In the Kok­ko­la Sports park alliance, Ram­boll Fin­land is res­pon­sible for struc­tu­ral engi­nee­ring

The Kok­ko­la Sports Park Alliance star­ted its work at the end of March 2022. In the first pha­se, the con­tent and imple­men­ta­tion of the sports park complex are plan­ned, and the tar­get cost and imple­men­ta­tion plan with time­table are defi­ned. On the basis of this work, a deci­sion will be taken to move on to the imple­men­ta­tion pha­se. In the Alliance, Ram­boll Fin­land Oy is res­pon­sible for struc­tu­ral engi­nee­ring.

What is your role in the Kok­ko­la Sports Park Alliance?  

My role in the Kok­ko­la Sports Park Alliance is to be res­pon­sible for the struc­tu­ral design and to be the key per­son in this area and lead the struc­tu­ral engi­nee­ring team.

I would also like to high­light the com­pa­ny I repre­sent. Ram­boll Fin­land is one of the lar­gest engi­nee­ring con­sul­tancies ope­ra­ting in Fin­land. Ram­boll is a mul­ti­discipli­na­ry com­pa­ny. It pro­vi­des engi­nee­ring and con­sul­tancy ser­vices for both con­struc­tion and the envi­ron­ment. Ram­boll’s values sup­port inno­va­ti­ve and visio­na­ry engi­nee­ring for sus­tai­nable deve­lop­ment. (www.ramboll.fi)

Our exper­ti­se in sports venue con­struc­tion and rela­ted tech­nical know-how is strong. Examples inclu­de the Sei­nä­jo­ki foot­ball sta­dium, which has been prai­sed speci­fical­ly for its func­tio­na­li­ty, and the recent reno­va­tion of the Vaa­sa indoor ice hoc­key are­na and the struc­tu­ral design of the associa­ted trai­ning rinks. In addi­tion, Ram­boll pro­vi­ded engi­nee­ring ser­vices for the con­struc­tion of the Nokia Aree­na in Tam­pe­re.

I am a vete­ran desig­ner. I have been invol­ved in various con­struc­tion engi­nee­ring pro­jects for about 40 years. My career star­ted at a Hel­sin­ki-based engi­nee­ring firm in the ear­ly 80s. Howe­ver, being born and rai­sed in Ala­jär­vi, I felt Ostro­both­nia was the right place for me. From the mid-80s onwards, I ran my own engi­nee­ring firm until we beca­me part of Ram­boll in 2016. I’ve been invol­ved in the design and imple­men­ta­tion of a wide ran­ge of con­struc­tion pro­jects. They inclu­de seve­ral ice rinks and sports venues.

I’m a desig­ner at heart, which means I like to take on chal­len­ges and deve­lop new things. One of my design team’s gui­de­li­nes is that you should regu­lar­ly ques­tion your designs, ensu­re that you have accoun­ted for eve­ryt­hing and ask your­self whet­her you can do bet­ter.

Fin­land has a cer­ti­fica­tion sys­tem for desig­ners, FISE, which awards per­so­nal qua­li­fica­tions in various fields of engi­nee­ring. My cer­ti­fica­tion gra­de is PV (Excep­tio­nal­ly Dif­ficult).

How do you like the alliance model?  

I think the alliance model is a good way to build just such mul­ti-pur­po­se buil­dings. An alliance con­struc­tion pro­ject invol­ves the res­pon­si­bi­li­ty of all key par­ties: the client, the desig­ners and the cont­rac­tor. Eve­ry­bo­dy takes part in the design and con­struc­tion. The model is cha­rac­te­ri­sed by the sha­ring of risks and oppor­tu­ni­ties. Alrea­dy in the design sta­ge, pro­ject deve­lop­ment draws on the exper­ti­se and skills of all tho­se invol­ved.

I have been invol­ved in alliance pro­jects befo­re. In the Hel­sin­ki Air­port Alliance, I was res­pon­sible for the struc­tu­ral design of a new railway sta­tion for the Ring Rail Line. In the Vaa­sa Cent­ral Hos­pi­tal buil­ding pro­ject, I was invol­ved in super­vi­sing our team of struc­tu­ral engi­neers and was a depu­ty mem­ber of the Alliance’s stee­ring group.

Our team spi­rit in the Kok­ko­la Sports Park Alliance is excel­lent. The who­le team seems to be high­ly moti­va­ted and very ent­husias­tic about the pro­ject. This is also reflec­ted in the works­hops. Eve­ry­bo­dy is eager to push and deve­lop the pro­ject. Experts from many fields have come toget­her and it is impor­tant for all of us to achie­ve the best pos­sible outco­me.

How is the alliance model dif­fe­rent from your pre­vious pro­jects?  

The alliance model dif­fers from a tra­di­tio­nal con­struc­tion pro­ject in that the client, the desig­ners and the cont­rac­tor are all invol­ved in deve­lo­ping the pro­ject toget­her right from the start. All work in clo­se coo­pe­ra­tion. In the tra­di­tio­nal model, work is done more sepa­ra­te­ly, each wor­king on their own area of res­pon­si­bi­li­ty. Both ways have their advan­ta­ges. In my opi­nion, the alliance model is par­ticu­lar­ly sui­table for pro­jects that requi­re mul­ti­face­ted deve­lop­ment, such as the Kok­ko­la Sports Park pro­ject.

Have you faced any chal­len­ges?  

In any pro­ject, the­re are always chal­len­ges. Some of them are easy to resol­ve, and some are more dif­ficult. I’m sure the­re will be many more chal­len­ges to be sol­ved in this pro­ject. We will work toget­her to sol­ve them. The cur­rent world situa­tion and rising con­struc­tion costs pose their own chal­len­ges.

It is clear that in con­struc­tion pro­jects the­re are always tech­nical chal­len­ges. We work to sol­ve them, and that’s what we get paid for.

We have a mot­to: always com­pa­re the options. Do not neces­sa­ri­ly choo­se the first alter­na­ti­ve. You need to find and choo­se the best option.

Ram­boll also has an office here in Kok­ko­la, right?

That’s cor­rect. We ope­ra­te in seve­ral loca­tions in Fin­land and have seve­ral offices here in Ostro­both­nia, too. In Sei­nä­jo­ki, Vaa­sa and Kok­ko­la, to be preci­se. At the moment, ours is the big­gest office on the Sei­nä­jo­ki-Kok­ko­la-Vaa­sa axis. In Kok­ko­la, we do a lot of envi­ron­men­tal and infra­struc­tu­re engi­nee­ring, for example.  Ram­boll as a who­le has a diver­se ran­ge of exper­ti­se nationwi­de, but we also have a strong local pre­sence here in the low­lands. In fact, we could use more ent­husias­tic and skil­led struc­tu­ral desig­ners here in the Kok­ko­la office.