Conference 2017

24th–26th of October 2017, Tampere Hall, programme

The Finnish Building Physics Conference 2017 was the fifth one organized in Finland, this time it was held in the renovated Tampere Hall. The importance of the conference stood out in the feedback and it also showed in the increasing numbers of participants and partners. During those three days the participation count rose to over 600 people. The conference had 74 partners, 45 of which were also exhibitors.

Over 90 speeches were heard at the conference. Each day had its own theme. On the first day, the topics were related to building physics research, design and education. On the second day, the topics covered moisture and mould problems of buildings, moisture management during construction, and indoor air problems. On the third day, the topics were mainly focused on energy efficiency and acoustics.

One Finnish and three international keynote speakers were heard at the conference. Professor Stig Geving from Norway (NTNU) and Professor Thomas Bednar from Austria (TU Wien) started the first day. On Wednesday morning Consulting Official Vesa Pekkola from Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health covered the topic: How is the 100-year-old Finland going to solve indoor air problems? Architects were also in the target audience on Thursday, and the keynote speaker was architect P. Michael Pelken from England (University of Cambridge, P+ Consulting). Here you can take a closer look at the keynote speakers.

The Finnish Award for Moisture-safe Building Construction was granted for the third time during the conference. A record-breaking number of 34 submissions were sent, six of which were chosen by the jury to be presented at the conference. The award was given to moisture management education for construction sites and the team, who developed it. This year the emphasis, when choosing the winner, was on education, which is becoming more and more important when building a moisture-safe building.

“We have a huge amount of guidelines related to building physics and moisture management, but the challenging part is spreading the information in an extensive but compressed fashion to different parties in the field of construction. This moisture management education, which is similar to the occupational safety card, aimed at construction workers is an excellent example of how information can be distributed effectively to a large group of workers. Moreover, moisture management during construction is one of the central matters that requires improvements nowadays”, states Professor Juha Vinha.

The people awarded in the moisture-safe building team were: The project manager of the project Tero Marttila (Tampere University of Technology), Hannu Pekkarinen (Lujatalo Oy), Timo Turunen (Ramboll Oy), Pekka Väisälä (Tampere University of Applied Sciences), Hannu Kääriäinen (Oulu University of Applied Sciences), Kalle Laine (TTS Työtehoseura), Ninna Kokko (Rakennusteollisuuden Koulutuskeskus RATEKO), Paavo Kero (Tampere University of Technology), Jani Kemppainen (Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT), Petri Mannonen (Vahanen Building Physics Ltd), Jommi Suonketo (Tampere University of Technology), Helmi Kokotti (Suomen Sisäilmakeskus Oy), Arja Vainio (Rakennusteollisuuden Koulutuskeskus RATEKO), Sari Paukku (Granlund Consulting Oy), Timo Marttila (Espoon Asunnot Oy) and Anne Hyvärinen (National Institute for Health and Welfare).

You can download the slideshows of keynote speakers here:

Keynote 1: Professor Stig Geving, NTNU, Norway: Moisture and building physics in research and practice – some Norwegian experiences from the last 10 years

Keynote 2: Professor Thomas Bednar, TU Wien, Austria: Buildings of tomorrow – Moisture safe, nearly-zero-energy and BIM based solutions

Keynote 3: Consulting Official Vesa Pekkola, Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health: How is the 100-year-old Finland going to solve indoor air problems? (in Finnish)

Keynote 4:  Architect P. Michael Pelken, University of Cambridge, P+ Consulting, England: Innovation Strategies for the Built Environment in Research, Practice, and Teaching

Here you can see the pictures of the event.