Special engineer highlights cooperation: teamwork is the key to success in demanding projects

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Special engineer highlights cooperation: teamwork is the key to success in demanding projects
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Antti Karjalainen, who works as a structural engineer on demanding special projects, has enjoyed the constant new challenges offered by his work at Best-Hall. Indeed, an increasing number of clients want solutions that require engineering expertise in exceptionally demanding structures.

 

A wide building with a span of 80 metres, a dome-shaped roof structure or a 20,000-square-metre building without pillars.

“All of these are possible with Best-Hall’s steel structure, but it requires special skills on the part of the structural engineer to ensure that the building is functional, safe and economical.”

Antti Karjalainen is one of Best-Hall’s experienced engineers with the ‘exceptionally difficult’ grade of the national FISE Certification of a Designer of Steel Structures, on whose desk the structural solutions for such projects are created.

“Special projects allow you to challenge your own thinking and put your engineering and problem-solving skills to the test. It keeps your mind sharp and allows you to constantly learn new things,” says Karjalainen, explaining why he tends to gravitate towards challenging projects.

Best-Hall steel building

Steel building. Port warehouse, 400 x 50 / 8 m.

 

Cooperation with sales and manufacturing attracted to Best-Hall

Antti Karjalainen became interested in Best-Hall 20 years ago when he was just graduating from Vaasa University of Applied Sciences as a civil engineer.

“I saw a newspaper advertisement for a structural engineer for an internationally expanding steel construction company. I was immediately attracted to the idea of working at a manufacturing company instead of a design office and being able to be involved in the whole process together with sales and manufacturing.”

The role of design has expanded as the company has grown, and Karjalainen is currently part of Best-Hall’s in-house design department of 11 people. At the same time, the work has also become more demanding.

“Best-Hall’s promise is that each building, no matter the complexity, is designed and calculated individually according to the conditions at the site and intended purpose. However, we are receiving more and more orders for buildings that require special solutions.”

Best-Hall warehouse for grain

 Grain warehouse, Hungary. Diameter 61.8 m.

 

Special solutions require special skills

Karjalainen believes that the number of demanding projects has increased in recent years, not only because customers have learned to make use of the potential of steel-framed buildings, but also because the expertise needed for special solutions is not available everywhere.

“We have built such great references around the world that they speak for themselves. Many clients have told us that they are impressed with Best-Hall’s solutions and want something similar for themselves,” says Karjalainen.

Karjalainen names the enormous 231-metre-long and 80-metre-wide football arena in Dublin, the 20,000-m2 building built for Steveco in the Port of Kotka, the 38-metre-high hemispherical grain warehouse in Budapest and the 75-metre-span football arena in Reykjavik, designed to withstand hurricane-level wind loads, as examples of shared pride.

Indeed, the most rewarding part of the job for Karjalainen is always learning something new together.

“In all of these projects, we have been able to simultaneously carry out product development and learn how we, as an organisation, can build even better buildings in the future. Without the ability to work together with sales, production and installation, it’s unlikely that any designer would be able to do this on their own,” he sums up.

a. karjalainen

Antti Karjalainen