A new way of building

The Naantali NA4 CHP power plant was constructed with co-operative innovation.

The multi-fuel power plant NA4 CHP in Naantali is the first industrial project to apply the alliance model in its construction work. When the power plant was opened at the beginning of December, the parties of the alliance had good reason to be satisfied. All the objectives of the construction project were fulfilled: it was finished in schedule, the costs remained under the estimate and the results were of excellent quality. Occupational safety was also at a very high level throughout the project. During the 1.4 million working hours, only three minor occupational accidents occurred that led to absence from work.

“The project has reached its goal. Not through luck but rather through success,” sums up Tapani Bastman, President and CEO of Turun Seudun Energiantuotanto.  He admits feeling relieved now that the plant has been opened.  The most significant part, i.e. the new multi-fuel power plant, is completed, its boiler was tested and it is deemed functional.

“Our objective was to build a flexible, modern, state-of-the-art power plant with a 40-year service life. That objective has now been fulfilled,” says Bastman.

Bastman found the construction work implemented with the alliance model interesting.

“In major industrial construction projects, the situation of having several contractors on site at the same time is inevitable. Lack of communication increases loss. Everything must function smoothly without any arm-wrestling about the division of labour,” he says.

Timo Tuomisto, the alliance Project Manager from YIT, is happy that the Naantali project was constructed using a co-operative contracting format.

“We certainly worked together in this project, making sure we had a mutual understanding about everything. This was evident in all our operations,” he says.

Casting the divided model aside

Anne Piiparinen from YIT is also more than satisfied. She feels that constructing the CHP power plant in Naantali with the alliance model was a significant decision for the entire business segment.

“This example shows that an industrial construction project can also be implemented using the alliance model. This enables us to let go of the traditional, divided construction model and implement projects with genuine co-operation,” she says.

She finds the alliance a great way of implementing similar, challenging projects. The fact that this project fulfilled all its objectives proves the extremely high-quality project management which has been greatly supported by the alliance model.

“When the objectives are met at a high level in a major project, it indicates that the method of execution was correct.”

According to Piiparinen, the alliance model can help tackle the most essential problem in a traditional construction project:

“The traditional method contains a vast number of agreement interfaces that easily create differences of interest. In the alliance model, the shared objectives sought by all the parties are thoroughly considered and planned. This has proved to be quite fruitful,” says Piiparinen.

Heikki Jaakkola from Fortum agrees.

“The positive new aspect of the alliance model is the co-operation. The model aims to a higher number of interest shared by all. Even in the alliance model, the deliver chains are long as required by the current situation, and managing the subcontracting chains is challenging, but the alliance model will make it easier on site when working together,” he says.

According to Tuomisto, the development stage of an alliance project may seem long, but when the path is designed well, it pays off.

“The development stage of this project took several months. However, the good plan was worth it. As the old saying goes, well begun is half done.”

Learning to understand the other party

Jaakkola states that the alliance model gave him a more in-depth understanding of construction.

“The model both makes and enables you to get more deeply involved in the implementation of the actual construction and building systems. Each party obviously manages their own part, but I have to admit that this project taught me to understand the construction perspective much better,” he says.

Anne Piiparinen points out the innovation introduced by the alliance model.

“For me, the most important lesson from this project was that close co-operation is the best way to make the most out of a team’s competence. In the Naantali construction project, this idea was introduced at all levels,” says Piiparinen.

The best manifestation of this, according to Piiparinen, is the project’s innovation system that truly sparked great ideas.

“When the innovation was managed in a systematic manner and the employees realised that their innovations were being heard, it was as if a bottle was uncorked. Ideas big and small started to gush out as well as innovations that actually resulted in cost savings, improved level of safety and ensured quality of the end result.”

During the project, more than 100 ideas were adopted, and the innovations created in the project were one of the major factors in winning the Construction Site of the Year 2016 competition.

“I think this shows that each person is interested in developing their work as long as they are given the chance,” says Piiparinen.

Tuomisto agrees that inspiring people to innovate was the best lesson from the Naantali construction project.

“Ideas truly came from all sides. The alliance provided the groundwork for processing all these ideas. When the rewarding system was in use and covered all parties, everyone was inspired to come up with ideas,” he says.

Tuomisto believes that, in the future, cooperation will be the standard method in all construction projects.

“When looking back at this project, I must say it would’ve been great to have this model in use earlier. That’s how well the alliance model works,” says Tuomisto.

NA4 CHP

• The multi-fuel power plant in Naantali produces electricity and heat
• The plant will partly replace three coal-fuelled power plant units that have been in operation for approximately 50 years.
• The main objective is to increase the use of renewable energy.
• The construction work was carried out with the POLTE alliance, comprising Turun Seudun Energiantuotanto Oy, YIT Construction Ltd, A-insinöörit Suunnittelu Oy and Insinööritoimisto Ax LVI Oy.
• The first industry alliance to win the Construction Site of the Year 2016 competition.

For further information, please contact:

Anne Piiparinen, Vice President, YIT Construction Ltd, tel. +358 (0)40 823 2808, anne.piiparinen@yit.fi

Hanna Malmivaara, Vice President, Communications, YIT Corporation, tel. +358 (0)40 561 6568, hanna.malmivaara@yit.fi

YIT creates a better living environment by developing and constructing housing, business premises, infrastructure and entire areas. Our vision is to bring more life into sustainable cities. We want to focus on caring for customers, visionary urban development, passionate execution and inspiring leadership. Our growth engine is urban development involving partners. Our operating area covers Finland, Russia, the Baltic countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. In 2016, our revenue amounted to nearly EUR 1.8 billion, and we employ about 5,300 employees. Our share is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. www.yitgroup.com