Korkea laatu, joustavuus, yhteistyö, tehokkuus ja jatkuva kehittyminen

TAT-järjestelmä – Toimisto- ja asuintalojen tuotekehitysprojekti

Authors

• Antero Kajava

Abstract

Development project of residential and office buildings 1987–1990

At the end of the 1980s, the biggest Finnish building companies and material industry started a large research and development project for studying new possibilities in designing and constructing office and residential buildings. The project was carried out in co-operation with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. One aim of the project was to develop the quality of residential buildings, for example architecture of facades, sound insulation and indoor climate. Prefabricated construction technology was the basis of the program, but it aimed at developing new solutions for constructing dwellings.
Despite the fact that the objectives of the project were ambitious and the contribution of participating parties was substantial, the application of its results has been quite insignificant especially concerning residential buildings. One of the reasons for this was probably the long and deep economic depression in Finland in the beginning of the 1990s, when the volume of construction industry was halved, 40 % of the workplaces disappeared, and a significant part of the Finnish building companies and material industry was sold abroad.
Why developed building systems never became an innovation? Probably one important reason was the fact that the project was too theoretical. Even though a building system has to be based on theory, in a practical building project the objectives have to be as clear as possible. Theoretical concepts and ideas do not necessarily work in the actual building site.