The board of the Eastern Finland District of the Building Construction Industry welcomed four new members in 2025. At the first meeting of the year, the old members welcomed the new members and looked forward to new openings and ideas for the operation.
Board members of the Eastern Finland District of the Building Construction Industry Association who started on 1.1.2025 January XNUMX:
Jari Huttunen, Regional Manager, YIT Construction Ltd.
Jari has been with YIT since 2008. He started his career as a construction site foreman and was responsible for quality and occupational safety for five years. He also spent half a decade in project management. He also became familiar with the work of a construction manager before taking on the role of construction manager.
Jari rose from the position of production manager to regional manager. His career has been marked by a strong developer perspective: “Persistence is important in development, because you have to be able to hold on to things tenaciously and not give up.”
Jari calls for positivity and believes in grit, even in challenging times.
According to Jari, project documents are now more busy than usual because general terms and conditions are not respected and the level of requirements has increased. Current tasks challenge you to think more broadly: “You have to understand the customer’s perspective more all the time and be a constructive leader with people. We are in a service profession.”
“The result is what matters in the end,” Jari admits. “Reform is important because it secures competitiveness. People are lazy by nature, but laziness also contains the seed of doing things more efficiently,” Jari reflects. Jari is an increasingly strong collaborator and challenges himself to think more broadly: “Promoting the interests of the construction industry can only be achieved together, no one can do it alone.” Jari wants to build broader trust and get to the root causes of issues, which is an excellent opportunity for the Building Construction Industry’s board work.
In his free time, Jari does sports and gets out in nature in a variety of ways. His goal for skiing kilometers is 1000 km in the winter. The cottage project is already complete and in the autumn Jari heads to the forest and berries. Family life with four children takes up a lot of time, the 12-, 10- and 7-year-old boys keep him busy with their hobbies and the 2-year-old girl is the apple of the family's eye. Sleep is important and the well-being of the whole family relies on going to bed on time. "However, coping is the basis of everything, on which social influence also relies," concludes Jari.
Ville Kettunen, CEO, Jalon Rakentajat Oy
Ville has a strong corporate background and an exceptionally diverse work history. He began his work at Skanska as a site manager in 2003, which was still the post-recession period. He spent 13 years at Skanska in various production positions. He spent four years as a construction manager at Carlson, during which time the impressive Iso-Cee was built in the center of Kuopio. He began his work as a project development manager at Lemminkäinen in 2015, covering Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Joensuu. When YIT and Lemminkäinen merged to form YIT, Ville worked as a regional director at Lemminkäinen. From YIT, Ville moved to Lehto to be responsible for public projects throughout Finland in the top management of a listed company.
The crisis-ridden Lehto was invited to become the CEO of Jalon Rakentaji in August 2020. Today, Ville also serves as the CEO of Jalon Uusimaa Oy and is a shareholder in both companies.
"Seeing the operating models of the Uusimaa market gives me the best perspective on the entire construction market and operations. In Uusimaa, things happen in Finland first and then trickle down to the provinces. The level of subcontracting in the construction industry has increased and there are fewer and fewer qualified workers. We have to hold on to our own good employees and, even in difficult times, we have to be able to promise continued work. Now Jalon's work base is strong, with the largest project in terms of euros being Pirtti School," Ville summarizes.
Ville wants to bring his own experience and ability to act in difficult situations to his advocacy work. The construction industry is facing difficulties, which Ville is used to solving in his career: “He can also turn difficult times into development, as we have done in Jaloni.”
Ville spends his free time with his family. In the winter, he enjoys snowboarding and padel is also a hobby. “You also need to get back on track. When I was younger, it was harder to get away from work, but now I can sleep through the night and often find new perspectives on things in the morning,” Ville sums up. In Ville, the Government of Eastern Finland will gain an experienced and articulate builder who has a lot to contribute to the development of the sector.
Harri Hassinen, Managing Director, Pohjolan Purkutyö Oy
Harri grew up in an entrepreneurial family, as his parents had a village shop near Ilomantsi. The customer-oriented nature of the village shop was an important growth environment for his current work. Harri graduated in HVAC and initially went to work for Karelia-Upofloor, where he spent five years. His father founded Pohjolan Purkutyön in 2003, of which Harri bought half in 2008. The early years were spent in site management, and Harri started as CEO in 2020.
In business, creating a sense of community, collaboration and compromise are at the heart of the business. Harri strives for long-term customer relationships, encouraged by his childhood environment.
"There is plenty of problem-solving at work, but it is very rare to have to be at odds with each other. We try to resolve issues before they escalate," Harri describes his approach.
Harri is not looking for faults in people, but sees the positive in everyone: “No one is perfect and everyone is better than the other in some way. Employee and customer satisfaction is also important.” Harri has a wide circle of acquaintances and is widely regarded as a builder of collaboration.
Harri has a new family with his own son and his wife's two children. "Our 8-year-old son has already become a friend for the forest and fishing, we go ice fishing in the winter and exercise and fish together in the summer," Harri says proudly. Harri seeks peace in his hobbies: "A moment on the ice is a way to give back, even if there are no fish." His son's floorball hobby takes up time, but it also provides a counterbalance to his demanding job. Harri has a diverse background in endurance sports and triathlon would be an attractive new challenge in the coming years.
Harri expects to learn and learn new things from his government work. He promises to present his own views and complement the government as the only representative of the demolition industry: “Environmental issues are now developing rapidly and demolition companies already have good expertise in them, from which house builders can also learn.”
Juha Kuparinen, Unit Manager, Peab Oy
Juha brings a wealth of experience to the Eastern Finland government. Juha graduated from Joensuu in 1989 as a civil engineer. His career began in Helsinki at Polar Rakennusosakeyhtiö, where he spent almost 10 years, including as a foreman. After Skanska bought Polar, Juha moved to NCC Puolimatka. The first three years at NCC were spent in Helsinki, including as a development manager. In the spring of 2002, Juha was transferred to the position of director of the Kuopio and Joensuu unit, where he spent a decade. Peab invited Juha to establish a unit in Kuopio after the Ikea project in the spring of 2012.
The unit started from scratch and has grown under Juha's leadership in thirteen years to a unit of thirty people with a turnover of over 25 million.
Juha's goal is to do things well and profitably: "The goals have been achieved and customer feedback has been excellent. There have been few warranty issues and a lot of effort has been put into handling them. The operations are supported by ISO certificates, which ensure that the overall quality of the work is achieved."
Juha is starting his term on the board at a challenging time: “The streamlining effect of the Construction Act must be put into practice. Taxonomy and carbon footprint calculation will change operations. Fairness and honesty in competition are important, while the shutdown of ASO construction is a big change for residential construction. The future of Ara is also a concern.”
"There is also concern about the competence of developers and designers, because many high-class professionals are retiring. Many things already start from the plan and, for example, the recesses on the top floors are always a risk structure, which is made worse by climate change. The parking space norm also currently guides too much housing construction. We must be able to influence the smooth running of official processes in Eastern Finland so that investments can be launched and they do not flow to other parts of Finland," continues the experienced builder's list of challenges in the construction industry.
In his free time, Juha also flies and hunts with his sons. The chairmanship of the hunting club is also an important position of trust. Ice hockey, which is on the program 2–3 times a week, also helps him cope throughout the year. 2-year-old beagle Into also organizes the program and keeps things moving. “Construction contracting is really demanding and the work of a unit manager is a 24/7 job, where you have to focus on your own stamina and take your mind off the construction, at least for a moment,” Juha concludes.