Merenoja comprehensive school, Kalajoki, Finland

The new Merenoja comprehensive school was constructed as a new building at the school’s existing location. In addition to teaching facilities for the comprehensive school, the school includes additional space for the upper secondary school, a dental clinic, sports facilities and premises for the City of Kalajoki’s sports and recreation department.

The premises were designed to be extremely versatile and easy to adapt so that the City of Kalajoki and personnel at the school can continue to quickly respond to changing needs in the teaching facilities.

“We are creating a modern learning environment in the city centre that is unique in Northern Finland in terms of its electiveness and internationality. The new comprehensive school and expanded upper secondary school will enable the expansion and development of Kalajoki Academy, which is the city’s unit in charge of leisure activities, sports and culture. We want the school to be healthy, safe and energy-efficient. YIT’s tender was the best match with the price and quality criteria we had specified in the competitive bidding process,” says Jukka Puoskari, Mayor of Kalajoki.

The school is designed for approximately 1,000 students and 100 employees. The total size of the project was approximately 13,000 gross m2, of which the indoor gymnasium building accounted for 2,421 gross m2.

The project was completed as a turnkey contract, which included demolition of old buildings and the construction of new ones.

The construction was carried out according to the Kuivaketju10 moisture control model, which necessitates construction cleanliness category P1. The building has a ventilated base-floor structure.

The Nordic Swan Ecolabel — environmentally friendly throughout the entire life cycle

The new school was designed and constructed in compliance with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel criteria. Nordic Swan Ecolabelled buildings must meet strict environmental standards related to, among other things, taking the building’s entire life cycle into account and ensuring good indoor air quality.

Based on the Nordic Swan Ecolabel criteria, careful attention was paid to the fact that all materials used in the construction and materials staying in the building are accurately documented and approved. This was done by both our production and Ympäristömerkintä Suomi Oy, which grants the Nordic Swan Ecolabel.

The Nordic Swan Ecolabel is best represented in the completed building by the exceptionally large windows. Household appliances have also been selected on the basis of energy-efficient criteria.