Employing Healthy House criteria healthier and safer buildings can be created. The chief concern is satisfied users.
Good indoor air, even temperature and adequate illumination are the cornerstones of living and working comfort. Healthy and safe construction demands special attention from designers and builders.
Awareness of quality requirements for building is already good, but even closer monitoring is never a bad idea. The Healthy House list of criteria aimed at better construction and good living was drawn up in the course of a national technology programme a few years ago.
In Jyväskylä the Healthy House expert is Jyväskylä Polytechnic's laboratory chief Jarmo Minkkinen. Consulting is just one of the many services offered by the polytechnic's Construction Laboratory.
"Nobody wants to do a bad job. Builders have still considered it important that there's an expert on site who ensures that the desired standard is reached. The consultant demands quality from contractors, but also supports them in their work", Minkkinen explains.
In the Healthy House criteria the highest target level is set for the quality of indoor air and the lowest emissions level for materials. Control of humidity, dust and cleanliness during construction are central goals. In addition attention is paid in particular to the protection of structural elements and how materials are stored. Possible shortcomings are gone through in detail at regular contractors' meetings.
Jyväskylä Polytechnic's information technology institute IT-Dynamo was completed two years ago. At that time it was the first pilot project outside the greater Helsinki area in which the criteria were tested in practice.
Subsequent to the construction of IT-Dynamo the criteria have been applied during the renovation of Jyväskylä Polytechnic's new Main Campus and one of the City of Jyväskylä's administrative buildings. On the polytechnic's Main Campus the criteria have been adapted to suit the complex under renovation.
"When linking new and old structures together it is vital that construction work does not cause damage to the old part. In situations like these protection against the weather in particular takes on great importance. Potential risk structures resulting from previous methods of building must also be identified and dealt with", Jarmo Minkkinen continues.
During a renovation project there may be other people besides builders working simultaneously on site. In cases like this the value of proper briefing about the various phases of work is emphasized. The flow of information should be as free as possible later, too.
"Building maintenance and upkeep is shared by a variety of players. All the information associated with a building should pass from the designer to the contractor and developer as well as reaching the building's owner, property maintenance firm and users."
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Photo: Jyväskylä Polytechnic's information technology institute IT-Dynamo was built with particular care.
By Pia Tervoja Photos by Pekka Rötkönen