Renewed Geological Research Centre recycles waste energy for use

A new building, with Senate Properties as the developer, was completed in the spring for use by GTK Mintec as part of the globally unique Geological Research Centre. Mine samples can be examined first in laboratory conditions and then in practice at the pilot plant.

“The new office and laboratory building and the existing pilot plant in Outokumpu offer GTK’s customers a service package in which the entire production process required to utilise the mineral deposit can be tested on the scale required by the research problem,” explains Seppo Höyhtyä, Senate Property’s Head Contractor.

In the project management contract, Granlund acted as a construction management consultant as well as a MEP system designer and supervisor all the way from project planning. For Höyhty, it was important that the designers had experience in both MEP systems and functional design for highly automated cleanroom laboratories. All MEP solutions were reviewed with the users at different stages of the design.

Granlund’s designers had experience in both MEP systems and functional design of highly automated cleanroom laboratories.

Seppo Höyhtyä, Head Contractor, Senate Property

The construction management consultant also worked closely with the authorities in the area’s zoning and land use planning. The development of the entire area and the updating of the pilot plant in the coming years had to be taken into account.

“Granlund’s designers knew how to see the forest from the trees and anticipate what the future will hold.”

Condition management guided electrical and HVAC design

According to Granlund’s construction management group manager Petri Niskanen, the biggest challenges of the project were the highly complex premises, extensive MEP systems and detailed condition requirements. Extensive equipment packages implemented as user purchases were also adapted to MEP plans.

“In addition, the level of construction technology requirements and the importance of detailed implementations are emphasised in such a special property.”

The development of the entire area had to be taken into account in the design of the new building. Granlund’s designers saw the forest from the trees and predicted what the future will hold.

Seppo Höyhtyä, Head Contractor, Senate Property

According to Jukka Kolehmainen, Head of Department for electrical design at Granlund, there were no ready-made solutions for the needs of special premises and equipment, but they had to be investigated separately. The most sensitive test equipment was protected using centralised UPS equipment. Things outside the plot also had to be taken into account in the design.

“Many items of test equipment are sensitive to the magnetic field of the nearby power line.”

A wide range of chemicals, acids, solvents and gases are handled in laboratories, so ventilation needs to react quickly and automatically to changing situations. HVAC technology also includes extensive gas and pressure piping, local ventilation exhausts and precision ventilation units. There are several special systems.

“A lead removal system was designed for the stone drying ovens, and a dust extraction system for the samples in the room where the samples are analysed with robotic equipment,” says Tuomas Lehikoinen, Head of the HVAC Engineering Department at Granlund.

The user has several items of equipment and processes of their own that require different HVAC solutions, such as ion exchanged water and cooling equipment. Wastewater treatment is also precise. The chemical neutralisation system adjusts the pH of the wastewater to suit the water treatment plant. In addition, sewage volumes are measured and analysed in accordance with the requirements of the environmental permit.

In the background, the building automation system monitors the conditions of different rooms and, for example, the functionality of the ventilation of fume hoods and the use of emergency showers. Alarm information is transmitted to the user.

“It raises the level of personal safety to a higher level than usual,” says Lehikoinen.

Possibility to use geothermal heat planned proactively

In the project, all parties committed to the energy and carbon footprint targets of Senate Properties and the requirements of the RTS environmental rating. The aim in carbon footprint calculation was to reduce the carbon footprint by 20 per cent compared to the average for industrial buildings, and this was achieved, among other things, with the building’s own solar power plant and heat recovery system. All waste heat from the building and processes is utilised.

“We gained important expertise in this type of energy planning from Granlund,” says Höyhtyä.

A geothermal well field was also planned proactively in the area, which will be taken into use when the adjacent pilot plant is renovated in the future. At that point, geothermal energy will also be used to cool both the buildings. Until then, cooling will be carried out with a water cooling unit that was recycled into use from another Senate property.

In March 2024, the users had access to the new premises, with which they have been very satisfied as a whole according to Höyhtyä. “After all, the premises are now completely different from the original ones.”