SSAB's Steel Pile Day 2019 for foundation construction experts in Helsinki

After the opening speech by Kari Väliaho, Antti Perälä told about SSAB’s new pile products such as the new threaded splice for drilled piles, a new type of drilled pile wall and updates to design and installation instructions.

Recent drilled pile cases presented at the event were Tampere Arena, Veturitien kaukalo and the lime silos in Tornio in Finland, Norvik Port in Sweden and Longyearbyen, Svalbard and Åstfjord bridge in Norway. The VT 12 ring road to the south of Lahti, RR micropiles piling sites in Finland and Fredrikstad in Norway were examples of impactdriven piling cases presented at the event. Kari Pöllänen from Junttan gave a presentation about the installation of steel piles using Junttan piling machines. 

During the day, visitors heard about the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency’s new quality criteria for drilled pile shoe parts and a new guideline, RIL 271 Structural Design of Steel Structure Supporting Walls. Jouni Happonen from NordPile told about their experiences of installing steel piles and how the sector has developed in Finland from the 1980s to the present day.

Thomas Hörnfeldt from SSAB gave a presentation about the global climate challenge and the resource efficient future. This presentation created a lot of interest among foundation construction professionals. SSAB’s HYBRIT initiative also triggered much discussion. After Thomas’s presentation, it was time to take a look at the kind of environmental impacts caused by the use of steel piles and how we can impact these in pile manufacture, design and installation. Visitors to the event also heard about the design and installation of energy piles and about steel piles in thestorage of excess thermal energy to ground for later use.

“How we can do our share in our battle against climate change: the solution is continuous improvement together, one step at a time. During the day we have heard several talks about how the sector has moved forwards. Let’s network and discuss together,” said Hannu Jokiniemi, Director, Infra at SSAB in his closing speech.

Vice President Sustainability & Public Affairs Thomas Hörnfeldt talked about the HYBRIT initiative.

SSAB’s steel pile products were also on show at the Steel Pile Day, where also Ruukki, Tibnor, Merox, Hybrit and GreenCoat had their own stands. Cool Factory presented an energy pile system that is compatible with SSAB’s pile products. There were interesting discussions at all stands and good opportunities to tell about SSAB’s products for different areas of construction to numerous attendees.   

- We’ve had some interesting meetings with customers discussing our unique, environmental friendly GreenCoat products,” says Lasse Hämäläinen, Technical Development Manager, GreenCoat. 

Pia Siekkinen, Oteran Oy

- A colleague attended last year and recommended the event. I work in infra on the contracting side. Our field of activities in Oteran Oy includes among others building and repairing of bridges, excavation works, municipal engineering works as well as harbour and water construction.

Today, I’ve learnt more particularly about drilled piling and new publications and products. A presentation about recovering thermal energy and how this can impact on climate change was both topical and interesting. Here you can meet new people, also customer representatives.

Juha Kujansuu, Sipti Consulting

- A wish to keep on the ball about topical things, meet acquaintances and colleagues, and keep up to date otherwise on the geo-technology and foundation construction front are what made me attend the Steel Pile Day. I can use the lessons learnt here in my own job: knowing what new tools are being used and what products it is possible to use, to make better techno-economic solutions in my own job, when attending this event.  

This year was the first time I was a speaker. This was a good chance and suitable forum to present and market a new design guide for steel structures for retaining walls since this will be going to print in the near future.

Thomas P. Mjøsund, Kynningsrud Fundamentering AS 

- The event was well organized and the general impression is very good. There was a wide variety of topics, projects, sustainability. This was my first time at the event and I was asked to talk about our projects in Norway. We haven’t had any problems with SSAB products, they’ve been delivered on time. If deliveries are late, it is due to logistics in Norway, which are challenging; roads and weather conditions, from the mill always according to schedule. SSAB is always very professional, very good products, and documentation.  

 

Jani Prusila, Auranmaan Teräspaaluttajat Oy

- This is my sixth Steel Pile Day. Sometimes I’ve unfortunately given it a miss if I’ve been caught up badly in the middle of something at the site. This is the place to get new information and a good place to network and meet partners.

Raimo Iso-Pahkala, Niskasen Maansiirto Oy

- This is the place to see actors in the field and SSAB’s people. You also get new information about impactdriven piles from our own area and an update on drilled piles. These days, you can get information from many places, including online, but the important thing here is to meet people. This is also a marketing event for us and when we’re here, a reminder of our existence. 

What I learnt here today I will be able to benefit from in my daily work from tender calculations to actually doing things. I often go back to the material later in my own daily life. 

Tünde Lőrinzi, KFS Finland Oy 

- This is a very nicely organized event, with a varied program and presentations by people from different countries. Everyone here has one thing in common, we put piles into the ground. This is a nice way to meet so many people and I met surprisingly many people who I know. For me this event is something new and one of a kind, I feel like I somehow belong here.