“The construction sites must be clean, the fences proper, traffic arrangements appropriate, lorries are not allowed to block the passages, vehicles have to be parked co-ordinately, empty lots be kept tidy so that they are not filled with various heaps and car wrecks or other garbage. In other words, we create in advance the framework for a normal city structure although the building of the area has only just started”, says project manager Pekka Mukkala from the Helsinki City Public Works Department.
The aim of the building logistics project in Jätkäsaari is to abandon the old way of doing things, where initially a contractor arrives to the construction site, erects their fences and starts taking care of their own business only: builds the house and then clears off with their belongings.
“The new way is to attend to all building logistics in a co-ordinately manner in advance, aiming to restrict the disadvantages that building activity inevitably always causes to the residents in the neighbourhood”, Mukkala explains.
No more dust
There were some complaints about dust from the construction sites last spring. “But we had already taken steps to brush away the dust by machine even from the empty lots and water them. Now there´s no more dust rising”, Mukkala assures.
About building noise, however, there have been no complaints, except for rumble from trucks crossing the newly opened Crusell Bridge in the area. But this bridge is not intended for heavy transports, so more accurate briefing has now been released.
According to Mukkala the tidiness of the construction sites and general order is decisively due to whether the City monitors the area effectively or not, how detected problems are dealt with and which the sanctions in use are.
“In Jätkäsaari the logistics operator e.g. takes photographs of the construction sites. Twice a month a report is made and it is compiled to all actors involved. The sanctions are fines or warranty, both included in the lease agreements with the contractors. If, for example, a fence is inappropriate and the contractor does not rectify it, we can let someone else do the job, but the repair bill goes to the initial contractor”, Mukkala reviews.
More than 20 new construction sites start in Jätkäsaari this year or in the beginning of the year 2012, and 6-7 sites are already in progress.
Text: Thomas Micklin
