News

Länsimetro’s new situation centre engineer Joonatan Piela sits in a room where the walls are covered with situation information of the Metro construction: the progression of Länsimetro’s five stations, depot, rail line, and side projects is represented with colours familiar from traffic lights.

The job of Piela, who started in the project in mid-April, is to track the progression of schedules and keep the information of the situation centre up to date. The information of each station and side project is updated at least once a week; the progression of, among other things, planning and permits is depicted on the walls.

The situation centre of the Länsimetro is currently expanding, Piela has jumped into the middle of a development phase.

“It is great to be creating something new. I am learning a lot here myself also, but on the other hand I have the opportunity to put into practice the subject of my Master’s thesis,” says Piela.

Piela graduated as a Master of Science from the Lappeenranta Technical University in 2017 majoring in Industrial Management. In his Master’s thesis he concentrated on measurement and visualisation of KPI- or key measurements.

During his last years of study Piela worked closely with Destia Rail, where he was involved in the project for Länsimetro’s first phase rail line. The work included, among other things, accounting, invoicing, and quality documentation. After graduation Piela worked at Destia Rail full time as a development engineer tracking cost data and KPI-measures.

“After graduation I wondered which direction to head, and when I saw the advertisement for the position of situation centre engineer I became interested. I knew the project from previous work, and the job description fit my own know-how,” says Piela.

As the situation centre engineer Piela handles a huge amount of data and gathers it in one situation centre. The data is gathered from the systems used by different projects, and at times Piela also participates in meetings in which he receives new data for the situation room.

“Large amounts of data are becoming more important in all kinds of business in the future. I believe that this job will give a good foothold in project management, as well as in the world of tracking measurements and schedules,” says Piela.

A new location manager, Kimmo Hirvonen has been appointed for the Soukka location organization. The location manager directs the construction of the station, maintains contact with the planning and contractors, and supervises the contractors’ activity.

“The management and direction of the whole is important in this role,” says Hirvonen.

Hirvonen has worked, among others, in Valmet Ltd. and Rakennuttajatoimisto HTJ Ltd. building business locales and industry projects. He has international experience from Uruguay and Portugal, where he was involved in building pulp factories, as well as from power plant projects in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Denmark. In Finland Hirvonen has worked with, among others, the Äänekoski biotech plant and several commercial projects in the Capital City area and in the Tampere region.

“Projects like the Metro do not come up very often in one’s career, so of course I grabbed this opportunity with interest. I have generally also been interested in “once in a lifetime” projects, the building of a pulp factory in Uruguay was a similar experience,” says Hirvonen.

2018 was a time of procurement for the Länsimetro project. Contractors for five metro stations, rail lines, and a total of 24 side projects will be tendered in the project.

“The bids will be received during the Spring for the rail line as well as the Soukka and Kivenlahti stations. The tenders for all the stations will be made by October, but the last side projects will still be tendered in the Spring of 2019,” said project director Aku Kallio.

The acquisitions for building can be started when the excavations have been finished and the construction planning has advanced sufficiently. The excavations of the Kaitaa and Soukka stations are ready already, and the excavations at the rest of the stations are being finished.

The station contracts will be tendered by a negotiation method – in it the contractors send participation applications after their preliminary acquisitions notifications, which will be evaluated according to the set requirements. After this negotiations will be held with the contractors and they can present development ideas, on the basis of which the tenders may be supplemented. Only after the negotiations the tender is shaped into the final tender.

A limited procurement method is used mainly for the side projects, in which no separate negotiation phase is included with the contractors. The side projects are mainly different technical systems and devices, such as elevators and escalators, which will be realized with similar basic solutions over the whole Länsimetro phase two area. The deliveries requiring a long production or delivery time will be acquired first.

The starting point in the building of the Länsimetro is a quality end product starting from acquisitions. In the acquisitions of building contracts quality is weighted 30 percent and price 70 percent.

“We want to have knowledgeable and trustworthy actors involved. The providers must have sufficient resources and experience from similar contracts or deliveries. In addition the providers must be financially stable,” acquisitions engineer Samuli Silvast said.

The acquisitions strategy is now entirely different than on the Länsimetro Ruoholahti-Matinkylä portion. The greatest change is that for construction work, unit price contracts have been transferred to project management (PJU) contracts, where interaction and collaboration with contractors are emphasized.

“The practice of interactive partnerships for acquisitions began already in the last year with market dialogues. We consult actors in the industry and collect the latest information from the market even before we publish the acquisition announcements, we actively sought interaction, ideas and knowledge from contractors. This idea will continue with the chosen form of implementation, as we work together in project management contracting. Working together in a big room spirit, by working out and developing plans, and we utilize the expertise of the contractors from the start,” says Kallio.

The Board of Länsimetro Oy convened on 26 April.

A status update on the second phase, Matinkylä–Kivenlahti, was presented to the Board. Excavations, planning, application for building permits and procurement are proceeding on schedule and in accordance with the adjusted cost estimate.

Status updates on the maintenance and servicing of the first phase of the West Metro, the Ruoholahti-Matinkylä section, were presented to the Board. Länsimetro Oy handed over the stations and rail to HKL for the initiation of traffic on 3 October 2017. The rail, its technical systems and the eight stations remained in the ownership of Länsimetro Oy. HKL shall report to Länsimetro Oy on the use of the track and stations and the related service and maintenance tasks as agreed.

The next meeting will be held on 23 May.

Further information:

Ville Saksi, CEO, Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)40 823 2086

Olli Isotalo, Chairman of the Board of Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)50 593 3359

Media contacts: Satu Linkola,Communications Director, tel. +358 (0)46 877 3392

The Board of Länsimetro Oy convened on 29 March.

The Board discussed Länsimetro Oy´s statement of accounts for 2017.

A status update on the second phase, Matinkylä–Kivenlahti, and a model for building a situational picture was presented to the Board. Excavations, planning, application for building permits and procurement are proceeding on schedule and in accordance with the adjusted cost estimate.

Board discussed the competitive tendering for the construction of the rail line. The EU procurement notice was published in the public procurement notification channel HILMA on 15 December 2017. The procurement procedure is a negotiated procedure. The Board also decided on the contractor. Information on the selected contractor will be provided at the time of signing the contract.

Status updates on the maintenance and servicing of the first phase of the West Metro, the Ruoholahti-Matinkylä section, were presented to the Board. Länsimetro Oy handed over the stations and rail to HKL for the initiation of traffic on 3 October 2017. The rail, its technical systems and the eight stations remained in the ownership of Länsimetro Oy. HKL shall report to Länsimetro Oy on the use of the track and stations and the related service and maintenance tasks as agreed.

The next meeting will be held on 26 April.

Further information:

Ville Saksi, CEO, Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)40 823 2086

Olli Isotalo, Chairman of the Board of Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)50 593 3359

Media contacts: Satu Linkola,Communications Director, tel. +358 (0)46 877 3392

New employees have started work on the West Metro project: Heli Niesniemi as a project engineer, Juha Mäkipirtti as a construction supervisor at the Finnoo station, Jari Järvinen as an electrical expert at the Finnoo station and  Anna-Stina Tähkävuori as a project engineer at Kivenlahti.

Heli Niesniemi works in purchases. The purchases for the construction phase of the West Metro have been divided into building contacts and subordinated subcontracts, such as lifts and escalators. Niesniemi focuses on concluding subordinated subcontracts in her work.

Having graduated as a Master of Science in Technology from Aalto University, she is also studying law at the University of Helsinki.

“A knowledge of law is useful in this job. I have explored competition law and public procurement in my studies, and therefore procurement law has become familiar in this area, too. This is a dream job in that it combines expertise from both degrees,” says Niesniemi, who is completing a Master of Laws degree.

Niesniemi has previous worked as a contractor at NCC, where she advanced from the worksite to managerial duties. She has subsequently participated in many infrastructure projects at Sweco PM.

“When the opportunity to become involved in the metro project came along, I joined enthusiastically. This is a unique and extremely interesting project that will have a considerable impact on people’s daily life,” says Niesniemi.

New building and a long-term project awakened interest

Civil engineer Juha Mäkipirtti works as a construction supervisor at the Finnoo station. He ensures that the contractor adheres to the plans and agreements and complies with good building practice.

Mäkipirtti has approximately four and a half years’ experience in supervisory work at Demaco Oy. He has supervised the construction of, e.g. hospitals, schools, data centres and shopping centres. Prior to this, he worked at YIT in site management within home construction for over 20 years.

“I’m interested in new building, which is what the metro, too, represents. I also enjoy long-term projects, and station construction shares many similarities with shopping centre construction,” Mäkipirtti says.

Bringing experience via Singapore and Italy to the West Metro

Electrical expert Jari Järvinen works on the West Metro project as a consultant for Rakennuttajatoimisto HTJ Oy. Before this, he worked as a construction project manager in project management contracting for commercial construction at Skanska, and has participated in the construction of refineries at Neste Jacobs as a site manager and supervisor.

Järvinen has over 30 years’ experience in the electricity sector. He also spent approximately five years abroad working in a power plant project in Thailand and in an oil refinery project in Singapore. The process of designing of the refinery was carried out in Italy, where Järvinen also lived.

The West Metro interested me, as this is a large and long-term project. I have previously been involved in major projects, and so this felt like my own area.

Metro part of the future transport system

Anna-Stina Tähkävuori will return to the project after her maternity leave. She has been with the project organisation since 2012 working in design control. Already before this, the metro became familiar in her work as an excavation contract site engineer with YIT. Her work will now continue as a project engineer in the Kivenlahti site organisation.

Tähkävuori will be responsible in the construction phase for scheduling of the Kivenlahti station, cost monitoring and quality assurance. Once the building contract has started, some of her working hours will be spent on the site working in close cooperation with the contractors.

Tähkävuori is a Bachelor of Engineering. In conjunction with working, she is continuing her studies by completing a Master’s degree in the transport sector at Häme University of Applied Sciences. Tähkivuori is specialising in future transport systems. The study programme considers how digitalisation and automation as well as transport services will affect mobility in the future.

“The metro, for its part, is part of the transport of the future. Länsimetro is a brilliant place in which to learn, as one gets to see so many different areas of construction and how a major project progresses,” Tähkävuori says.

Perttu Tavia (M.Sc. (Tech.)), has started in the  West Metro project as a project engineer. Tavia works on the entrances to be built in Matinkylä and Tapiola at the Ruoholahti–Matinkylä section of the West Metro. The southern entrance at Merituulentie and a bus terminal will be constructed in Tapiola. Construction is closely interlinked with the third phase of construction of the Ainoa Shopping Centre already under way.  It will be possible to take the western entrance into use at Matinkylä when other construction in the area moves forward.

Tavia’s duties also include warranty inspection and coordination of the building contracts and building services engineering works.

Before working on the West Metro, Tavio worked for six years at Lemminkäinen Infra Oy (currently YIT Infra Oy). He has also accumulated experience in contracts working on the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, the Vuosaari Harbour tunnel and the Matinkylä metro station.

“Since I was a student it has been my aim to experience the construction sector from as wide a perspective as possible. I’m pleased that I’m able see these jobs from different angles – I already know a great deal about the project. Now, I’m just on the customer side,” Tavia says.

In addition to the actual construction works, Tavia is able to participate in design control and procurement.

“I will get to see the cycle of the entire project,” says Tavia delightedly.

Perttu Tavia

The Board of Länsimetro Oy convened on 20 March. The adjusted and project plan presented at and approved by Espoo City Council on 19 March was presented to the Board.

The next meeting will be held on 29 March.

Further information:

Ville Saksi, CEO, Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)40 823 2086

Olli Isotalo, Chairman of the Board of Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)50 593 3359

Media contacts: Satu Linkola,Communications Director, tel. +358 (0)46 877 3392