs no more water than what is consumed in
the staff facilities.
Atria arranged a bidding competition that was won by YIT.
YIT then built Atria's new production premises in Gorelovo as
a turnkey delivery. Atria was able to focus on its own compe-
tencies in production and logistics.
“In proportion to our Russian net sales, which at the time
were less than 100 million euros, the 70-million euro plant
investment was extremely substantial,” says Juha Ruohola,
Executive Vice President of the Atria Group.
He says that the expectations placed on Gorelovo were suc-
cessfully met, once YIT was able to find a solution to the prob-
lems of water and waste water in the area.
The Gorelovo plant, completed in spring 2010, has gradually
become Atria's main site in Russia, and the company has con-
centrated its production there also from its plants in Moscow
and Sinyavino, St. Petersburg.
Better space efficiency
At Gorelovo, no company needs to purchase or lease a colos-
sal hall by itself; the minimum agreement size is 1,000 square
metres. However, YIT has set a target for the minimum size of
individual buildings at 10,000 to 15,000 square meters.
“As zoned land is fairly pricey, it makes sense to share the
use of the areas related to security, access and warehousing
efficiently,” Hattari explains.
In St. Petersburg, the prices for leasing industrial premises
from the Soviet era range between 2 and 10 euros per square
meter, depending on the location and condition, whereas at
Jyri Häkämies, the Finnish Minister for Economic
Affairs, states that technological development and
the transformation of production methods have
helped to maintain the construction industry as one
of the spearheads of Finnish competence also on an
international scale.
“The construction industry's role as an export indus-
try has continuously strengthened. This is a matter of
importance to Finland and the Finnish people. We need
industries whose exports are expected to grow and
which have a strong ability to compete on the interna-
tional markets.
Minister Häkämies continues that the most important
export markets for Finnish building products are
the Nordic countries and Russia, with many Central
European countries are not far behind. The Russian
markets are growing at a brisk rate. St. Petersburg
represents vast potential for
Finnish construction companies
and consortiums.
“In the Russian projects,
industrial parks are important
because the idea behind them is
to build production premises for
companies on a turnkey principle
and lease the premises to the
companies, after which the sites
are transferred to the end-in-
vestors. One of the prime examples is the business park
located at Gorelovo in St. Petersburg, developed and
implemented by YIT. The area has an excellent location in
terms of logistics, and the infrastructure required for the
operations is already in place.”
Häkämies underlines that industrial parks like Gorelovo
are an excellent solution for SMEs that want to establish
a presence in the Russian markets, safely and at reason-
able expense.
“The industrial park concept can well be considered an
export product of almost strategic importance, not just in
the direction of Russia but also elsewhere, and especially
in emerging markets. In this, I would like to specifically
refer to China and India as well as the large emerging
countries of South America, with Brazil at the helm.”
Minister Häkämies wishes century-old YIT the best of
success in the future.
Gorelovo, the capital lease is 12–14 euros per square metre.
“We must bear in mind that at Gorelovo, the premises are
new and they are tailored down to the last square meter to
meet the company's operating needs, and there is no fear
of arbitrary lease hikes in the traditional Russian style,”
Hattari says.
According to him, the production premises will be ready for
business within 12–18 months of the signing of the prelimi-
nary agreement.
• Over 100 hectares of zoned industrial area,
of which about half is still available.
• Completely ready infrastructure in place as well as
a sufficient provision of energy, power, water and IT
resources for industrial production use.
• An excellent location in the heart of the
St. Petersburg economic area, right beside the
St. Petersburg ring road.
• The fact that the area is basically ready for
construction means that production premises can
be built there on a quick timetable.
• Provides companies with a risk-free operating
environment at a competitive price.
• Customers can lease premises or develop them to
be recognised in their balance sheet. The lessors
adhere to Western contract practices.
• For investors, the area offers a fund solution that
has been tried, tested and is ready, as well as
steady returns.
Gorelovo Greenstate
A substantial export product
Photo:PrimeMinister'sOffice
35

36. “Pärnu is a great town
with all the parks and
beaches. Pärnu is located
right at the gates of Europe,
which makes it a nice and
comfortable departure point
for travelling to Central
Europe, for example.”
According to Leevi
Sallinen, the one room that
they now have is perfectly
sufficient for their current
needs.
“After all, this is our first residence in Estonia. It may well be
that one day we'll swap to something bigger."
A good investment
Jari Laaksonen, a private investor from Jämsänkoski, Finland
has also bought a residence in Pärnu. Currently the two-room
apartment is at his own disposal, but he considers the purchase
a sound deal also in investment terms.
“Some people say that I’d get a better rental income in
Helsinki, but with the money I'd have to spend to get one apart-
ment there I can get more than one in Pärnu.”
Before sealing the deal, Laaksonen examined the residential
L
eevi Sallinen, who makes him home in the Finnish
coastal town of Kotka, can think of no argument
against the decision to buy an apartment in
Pärnu, Estonia.
“The price to quality ratio was solid, and the
flat is new and superbly located.”
The one-room flat bought by the Sallinen couple, a com-
pact abode with an area of 29 square metres, is one of 38
units in a small apartment building right near the sea some
two and a half kilometres from the town centre of Pärnu. All
the required services are available within walking distance.
“YIT has become known as a reliable construction com-
pany, and that's why we wanted to buy something they had
built,” Sallinen touts.
The Sallinen couple made the purchase in autumn 2011.
For them, the entire purchase process felt safe and pleasant.
“Things worked out flawlessly, both in terms of the agree-
ment-making and the services related to the purchase. The
process was simply effortless in every respect.”
Getting their own place at Pärnu was something the
Sallinen couple had been planning for a long time. On their
frequent travels to Estonia, they kept a close eye on the local
housing market. Eventually they bought an apartment of
their own; a decision that has proven even better than they
had anticipated.
A second
home at
the gates of
Europe
Riitta and Leevi Sallinen
from Kotka bought a one-room
apartment in Pärnu, Estonia.
TEXT ville vanhala PHOTOS Toomas kokovkin, TOMI AHO
PÄRNU
TALLINN
JariLaaksonen
36

37. market in the region, and decided on a
house built by YIT.
“I knew the company to be depend-
able. I already hold shares in YIT; why
shouldn’t I have trusted them this time?”
Making the deal was effortless, and
Laaksonen also commends the ease and
flexibility with which the construction company responded
to his wish to have a sauna built in the apartment.
“The addition of a sauna was a breeze. I also felt I did
well to enhance the apartment rather inexpensively with
the sauna, which was fitted truly well,” he says. At the
same time, he gives credit to the professional finish by the
builders.
The apartment turned out so well that Jari Laaksonen has
primarily used it himself.
“Pärnu is a fine location. Being based in central Finland,
I can now stretch my summer out nicely. Summer reaches
Pärnu one month earlier than it does Finland and lingers
on for a month longer. I enjoy myself in that quaint little
maritime town.”
A keen observer of the development of housing prices,
Laaksonen has had no reasonto be disappointed.
“The prices seem to be developing favourably from my
point of view.”
YIT buildsYIT Homes in seven countries:
Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, The Czech
Republic and Slovakia. In Finland, YIT also offers
Chalets and Villas leisure-time apartments. The
company’s international provision draws interest from
customers in different countries trying to find a holiday
home or looking to invest in real estate. Finns, for
example, are interested in housing in Estonia, whereas
Russians are buying residences in Finland as well as
Riga, the Latvian capital.
More information: YIT Homes in Estonia: www.yitkodu.ee,
YIT Homes and leisure-time residences in Finland:
www.yitkoti.fi (in Finnish); www.yitdom.ru (in Russian)
The Lappeenranta-Imatra region in south-eastern Finland is
a busy travel destination, and a highly popular, particularly
among people from St. Petersburg, Russia.
“We are the strongest building developer in the
area, and have magnificent shoreline plots available
for construction far into the future. Real estate sales
in the area are booming. I find that the proximity of
the national border adds similar features to the lives
of people on both sides of the border, here in Eastern
Finland and near the metropolis of St. Petersburg," says
Pentti Karhu, Regional Director for YIT Saimaa who is
responsible for the sale of YIT’s leisure-time residences.
About 90 leisure-time residences will be erected near
the Imatra spa, and in addition 90 residences for year-
round and leisure-time living are planned to be built
in the Saimaa Gardens leisure-time resort located in
Rauha, Lappeenranta. In Mikkeli, Savonlinna and Lap-
peenranta there are five residential construction sites to
feature altogether 120 residences between them.
“Special attention has been paid to developing the
service provided to Russian customers, including serving
them in their own language. From the customer’s
standpoint, buying a holiday home abroad involves a
substantial investment in a foreign country, and therefore
it is important to go over all legal provisions related to
Finnish real estate transactions and any other details
carefully with the customer. Our own sales expert in St.
Petersburg has a key role in this. Customers save time
by buying a residence from YIT: they are provided with
expert service, and they get the residence on a turnkey
basis. Russian customers appreciate the harmonious
finishing packages offered by YIT, as well as the stylish
design solutions which add to the comfort.
Leisure-time
residences gain
popularity among
St. Petersburgers
Riitta and Leevi
Sallinen enjoy their
new apartment in
Pärnu, Estonia.
37

38. NEWS
Attractive Riverstone in Riga
R
ecently the real estate devel-
opment company YIT Celt-
nieciba SIA commissioned
a project called Riverstone,
comprising two residential buildings
located in the Kipsala district of central
Riga. Riverstone is one of the most
successful YIT Celtnieciba’s projects,
with all of the apartments being sold.
The new Riverstone residential
project consists of two four-storey
residential buildings with one-, two-,
and three-room apartments ranging in
size from 35 to 70 sq.m. One building
has 50 units and 26 underground
parking spaces and the other has
24 apartments with 13 underground
parking spaces. The apartments are
now ready for occupancy. They were
designed using a rational planning
concept and each apartment has an
individual meter of heat consumption.
“We are one of the few real estate
developers who foresaw a market
for the new project and moved
forward with construction of several
residential projects. The brisk sales of
Riverstone and the rising interest in
other YIT projects in Riga confirm that
commissioning the project was the
right direction for us to go in. Current
and potential buyers include both
local residents and foreign buyers,
and there is rising interest in housing
by investors who see it as a good
place to put their money,” says Andris
Boze, Chairman of the board of YIT
Celtnieciba SIA.
Kipsala is ideal for people who
want a central Riga location but just
off the hustle and bustle of the city.
With its advanced infrastructure
and convenient location, Kipsala
has had a significant impact on the
development of the city environment.
Riverstone covers 3 500 square
meters, including garden and
playgrounds. With a starting price
of 1,000 VVLs per square metre,
the apartments are in the mid-price
range for Riga. As with other projects
developed by YIT Celtnieciba SIA,
the construction of Riverstone drew
on the extensive Scandinavian
experience in construction norms,
housing functionality, and energy
efficiency standards.
W
hen public and private
buildings of larger size
are faced with the
need of large-scale
energy renovation, they may find the
ESCO service agreement concept an
attractive choice because the costs
of property renovation can be cov-
ered with guaranteed energy savings
achieved through ESCO co-opera-
tion. With ESCO, the customer gets a
complete package featuring consul-
tation services, contracting of work
and continuous monitoring of energy
savings.
In November 2009, the Danish mu-
nicipality of Halsnæs and YIT entered
into an energy investment agreement
that will create energy savings in
roughly 120 properties owned by the
council. The agreement value is EUR
12.2 million.
Stage 1 featured an analysis of the
buildings' energy consumption plus
proposals for energy savings pro-
jects in Stage 2. Stage 2 comprised
the contracting and installation work
leading up to the actual use. Stage
3 means actual use, including a ten-
year warranty period, until 2021.
The total surface area of the project
is 175,884 m², and the total invest-
ment amounts to DKK 90.3 million.
Annual cost savings are estimated at
DKK 6.1 million, representing 30.7%
of total costs, and the costs of elec-
tricity consumption are expected to
decrease by 28.5%. The depre-
ciation period for the agree-
ment is 15 years.
ESCO
brings energy
savings in
Denmark
38

39. T
he Tallinn TV Tower is a well-
known Estonian landmark.
Originally built for the 1980
summer Olympics it is home
to TV and radio broadcasting and is a
big draw for visitors. At 191 metres it
is Tallinn’s tallest construction.
In 2007 the tower was closed for
renovation after failing to meet fire
standards. The contract went to AS
YIT Ehitus and AS YIT Emico after
the initial constructor pulled out. YIT
Ehitus project manager Tiit Jors
says the project was an interesting
challenge.
Work began with the non-structural
elements of the building and repla-
cement of ceilings on three floors.
Construction debris was removed by
hand using barrows and small lifts.
Driving gears and cables in the lifts
were replaced increasing the speed
up to 3.5 m/s, non-functioning anten-
nas were removed, and a new facade
maintenance system was installed.
The tower got a facelift with a new
roofed entrance, refurbished interiors,
and will boast the highest terrace
restaurant in the Nordic countries.
YIT has completed the work and now
this venerable tower on the Tallinn
skyline is open for visitors.
T
arjanne is the new project
of a Slovakian development
company YIT Reding. Its
architectural approach is
based on functionality and high living
standards. The project combines
an excellent location and creative
approach with quality materials and
functional solutions.
“No compromises need to be made
between lush, green surroundings in
a peaceful setting and great comfort
of living,” says Jana Velická, Sales
Director for YIT Reding. “The new
elegant houses of the Tarjanne project
stand out from many other new build-
ings in Bratislava in the sense that
they have a carefully selected location
on the outskirts of Dubravka, a nice
and cosy district. The site surrounded
by green areas, which give to inhabit-
ants more privacy.”
Tarjanne will emerge in the
picturesque district of Dubravka, in
the immediate vicinity of the Small
Carpathian mountains, adjacent to
the surrounding woods of Devinska
Kobyla.
Practical placement and privacy.
At Tarjanne, each floor has only a few
apartments. This ensures a good degree
of privacy. The apartments have parking
spaces allocated to them, both next to
the houses and indoor car parks. The
apartments have either 2, 3 or 4 rooms
and come with a balcony or a terrace.
“Besides selecting high-quality materi-
als, we have also striven to make the
apartments smart and well appointed,"
Velicka says.
Their layouts follow the highly functio-
nal Finnish style.
Save energy, save money. Tarjanne
meets the requirements for low-energy
residential housing. An example of the
advantages is the energy consumption
in heating, 33 per cent less than the
norm. "Project designs incorporate
renewable energy technology, such
as solar panels for heating the water.
This cuts down the costs of heating
household water by up to 40 per cent,”
adds engineer Milan Kolesár, the
product manager in the project.
Tarjanne Dúbravka –
confortable living in a Finnish style
Tallin TV tower
gets a make over
39