Building design

FCG is the right partner when you need experienced specialists who can handle even demanding conditions in HVAC and electrical design. High-quality building-services design lays a firm foundation for a well-functioning property, and we review each project’s objectives together with the client to design the right solutions. We believe optimal technical solutions come from looking at the brief from multiple angles – our multidisciplinary approach enables well-judged decisions.

We have extensive experience in HVAC and electrical design for public buildings in particular. We have acted as a technical partner on projects for schools and research laboratories, health and social care facilities, and fire and rescue facilities. We also work closely with private developers, property owners and contractors on larger residential schemes. Our experienced HVAC specialists support you whether the task is a new build, a technically demanding refurbishment or the renovation of a heritage property.

We provide end-to-end building services – heating and plumbing, ventilation and building automation/management systems (BMS) – together with electrical and lighting design and carbon-neutral energy systems. We design smart lighting systems and, using simulations, help you make use of solar PV systems. Good design enables long-lived, healthy and functional building-services solutions, where high-quality indoor conditions boost productivity and comfort.

FCG is among Finland’s leading structural-design consultancies, and good structural design is the foundation of high-quality, durable construction. Professional structural design brings cost-effectiveness to projects and takes account of environmental and social sustainability – generating savings across a building’s lifecycle. Our structural designers hold FISE personal qualifications, and the company is certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

We provide comprehensive structural design for buildings and civil and municipal structures. Core areas include new build and refurbishment for water-utility plants and school buildings, and we also serve residential, office, retail and industrial facilities. We work closely with FCG’s other construction specialists, and our multidisciplinary capability ensures genuinely comprehensive solutions.

We handle structurally demanding assets from wind-turbine foundations to water towers and bridges. Our expertise in special structures ensures safe, functional solutions without compromising visual quality. We offer bridge design and inspection services with precise technical competence. Our design work makes use of finite-element analysis (FEA) tools and 3D modelling.

FCG provides expert support in site supervision and quality assurance for both the public and private sectors. Professional supervision and QA play a decisive role in a successful construction project and, above all, protect the client’s interests. You get an experienced supervisor for your project – someone whose firm, guiding approach helps deliver a quality-first outcome.

Indoor-air problems can be prevented through careful design and diligent construction-phase supervision that safeguards build quality from start to finish. Successful quality control depends on involving the QA consultant early enough in the process. High-quality supervision rests on our supervisors’ broad competence and process control, especially in moisture management and indoor-air investigations.

In construction and refurbishment projects, collaboration – and agreeing the right scope of repairs in relation to lifecycle goals – is critical to the outcome. Defining the repair scope correctly saves costs: only what is necessary is repaired. We have partnered with Senate Properties on several refurbishment projects to supervise moisture management and indoor-air quality. With expert supervision, the result is a healthy, safe building for decades to come.

FCG delivers property assessments from basic condition assessment through to in-depth building-health investigations. We tailor the scope to your needs and provide a reliable view of the condition of your property assets and the costs of required repairs. Our specialists combine wide-ranging engineering expertise in structures, HVAC and electrical systems with long experience from hundreds of building-health projects.

Our service range covers all aspects of property assessment. With our TARKKA assesment method, we provide a breakthrough approach in assessing repair needs and costs across large property portfolios using aggregated data. In environmental and technical due diligence (EDD/TDD) reviews, we identify environmental liabilities and technical risks in property transactions, also accounting for climate-related risks such as flooding and moisture damage. In thorough condition investigations we examine risk-prone structures and the HVAC systems as a whole; in repair design we consider building-physics performance and the suitability of materials for good indoor air quality.

Even buildings that have exceeded their technical service life can provide good spaces with expert repair design and supervision. Not everything needs to be demolished – we help you identify a property’s real potential and see refurbishment projects through to completion. Careful investigations and lifecycle analyses give a robust basis for property decisions, so repair measures can be correctly targeted and delivered cost-effectively – with certainty about what is being fixed.

We design ambient-loop solutions for schools, campus areas and outdoor sports facilities – moving towards carbon neutrality by using local energy sources. The idea is to make use of local heat sources and minimise purchased energy. Internal heat gains from people, solar radiation through windows, lighting and electrical equipment are recovered for space heating and domestic hot water, creating ideal thermal conditions with a high degree of energy self-sufficiency.

With ambient loops, buildings alternately inject heat into and extract heat from the network efficiently. Heating energy is upgraded within each building only to the temperature levels required there, which minimises distribution losses. Cooling via the ambient loop means cost-effective recycling of waste heat between buildings using the heat corridor, together with seasonal storage of surplus heat in the ground via boreholes. Designed case by case, ambient-loop systems typically have lower purchased-energy, operating and maintenance costs than alternative methods – delivering lifecycle-cost-effective solutions.

Read more on our Ambient-loop heat networks service page.