The reaction time is getting shorter from contract award to delivery, says Ari Laitinen, Sandvik area manager for Scandinavia. "It is busy right now, as is Latin America, one of my other regions, and we are noticing this shorter notice period. If you don’t forecast far enough, taking risks, then you are too late. It is not enough to just react to orders."

Laitinen gives some major projects, "Lansimetro [Helsinki’s western metro extension] requires 3Mm 3 of excavation. There are two 14km tunnels and seven stations over about 10 contracts. This is a major one for us, of around 20 drill and blast rigs on site, we have about 15. A significant project in Finland, where we are still seen as the ‘local’ manufacturer.

"In Sweden of course are the tunnel works around Stockholm, notably the Citybanan with two 6km tunnels. We’ve faced heavy Atlas Copco competition on this one."

Laitinen adds that Norway is more difficult. The real strength of the Norwegian tunnelling industry is not measured in mega projects, but the shear volume of excavated material. Its multitude of road tunnels under 3km.

Comparing Packages
In terms of the companies attracted, Finland gets less of an international interest. "There is a particularly high level of rock excavation experience and proficiency here," says Laitinen. "The price is lower here than elsewhere in Scandinavia. Also compared to Sweden for example, contract packages tend to be smaller – allowing smaller, local companies to bid for entire contracts. Installation work is typically in a separate contract. This all serves to make Finland less attractive to large companies such as Strabag, from Germany, Austria and the rest of Europe."

The contract culture in Sweden is particularly admirable to Laitinen, "As the contracts are more complete there, the client involvement is stronger. It’s almost a more civilised way of doing things; everyone is pulling towards the common good – the completion of a project with a high quality end product. There is less of a focus on the price.

"Norway is probably the most active country, with correspondingly the highest price level. They excavate 4.5bn cubic metres in a typical year. In 2012 I think it may have been closer to 6bn. This is mainly for highway work (3.3bn) with some rail and some hydropower. An influx of foreign contractors is currently driving the price down.

In terms of the business culture, Norway is more closed and does things its own way, Laitinen explains. "But in general it probably lies somewhere between Sweden and Finland."

Norway by the numbers
Norway requires an incredible amount of data collection compared with the other countries. "This is for legal repurcussions," says Laitinen. "In the event of a collapse, it is particularly important in Norway to be able to go back through the data during the investigation. There is also a greater requirement to have all of the geology observed to create enormous databases.

Barriers to entry
Language is a major barrier to entry into the Scandinavian market. All documents are written in the vernacular, which is a particular problem for Finnish, which is not a widely spoken language, and is also particularly difficult for English speakers. But similar difficulties exist in Sweden and Norway, and of course this is not uncommon across the world.

"Then there are the local habits and knowing how to act," says Laitinen. "Some newcomers are learning quickly, while some have to pay for the lesson. For example, there are ways of dealing with customers that have to be observed. In the larger projects in Finland, for example, client supervision is very intensive, with project criteria laid out carefully and precisely in documentation. There are many worksite meetings.

"In Sweden there is more discussion over the documents (again, very civilised). And Norway is somewhere in between."

Finnish innovation
Finland has some of the hardest, most stable (Precambrian) geology in the world. This would make it ideal for tunnelling. But the country is flat, with no great mountain ranges that it needs to drive base tunnels through like Switzerland and Austria, or incredibly steep road tunnels such as those found in the Norwegian geography.

But due to the rock – which Laitinen describes as uniquely hard – incredibly precise excavation is possible. This has led to a kind of underground artistry developing, where cavern walls are left without a concrete lining, leaving rock showing to the public after the structure enters service.

This is good for the unusually wide range of facilities the Fins locate underground. Whereas the other Scandinavian countries mainly see tunnelling from infrastructure projects, Finland gets more unusual client demands. These include car parks, swimming pools and cross country ski courses.

Finland has around half a dozen such ‘hiihtoputki’, literally translated as ‘skiing tunnel’. For other installations, such as car parks, heating is easier as the underground base temperature is between 7-8°C, far warmer than the harsh Scandinavian winter. There are also data centres in Helsinki cooled by seawater in a green drive. CNN has previously reported that data centres account for up to two per cent of global energy consumption.

Regular readers are probably familiar with the Helsinki Underground Masterplan. The Finnish capital sits on approximately 10,000,000m3 of planned underground space, with reservations for efficient connections and longer term, phased projects. Laitinen adds, "Geothermal energy too is booming. Even small wells for private housing, and the efficiency is always increasing. In general, this variety in the purpose of underground construction is common in Finland."

Another unique project in the country is the spent nuclear fuel repository Onkalo, which translates literally as a kind of hole in the ground – and not as the more exciting ‘Hiding Place’ of the related documentary ‘Into Eternity’.

Although currently in a study phase, part of this has involved excavation of a 400m-deep rock characterisation facility. Client Posiva started the approval process in 2012, but a law had already been passed requiring all Finnish nuclear waste to be disposed of in Finland, so a solution will be necessary. The final disposal containers and caverns will require a design life of tens of thousands of years.

Politics
In terms of the political situation, the funding is still available despite the global downturn and numberless European crises. "Norway constructs as much as the labour market can handle," says Laitinen. "The funding there is not the limiting factor.

"Sweden is in a fairly similar situation, while Finland has the weakest funding position right now. There’s still an effort in Finland to keep workflow and annual excavated volume consistent to maintain knowledge people."

Conclusion
Laitinen adds, "The business follows general economic trends, boom then recession. I have seen better, and I have seen worse years, but I am quite optimistic. You have to be optimistic"