Introducing Markus Kaustinen Project Manager of the alliance

What is your role in the Kok­kola Sports Park Alliance?

I’m Alliance Pro­ject Manager and head the alliance team in the design and con­struc­tion of the sports park complex. In the ini­tial phase, the ”zero phase”, my job is lar­gely to pre­pare drafts and a budget with the team. When we move to phase 1, we will design a hybrid arena and phase 2 will be the actual imple­men­ta­tion. In other words, I coor­di­nate various orga­ni­sa­tions and people in dif­fe­rent phases.

What do you think about the alliance cont­rac­ting model? Do you like it?

I think the alliance model is a really good form of cont­rac­ting, especially where large, complex and more chal­len­ging buil­dings are involved, the kind of pro­jects that aren’t exactly built every day. The best thing about the alliance model is that we have experts from dif­fe­rent fields in one and the same team. We all think together about what the best, most effec­tive solu­tion from each pers­pec­tive would be and com­pare various cri­teria. The alliance works well.

How does the alliance model differ from your ear­lier pro­jects?

I’ve been wor­king in alliance pro­jects over the past four years but com­pared to my ear­lier pro­jects, the alliance model is rather dif­fe­rent. The point here is that we’re all seated around the same round table and in the same team. We solve problems together. This is where the alliance model is worth its salt and helps pro­jects to move forwards.

Have there been any chal­lenges?

There’ve been no major chal­lenges, but of course the world situa­tion can always shake things up. No-one can know what lies ahead in the next month or even six months. The sche­dule for the ini­tial phase was also tight, but we managed to meet it just by comple­ting tasks within the time agreed and by acti­vely kee­ping track of the situa­tion.

How do you recover from a long wor­king week?

I recover from long wor­king weeks by doing somet­hing comple­tely dif­fe­rent to wor­king between four walls. I do various out­door things, especially during the spring and summer. I often like fidd­ling around with things.

Tell us somet­hing about the com­pany you repre­sent

I’m based at YIT’s Kok­kola office, where we have a unit of just under 10 people. We have a really great team. We are part of the Ostro­bothnia unit, which also includes Vaasa and Sei­nä­joki. Nowa­days, our large unit also covers Oulu and Lapland, which means we ope­rate over a really wide area. I myself have been here in dif­fe­rent posi­tions for almost 23 years. During my career, I’ve been involved in many dif­fe­rent pro­jects.