Sep 10, 2012. /Lesprom Network/. Finland’s largest wooden multi-storey building to date, comprising 104 flats, has been completed in Viikki, Helsinki. Based on the Metsä Wood Multi-Storey System, the block is composed of five wooden buildings, each with three to four floors, with a total gross floor area of 6,300 square metres, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network. “The project proved that wood is an excellent alternative for industrial construction of multi-storey buildings. Many of the traditional challenges associated with the construction of wooden multi-storey buildings were solved. The residences in Viikki are state of the art in terms of fire safety, soundproofing, and energy-efficiency,” says Ari Tiukkanen, Senior Vice President Building Products, Metsä Wood. Plenty of new information and research results were collected and obtained during the construction. While the project was in progress, VTT Expert Services Ltd carried out a carbon footprint assessment, among other measurements, for the site. Tampere University of Technology assessed the building’s air-tightness, and Helimäki Acoustics carried out acoustic measurements. The housing is equipped with an automatic fire-extinguishing system, which gives an unsurpassed advantage when compared with the fire safety of the traditional construction method: in the event of a fire, the automatic system prevents the fire from spreading, the temperature will not rise, and there will not be a decrease in the level of oxygen in the room. If the system is activated, the amount of water needed is very small, thanks to the spray technology used (1.4 l/min). This prevents any significant water damage. The Metsä Wood Multi-Storey System comprises a Kerto-structured beam-and-post frame, intermediate floors, roofing panels, and exterior walls delivered as timber frames. The balcony structures and awnings of the houses were created with Kerto and glulam elements. The impressive 42-millimetre-thick King Panel, made from Metsä Wood’s King Beam glulam, crowns the wooden multi-storey buildings. A façade panel that is up to 12 metres long creates a harmonious and clear line for the housing. The Metsä Wood Multi-Storey System fosters cost-effective construction of multi-storey buildings, because it significantly reduces the construction time needed, decreases on-site labour, and minimises loss of materials. “The frame and intermediate floor phase in Viikki was accomplished very quickly, because no drying related to concrete construction was needed and construction work could continue without delay. Viikki also taught us how the construction process can be improved further,” says Tiukkanen. Construction began with foundation work in the summer of 2011. The Metsä Wood Multi-Storey System has been developed over several years through a network of leading experts in the construction industry, and the system has been used in the construction of wooden multi-storey buildings in a number of countries including Germany, France, and Italy. Finnish developers have also expressed a keen interest in wood-based construction, with almost a dozen new areas of wooden multi-storey buildings being planned, in locations all over Finland, including Espoo, Turku, Rauma, Tampere, and Ylivieska.