Anne Korpi, Specialist, Indoor Climate

Ambassador for good indoor air

Anne Korpi, Specialist, Indoor Climate at Senate Properties, develops the indoor climate at government workplaces and does all she can to reduce indoor air problems and improve working conditions.

What does your job involve?

One of my key duties is assessing our guidelines and practices related to indoor conditions in terms of their relevancy and effectiveness. These guidelines and practices should reduce indoor air problems, improve job satisfaction and promote well-being at work.

I’m the leader of the indoor climate team at Senate Properties, and I’m responsible for organising its operations. The team has 17 members, who put their heads together to improve indoor air quality.

The focus of my work is shifting from improving buildings with poor-quality indoor air towards fostering the health of properties. In accordance with the proactive action plan for indoor conditions, this requires buildings to be designed and constructed carefully, their facilities to be used wisely and maintenance and repairs to be carried out in a timely manner.

In addition, the data from continuous indoor climate measurements must be processed, feedback from users must be analysed to identify development needs and properties must be maintained and cleaned carefully.

What are the goals of your team?

Our goal is to integrate aspects related to indoor climate into all of our operations – from facility solutions to construction and property maintenance.

Our primary goal is to support our property and development managers’ work. For that purpose, the experts in our team collect views and instructions related to indoor air, in addition to preparing models, guidelines and instructions for predicting indoor air quality and solving problems.

I believe that indoor air problems will decrease through our proactive programme, and we will be able to focus on promoting health and well-being through construction engineering, with a little help from digitisation.

Three principles that guide your work?

Our job is to eliminate indoor climate problems arising from construction or buildings. We have healthcare professionals to turn to when symptoms caused by indoor air are related to individual sensitivity, for example. Research in the field helps us better identify ways to help people suffering from symptoms caused by indoor air and environmental sensitivities.
We build facilities for people. Their level of satisfaction determines our level of success in our work. Perfect satisfaction is not possible, but we seek to apply a zero tolerance approach to indoor air problems.
High-quality indoor air is an integral part of our service network’s day-to-day operations. Guidelines and quality manuals alone are not enough. Their content must be integrated into all construction and property maintenance.

What is the most significant future trend in your field?

Sustainability, which also means that people will increasingly be working for the common good. In my field, this would mean that facilities are built, maintained and used more and more responsibly. For example, all construction work will be carried out as carefully as if you were building a home for yourself or your child.

Today, health-related aspects are as important in the development and manufacture of building materials as are, say, energy efficiency and safety of use.

The negative effects of climate change also concern construction and the use and maintenance of buildings. To be able to prevent moisture damage and indoor air problems, we must prepare for extreme weather phenomena.

CV

Education: PhD, Docent, exposure and health risk assessment of indoor air contaminants

Previous employers: University Properties of Finland Ltd and University of Eastern Finland.

Our specialists

Riikka Manninen, Workplace Adviser

Thinking about the future is an integral part of my job, as work environment solutions are intended to be functional for decades. For this reason, our projects combine comparing various options with predicting the effects of technological development and seeking solutions linked to mitigating climate change. In addition to customer projects, my work includes internal development work, such as further developing Senate’s Sesam into an even better co-working space.

Anne Sundqvist, Specialist, National Facility and Workplace Concepts

The development of work environments always focuses on people. In cooperation with a multidisciplinary network of partners, I produce customer-focused and activity-based concepts for the central government, with the goal of renewing the customer’s operations and facilities. The key aspects of my work include comprehensive examination and design thinking, as well as making use of data. The most important aspect is to develop concepts based on the needs of the users of the service or facility. I’m responsible for ensuring that the people related to the change can participate in the development work in many ways and that they are heard.

Reetta Ripatti-Jokela, Head of Workplace Solutions

When our clients make comprehensive changes to their workplaces, we support them from beginning to end. A few decades ago I was offered the opportunity to become one of the pioneers of workplace development in Finland. My strengths are that I have a comprehensive understanding of the overall view of the sector and of the directions of future development. Over these years, the concept of workplace development has grown from space planning to being a multidisciplinary speciality area. There is now also a greater understanding of the strategic possibilities offered by work environments in the management of organisations.

Esa Halmetoja, Specialist, Maintenance Digitalisation

I usually describe myself as an electrician through and through. I started working as an electrician on building sites when I was 18. After working for various employers and gaining further qualifications, I ended up working as a specialist developing smart workplaces at Senate Properties. I’m a determined and curious person. Fortunately, in my current job, I have plenty to study and experiment with. In fact, challenges are my passion and finding a solution to a problem is the best reward.

Selja Flink, Construction Project Manager

Even as a child I was fascinated by old buildings. They oozed history and beauty that you can’t see in new buildings. That is why I have spent practically all my career as an architect working on historical buildings. For the past ten years I have specialised in a combination of fields that is quite rare in Finland: restoration and construction contracting. Accessibility became an important feature when I was in charge of castles and museums, as I believe that everyone must have equal access to buildings that are maintained by the taxpayer.

Pertti Siekkinen, Specialist, Change Management

My goal is to create comfortable work environments of tomorrow that boost productivity. I cooperate closely with our customer companies’ management and employees. In modifying a work environment, the major change usually only begins once people move to the new facilities. This requires interaction between people: discussion is important. A work environment consists of many aspects. When facilities are modified, the importance of digital solutions and new ways of working cannot be stressed enough.

Heljä Franssila, Specialist, Knowledge Work

This is my calling: increasing the potential of knowledge work organisations and various personnel groups for making an impact. My mission is to enable productive and effective work in the central government – every day of the year! My primary job is to offer methods and procedures for both individual and communal knowledge work and anchor them in the daily work of our clients. At Senate Properties, I am responsible for knowledge work performance measurement and development services in the Work environments unit. I am also involved in the implementation of work environment development and change management services.

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