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City’s facility projects
Future building projects will be decided in the city's budget. The budget is accompanied by a building construction investment programme for the next 10 years and a list of upcoming rental and owner-occupied apartment projects.
In addition, smaller maintenance repairs are carried out on the facilities.
The schedules of the projects will be specified in stages and may differ from the schedule of the investment programme.
How a construction project proceeds
The planning stage of a normal construction project takes about three years, and construction around 18 to 30 months.
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A renovation project starts with surveys
The renovation and refurbishment process starts with building condition surveys performed by professionals from different industries. The surveys will reveal what needs to be repaired. At the same time, we will also determine whether any other facilities need to be renovated or built in the area, and how much space is needed. It often makes sense to combine projects.
As the facilities are in use, the surveys must be timed to cause as little disturbance as possible to the users. Some structures can only be opened once the repair work has started and the users have left the facilities. At that point, new repair needs may appear that will affect the duration of the project..
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Selection of architects
Next, architects are selected and a project team is gathered.
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Planning proceeds in stages
A project plan is drawn up for the project if the costs are estimated to be more than half a million euros. The plan defines the quality, scope and schedule of the project on the basis of preliminary plans and contains an estimate of the maximumprice.
After the decision-makers have shown the project the green light, the more detailed planning of the site is launched and implementation planning started.
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Selection of the implementer
The implementer is committed to the project through a contract competition. The timing of implementer selection depends on the type of project.
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Moving to temporary facilities
It is necessary to move to temporary facilities if the usual facilities are renovated or they are replaced with new facilities.
The use of temporary facilities is planned as an areal whole and the known future needs for temporary facilities are taken into account. The availability of temporary facilities is ensured during the design of the project.
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Work on site begins
Work on the site begins with the preparation of the construction site. If dismantling is required, it is done as a separate project.
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Construction work is completed
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Commissioning of facilities
The user first furnishes the facilities and then takes them into use.
Decisions regarding the project can be found online
A single construction project requires numerous decisions by different parties in the City. You can check the decisions made on projects in the Decisions service(Link leads to external service).
A local detailed plan describes what can be built on a plot of land. Projects to extend or modify buildings may require an amendment of the detailed plan.
A decision on requirements from the user of the facilities is needed for new construction and extension projects and operational changes. Requirement decisions are approved by the committee responsible for the use of the facilities – for example, decisions on schools and day-care centres are approved by the Education Committee.
Education Committee(Link leads to external service)
Urban Environment Committee (Link leads to external service)
Culture and Leisure Committee (Link leads to external service)
Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Committee (Link leads to external service)
Approval of the project plan is also a decision on the implementation of the project. The body that approves the project plan depends on the costs of the project. When the project costs:
- EUR 1 million at most, the decision is made by the head of the Urban Environment Division facilities service(Link leads to external service)
- EUR 5 million at most, the decision is made by the Urban Environment Division Buildings and Public Areas Sub-committee(Link leads to external service)
- between EUR 5 and 10 million, the decision is made by the City Board(Link leads to external service)
- more than EUR 10 million, the decision is made by the City Council(Link leads to external service).
Representatives of the users of the facilities are involved in the project planning to ensure that the facilities serve their needs as well as possible. For example, teachers are involved in the planning of projects on schools and nurses in projects on hospitals.
Renovation, modification and repair projects of buildings require a building permit. Sometimes the permit is accompanied by a right to start construction, meaning that the construction works may be started as soon as the permit is issued.
Decisions on building permits for all new public service buildings are made by the Urban Environment Committee’s Environment and Permits Sub-committee(Link leads to external service).
Neighbours will be consulted on the plans before making the building permit decision. ‘Neighbours’ usually refers to the owner of the adjacent property or the property across the street, i.e. the neighbouring housing companies in the case of a block of flats.
Temporary facilities
The activities will be moved to temporary facilities for the duration of the construction if the project is extensive. In the case of a planned and scheduled renovation project, the need for temporary facilities is known well in advance.
We will also look for temporary facilities if, based on condition survey results, the required extensive renovations would take too long and rapid action would not sufficiently improve the situation.
Moving to temporary facilities may also be necessary if fire or water damage makes it impossible to continue the activities in the usual facilities.
In many cases, temporary facilities are not located in the vicinity of the usual unit facilities, because the facilities acquired for use temporarily are primarily ones used on a long-term basis in several projects in the nearby areas.
The possibility of relocating the activities to a temporary space within the same building or to another unit is examined first. The second option is to find out whether the city has suitable vacant facilities nearby. If such are not available, leased temporary facilities owned by other parties will be explored. If these are not found either, the possibility of acquiring existing or new movable facilities will be investigated as a last resort.
It can take anything between weeks to months to find temporary facilities, depending on whether all the activities or only some of them are to be relocated. The schedule also depends on whether suitable facilities are already available.
If ready-made temporary facilities are not available, they will have to be planned and renovated to suit the needs. The movable facilities will be ordered from an external supplier. The most time-consuming steps in projects involving movable facilities include finding a suitable site, completing any required land use planning exemption process, arranging a competitive bidding on construction, obtaining a building permit, excavation and organising water, sewerage and electricity connections.