JUST - Järvenpää´s New Social and Healthcare Center

New social and healthcare center of Järvenpää, JUST, was completed in January 2016 in the city of Järvenpää. JUST combines all of the social welfare and healthcare services of Järvenpää conveniently under the same roof. The construction of JUST was managed by Kiinteistö Oy Järvenpään Terveystalo, with Boost Brothers as the construction management expert.

The project was completed successfully on schedule and in budget, and perhaps most importantly, the user satisfaction has been exceptionally high. As an indication of this, JUST was awarded the price of exceptional quality (Vuoden Laatuoivallus 2015). The project was also awarded as the world’s best public BIM project in 2016 in the Tekla Global BIM Awards.

Open building approach as a starting point

New social and healthcare center of Järvenpää was built according to the principles of open building approach. In open building, the building is divided into two main parts; the base building and the infill spaces. The base building is built with a long-term vision to serve the users’ needs for the whole lifecycle of the building, while the infill spaces are designed to fill the users´ present-day needs. The infill spaces can be later efficiently customized, as the needs of the user change.

Project alliance combined with a lifecycle-model

JUST was designed and carried out by a project alliance. The alliance was formed by the client (Kiinteistö Oy Järvenpään Terveystalo), the constructor (NCC) and the user (The City of Järvenpää). The maintenance of the building will be implemented utilizing a lifecycle-model, where the client, the constructor and the user are jointly responsible for the maintenance for the first 10 years.

User-centered design enabled by BIM

The design of the project was carried out using a virtual design and control methodology VIRMA (Virtuaalisen suunnittelun ja rakentamisen malli). In VIRMA, digital tools such as virtual design are utilized in all aspects of the project. For example, end-users were able to experience the facilities before the actual construction using a virtual 3D simulation. The feedback gathered from the end-users was used to perfect the design choices, and thus an exceptionally high user satisfaction was achieved.

Listening to end-users

The feedback from end-users lead to various tangible design changes. For example, dentists that participated in the design process noted that the floorplan wasn’t optimal for efficient working, and consequently the floorplan was modified to better accommodate their needs. Similarly, the patient rooms were modified to be more spacious as the patients noted that they prefer a more spacious design to that of a more sheltered one. “The end-users were treated as equal counterparts in the design, and that has been wonderful to see. This has led to an astonishingly high engagement rate from the users.” commentated Erkki Kukkonen, the mayor of Järvenpää, as the construction of the project was completed.