Mäihä leads the way for PEFC project certification in Finland

23 August 2016 Sustainable construction

Scandinavia celebrated its first building awarded with PEFC project certification as Mäihä, a wooden apartment block, was unveiled at the Seinäjoki Housing Fair in Finland this July.

Lakea Oy, the company responsible for the construction of the building, received their PEFC certificate at a special ceremony before the start of the Housing Fair.

The certificate was issued by DNV GL, an independent certification body responsible for verifying the origin of the materials throughout the construction project, from the start to the finish.

Interesting and challenging

“With it being the first PEFC-certified property in the Nordic countries, this building project has been both interesting and challenging,” said Pia Tilli, DNV GL's Sales and Marketing Manager, during the certificate giving ceremony at Seinäjoki.

“The origin of wood in both the structure and the small wooden features has been cleared and secured,” Ms. Tilli continued.

“The high quality and their refusal to compromise is clear to see in the beautiful finishing and final output. And despite the tight schedule, this PEFC project was completed as planned.”

Nearly a thousand cubic meters of timber

Mäihä was built with modules made of PEFC-certified cross laminated timber (CLT) provided by Stora Enso. The modules were prefabricated in Hartola mill, ready for assembly in the construction site. The prefabricated elements include windows, doors and kitchen units.

In all, 990 m³ of timber was used for the building structure, exterior cladding, other structures, fixtures and decor.

“We are very pleased with the completion of this project,” said Timo Mantila, Chief Executive Officer of Lakea Oy. “Our success is based on the fact that our suppliers and the project’s other partners were strongly committed to the implementation of PEFC certification."

“We can say that Mäihä is entirely made of wood. One of the advantages of wood construction is speed. The foundations were started in November, and now just half a year later the building is ready for residential use.” continued Mr. Mantila.

High quality finish

Development Director for the Finnish Housing Cooperative Heikki Vuorenpää congratulated the completion of Mäihä:

“That the end result is of high quality is an important issue for the Housing Fair. The sustainable origin of the wood is the quality factor, which supports the Housing Fair as a whole.”

PEFC project certification

PEFC Project Chain of Custody certification is a specific form of Chain of Custody certification that allows companies to take advantage of PEFC certification for their projects. Project certification was designed as a mechanism for gaining independent verification of the use of certified timber in a one-off project such as a construction project which has a limited duration.

Find out more about project certification, including how you can get it for your next construction project!