A student village of the future being built in Tampere based on the alliance model – SokoPro comprehensively meeting the needs of project parties

The goal of the TOAS Hippos alliance project is to support the lives of students with affordable, high-quality housing and a comprehensive range of services. But there’s also much more to the new student block being built in Kaleva, Tampere. SokoPro is an absolutely critical data management tool for the multi-stage project.

An entire block in Kaleva, Tampere, will be reborn following the demolition of the Hippostalo building, which was built at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s. The old building will be replaced with 35,000 floor square metres and approximately 650 flats that will provide accommodation to over 800 students. Commissioned by the Tampere Student Housing Foundation TOAS, the project is not only the largest of its kind in the history of the association, but also a notable endeavour on a Northern European scale.

The new TOAS Hippos, which will equal approximately ten blocks of flats in size once completed, is the first housing construction project to be carried out in Tampere based on the alliance contracting model. In accordance with the alliance model, the parties responsible for the architectural design of the project are Granlund Tampere, Arkkitehtitoimisto Helamaa & Heiskanen and A-Insinöörit Rakennuttaminen ja Suunnittelu, while the party responsible for the actual construction is Hartela.

Up-to-date versions accessible to all parties

According to Puhakka, data management plays a critical role in the construction project. Especially in projects involving cooperation between many different parties, it is vital that data is accessible to all parties and that final plans and site journals can all be found in one place, in the right format. The alliance members decided to choose SokoPro for their data management needs, being already familiar with the software. The project bank had to fulfil the needs of the commissioner, the planners and the contractor alike.

“The alliance needed a fully featured project management system. Our goal from the very beginning has been to develop our service in a customer-oriented manner. Right now we are in the middle of a transition, with the client adopting a new version of SokoPro,” says Aripekka Härkönen from Grano.

In addition to housing, the new full-service block will include business premises, offices, shared use spaces, a day care centre, a shop, a kiosk, a restaurant and a gym, for example. According to Puhakka, the aim is to create spaces that facilitate natural encounters between people. For example, the pleasant laundry facilities are ideal for studying or doing group work while you wait for your laundry.

In addition to high-quality housing, a wide range of utilities and affordable student living, one of the focus areas of the project is life cycle efficiency. Another ambitious aim is to explore the potential of wood construction. The project’s planning is steered by RTS environmental certification.

“We are determinedly moving towards wood construction, the mitigation of life cycle carbon emissions and so-called carbon handprint management,” says Puhakka.

“It is worth highlighting that we are examining everything from the perspective of the entire life cycle and serviceability of the buildings. We cannot simply settle for the cheapest and simplest option; we have to think about what is best for TOAS in the long term,” adds Project Development Director Ville Rajakallio from Hartela, who is also one of the alliance’s project managers.

The alliance model was adopted due to it being ideally suited to complex projects requiring development cooperation between many different parties. The alliance agreement was signed last November, and the project will soon transition from the project development phase to the implementation planning phase. If all goes according to plan, construction on the plot will begin in 2021 and continue up to 2025.

A multi-stage project poses challenges for document management

A-Insinöörit Rakennuttaminen Project Manager and alliance planning group Project Manager Sami Tomperi says that the plans have already been outlined, with the planning group now focusing on refining them. The plans are currently being stored in SokoPro.

“In a project of this size, you need to have a clear notion of where and in what format data is available. We’ve made a decision not to overwhelm anyone’s e-mail inbox,” Tomperi says.

The features of SokoPro that Rajakallio makes use of include alerts that inform him when specific plans are ready. According to Rajakallio, the multi-stage nature of the project poses challenges for document management. The blocks of flats and other functions are being designed and built in stages on a single plot.

“SokoPro is one of the most important systems in the project. I don’t know how we would manage all the different versions of our documents without it. We might have multiple images of adjacent buildings, all with the same name, for example. Being able to differentiate between documents like this is key, and the system gives us the necessary tools to do just that,” Rajakallio says.

SokoPro is used by all of the 70 people currently working on the project. Once production personnel comes on board, the number of users will increase to several hundred. This is the first project of its kind for all of the alliance members, so the cooperation has also given rise to new practices. Being a wood construction project of unprecedented scale, the solutions employed are also largely new.

“Without alliance cooperation, we never would have reached this point. The cooperation has allowed us to achieve our current level of awareness and work on new solutions,” Puhakka says.

SokoPro to be even more comprehensively utilised in the construction phase

For now, the alliance is using the current version of SokoPro, but the plan is to adopt a new and improved version of the software in the implementation planning phase. Its deployment has already been prepared, and the project bank’s tools will be even more comprehensively utilised during the planning and implementation phases.

“As the system supplier, it is a major undertaking for us to move everything over to the new SokoPro version 2.0 once the project enters full swing. This implementation model makes the project challenging and very interesting for us,” Härkönen praises.

The new version of the software allows 3D models to be viewed natively in SokoPro and features more advanced tendering and quality management tools. Users will be able to pull up models in site meetings, for example, and view them directly in SokoPro instead of having to use external software.

Fit for purpose and easy to use, that is the alliance members’ shared impression of SokoPro. Tomperi believes that the new version will provide the alliance with access to some very useful new features.

“A-Insinöörit is responsible for administering SokoPro on the construction side. Based on demo versions, we can already say that administration will become smoother,” Tomperi says.

The new SokoPro is based on an API-centric approach. A single login to SokoPro will provide access not only to materials, journals, models and plans, but other software as well.

“Regarding the new features, I am particularly pleased about being able to open files and information models without additional tools. This is an important feature for an observing party like me,” Rajakallio says.

A future landmark of student housing

Härkönen is grateful for the concrete development suggestions received from the alliance members. This type of cooperation is vital for the development of the new version of SokoPro as well.

“The alliance members have actively clarified the direction of our development efforts. The cooperation has been smooth, forward-looking and reciprocal, and I hope that they will become long-term partners for us,” Härkönen says.

Rajakallio also praises the easy and smooth cooperation and the fact that the client is taken seriously. Submitted ideas or suggestions are always accepted and looked into.

“We are also generally able to reach a contact person whenever we need to, which is not a given nowadays,” he adds.

The alliance members are now eagerly waiting for the actual implementation of the project to begin. When it does, the new version of SokoPro will also be put to the test. The project will eventually result in a completely new student housing concept in the middle of a dense city.