How can a construction manager make it easier to implement an international project in Finland?

15.4.2025 – Granlund's construction management experts help international industrial and data center operators throughout the project, from selecting the location to site management and maintenance during use. Read on to learn more about how a local construction manager can assist you.

Our construction management consultants protect the interests of international customers in industrial and data center projects of all sizes. Our construction management team has special expertise in areas such as data center environments and cleanrooms. Industrial processes set the framework for the building, and we create flexible structural and building services frameworks for data center operations and production processes.

We know the Finnish permit processes

In Finland, industrial operations require knowledge of European, national and local legislation. Our customers don’t need to know the local customs, authorities or the fine details of permit processes, because we know them. Having existing contacts means that the processing times of permit applications will be known in advance.

Knowledge of the local area is already an asset in site and location searches. Finnish authorities closely monitor the environmental impacts of industrial operations, which is why an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and various nature and urban runoff surveys, among other things, must be carried out as part of the feasibility studies.

The construction manager localises the initial information

The localisation of draft plans and permit applications is an essential part of smooth project implementation. We localise the initial information materials to the Finnish legislative environment, as it is pointless to apply for a building permit for plans made for Germany, for example.

Localisation also requires knowledge of the local area. Each municipality’s building control services have their own requirements and practices, and our local construction management consultants will help you comply with them.

We localise the initial information materials to the Finnish legislative environment.

We can handle the challenges of renovation

In Finland, starting a renovation is more straightforward than starting a new construction project, but in industrial projects, supporting production and minimising interruptions must be taken into account. We coordinate the industrial environment’s and the site’s schedules, use of space, occupational safety and logistics. With safety, humidity management and cleanliness management coordination, we also guide the contractors to operate correctly.

The construction manager adapts to the customer’s schedules

In international projects, trust is of utmost importance. When the distance is thousands of kilometres and the time difference is multiple hours, the project manager’s active and open communication with the customer is crucial. We adapt our schedules and practices flexibly to the customer’s wishes.

We support communication with Power BI reporting. This means that the customer will always have easy access to up-to-date information, such as the current status of schedules and procurements.

The construction manager finds the necessary special expertise

With us, a multinational industrial project will remain strictly in the hands of one contact person. Our project manager coordinates the work and, in addition to construction management expertise, finds the other necessary expertise such as construction and building services supervisors, for example. We work according to the one-stop-shop principle.

Granlund’s special strengths include energy expertise and the design of industrial electrical systems. We design and carry out construction management for electrical substations and electrical infrastructure for data centers, among other things.

The construction manager carries out procurement around the world

Our construction management organisation includes several teams that are specialised in procurement. They are responsible for the procurement for each area, such as electrical systems. We are able to steer the planning choices so that the project is not delayed due to unreasonable delivery times. Our teams know the procurement channels for specific components and equipment around the world.

The construction manager controls the lifecycle costs

The construction manager plays an important role in controlling the planning, schedules and costs of the industrial project. We take lifecycle issues, such as maintenance requirements, into account already in the project planning phase and control the lifecycle costs throughout the project. The premises and building services must enable the development, expansion and reorganisation of operations.

The construction manager supports operational assurance

During the operational assurance phase of data center projects, we send an operational assurance team to the site, who will follow a detailed protocol in the test use of the data center. Lighter quality assurance processes can be carried out by the supervision team instead of a separate operational assurance team. After that, we can carry out monitoring during use, which enables us to intervene in time in the case of any deviations.

The most important thing is to get started quickly! On the basis of the preliminary plans, we will start the concept design and permit processes and make the first timetable and cost estimates. Would you like to learn more about our services?