City of Helsinki Housing Production enhances project cost control with Active service
The City of Helsinki Housing Production and Sweco’s cost experts have a long history together. The latest development step is the production of real-time cost information with the Active cost control service.
The task of the City of Helsinki Housin Production (Att) is to be responsible for the construction of the City’s own reasonably priced housing production in accordance with the City’s objectives. As a public operator, Att has put cost accounting framework contracts out to tender for more than 15 years.
“Sweco and its predecessors have always participated in competitions with great success. We have been cooperating on framework agreements for more than 15 years,” says Heidi Vastamäki, Publishing Manager at Att.
Long-term cooperation has provided him with important expertise for consultants on Att’s goals for affordable housing production. “Sweco knows how calculations should be carried out in our projects and what kind of special features are involved in making them for a public operator.”
Sweco’s Chief Cost Specialist Tuula Paloniemi has been calculating costs for Att for more than 20 years. The aim is to keep the cost accountants the same year after year. “It is important for us to know the customer’s operating methods, because separate prices and preliminary costs are often calculated well in advance of the start of planning a new or complete renovation project.”
Information on all factors affecting costs is produced as early as possible. “For example, sustainable development solutions can increase investment costs but generate savings over the life cycle,” Paloniemi says. “In almost all of the more than 30 projects calculated annually, we assess the impacts of geothermal heat, exhaust air heat pumps and heat recovery solutions, among other things.”
Increase cost understanding for the entire project team
In 2022, Att’s three complete renovation projects piloted Sweco’s Active cost control service. The aim was to improve real-time cost management from the perspective of both building technology and building services.
“The operating environment has changed significantly in recent years, and costs have increased, so we want to pay more attention to cost formation, the realisation of energy efficiency requirements and how different repair measures affect the renovation rate of the site,” Vastamäki says.
The Active cost control method is used to monitor the combined impact of different issues from the beginning to the end of the project. “Our goal is to better steer the planning and implementation of projects in the direction we want,” Vastamäki says. Designers are also expected to play an active role in finding cost-effective solutions.
At Active, the price range of preliminary ideas and solution methods is evaluated agilely and with little work before planning begins. “It increases the cost awareness of the entire design team,” says Timo Taiponen, Project Manager at Sweco. About him, designers are very interested in the prices of various options. “No one wants to unknowingly propose an unnecessarily expensive solution.”
In addition to examining separate prices, cost control has produced generally useful key figures. “We have also been able to implement cost information from projects in the Active service in our other complete renovation projects,” Vastamäki says.
Active enables taking responsibility goals into account
The Situational Picture report, produced with the Power BI reporting tools of the Active service, also enables consideration of sustainability goals, such as carbon footprint.
“In accordance with the City Strategy, Att has clear sustainability goals that are reflected in housing production. Taking these issues into account with Active would certainly be a good opportunity for further development in the future,” Vastamäki reckons.
He believes that sustainability, responsibility and energy goals will play an increasingly important role in the planning and implementation of projects. “That is why the importance of cost control is further emphasised. We hope that Sweco will continue to participate in our cost accounting framework agreement competitions. Our cooperation works.”