YIT implements Lapland hospital expansion

Finnish contractor YIT has signed an agreement with the Lapland Hospital District Joint Municipal Authority on the implementation phase for the expansion project of the Lapland Central Hospital.

The new hospital area of approximately 20,600m² general hospital space will house an accident and emergency facility, an operating and anesthesia department, an intensive care and control unit, a hospital pharmacy with manufacturing facilities, equipment maintenance, emergency care facilities and a logistics warehouse.

Another building, about 6,000m² in area, will house a psychiatric hospital, the development phase of which will continue until September 2020.

The entire project is scheduled to be completed in January 2023 and the total value for YIT is estimated to be over €60 million.

The project will be implemented using the alliance model – in which all parties share the benefits and risks of the project – and the total value of the implementation phase is valued at €48 million.

In addition to project supervisor YIT, the alliance includes ARE as the party responsible for technical building systems, Verstas Architects and a special engineering group comprised of Granlund Group, WSP Finland and L2 Paloturvallisuus.

Drafted in outside of the alliance, Prodeco Oy Lappi is responsible for the construction consulting and supervisory.

YIT has been involved in the development phase of the project since 2018, but the implementation phase comes at the same time that YIT appear to be having an internal restructuring.

YIT is to begin what it calls ‘co-operation negotiations’ on 10 February, concerning white collar employees in Group support functions, Business premises and Partnership properties segments.

The estimated number of personnel to be reduced in case of redundancies is at the maximum 40 employees. The potential reduction needs concern Business premises segments and Group support functions.

The reason for these negotiations is reportedly to boost business operations and adjust organisation and cost structure to respond to business needs.

Kari Kauniskangas, President and CEO of YIT, said, “We will continue to strengthen productivity and profitability by reorganizing our operations appropriately. We are planning an operation model, which will support business needs and our company’s future success.

“We have several challenging urban development projects underway, and we will need diverse construction management and site expertise also in the future.”