The acquisitions of Senate properties have been boldly renewed for a couple of years now. The change has already borne fruit, but the work continues. The goal is to be an organization that is seen as an approachable partner and provider of new opportunities.
"How can we be of help?", asks the Senate on its website. The sentence and the promise it contains tell about the recent changes of the expert group that takes care of Finnish state real estate. "Just a few years ago, some people might have seen us as a distant customer," he admits Pasi Haataja, the newly elected Eastern Finland regional director of Senaatti properties. "It might have been inconvenient and difficult to offer us." It's different now. The Senate is breaking out of its shell.
Haataja says that in the past two years, Senaatti Group has refined and renewed its procurement operating models. They have been used to lower the threshold for companies to offer construction services to the state. He believes that the development work will also continue in the next few years, so that the opportunities for contractors interested in government construction projects to offer their expertise would be easier.
Haataja makes it clear that the Senate's demands and claims have not disappeared, but they are no more complicated than anywhere else.
Senate representatives have held discussions with various actors. In the Eastern Finland region, cooperation has been carried out e.g. with RT and various public administration operators. "The customer also needs to learn and develop his own operations under the conditions of the field", Haataja opens processes. "Still, in projects, the customer is the one who determines the big boundary conditions."
Opportunities available
Senaatti Group will invest approximately EUR 2023 million in its properties in 657. "There is an opportunity to invest significantly more in 2024 and 2025," mentions Pasi Haataja. The investments cover the entire country, with an emphasis on joint work environment projects and safety-relevant sites.
In Eastern Finland, the budgeted funds for Senate building projects will also increase. The allocation for investments for the next two years will rise from the current 80-90 million euros to around XNUMX million. The projects are mainly new projects related to important functions of society. "Even though we are looking for cost savings for the state in offices, for agencies and institutions it means that we are building new joint work environments," says Haataja. "It creates construction."
So there is work to be done and workers are needed. "When you think about Eastern Finland, it is a very significant thing for this region."
An enabler
The Senate's role as a customer has expanded. The group is no longer just a setter of goals. It is also an enabler. "When, as a customer, we set goals, for example for social responsibility, carbon neutrality or safety, it means in practice that we have to bring things closer to contractors and operators," the Eastern Finnish regional director of the Senate formulates. "We pave the way so that companies can develop their own operations and get involved in our projects more easily."
He tells about the procurement-focused events organized by the Senate around Finland, in which it is hoped that real estate and construction contractors, designers and service providers will participate. Companies are offered an opportunity for dialogue, to hear about the Senate's procurement and operations, and also the opportunity to influence the development of procurement in the future.
Pasi Haataja invites companies to participate with an open mind: "We want to have more bidders and thus more healthy competition."
Haataja sees the contractors as partners of the Senate. "Our goal is to develop both our own and our partners' operations. This is cooperation and a common path", he sums up.
Several different contract models have been used in Senate projects. "In the future, we will use quite a lot of new, modern contract models, but also traditional project types as well. We will think about which model is best suited to which project or the expertise of a certain area, depending on the project and region."
Aiming for quality, cooperation and responsibility
Haataja considers it unfortunate that in current construction projects subcontracting chains tend to become unnecessarily long. It may happen that the real bearers of responsibility cannot always be found. "We hope that those responsible exist and can be reached," he says, calling for professional pride and quality.
With the experience of a long construction career, Haataja's keen eye has observed that the quality of construction has leveled off and also improved for various companies. "Still, there is still a difference in quality and performance cultures. They have a lot to do with attitudes and professional pride, or the lack thereof." He mentions one easy quality indicator: "A glance at the yard of the construction site and inside it tells a lot."
"Attitudes must be right throughout the whole chain," emphasizes the regional director of the Senate for Eastern Finland. "Everyone should think the same way."
"We want the right quality and the right price for our purchases, and for the same money, more and better quality product."
One of the basic starting points of the cooperation with the Senate is to get partners, stakeholders and different actors to know the group's operations even better and internalize its goals. The status of the Senate is: "We are working for Finland".
Cooperation is getting closer
Although it is not necessarily necessary for a new regional manager to be washed, Pasi Haataja has already had time to visit several construction sites. "The contractors have really liked the fact that the customer can be seen at the construction site. We have received a lot of good feedback."
The Senate wants to emphasize the importance of working together in its projects. It will be further consolidated among consultants, contractors and all other operators in the field. "We want to bring such a message to construction sites that the customer cares about things," emphasizes Haataja. He promises that the Senate will be more visible on construction sites in the future.
"We want to be a model and an example, cultivate positivity and emphasize cooperation."
"Let's really blow on the common coal and stick to common interests and goals."
Good feedback
The reform and development work done by the Senate has been a big boost. The group believes that the work has paid off. "Regarding the competition documents and their opening and transparency, we have already received good feedback", Haataja knows.
The growing numbers of bidders confirm the good reception the Senate has received. For example, more than 400 offers arrived by the deadline for the Senate's large tender for maintenance.
"Both a host and a paternal figure"
"We want to show that the customer can and wants to do things well. The customer has strict and sustainable goals that extend into the future. We are hospitable, but on the other hand, we are also a fatherly figure," says Haataja. "We want to give opportunities to our actors, to develop their own activities in our projects."
Pasi Haataja, the regional director of the Senate for Eastern Finland, welcomes construction industry operators to join in building Finland: "Now is a good time to try to participate in government tenders, participate in our trainings and various road shows."
Haataja says that now is a pretty good time to study things and believes that many operators will join at some point in time. "This points to the future. In a certain way, we are preparing for a new period of growth, but at the same time also for a new normal", the regional leader of the Senate formulates.
"If you plan to study or develop your own company's safety issues, security and preparedness, or issues related to social responsibility, they don't cost very much at the moment," he reflects. "It's worth spending time on them."
Text: Heikki Luukkonen
Photos: Pasi Haataja