21. Sep 2006 14:29 9. Oct 2006 13:32

No Sweat With Finnish Bathrooms

Complete, wrapped, delivered and ready. The hospital will soon be awash with Finnish ready-made bathrooms for phase 2.  

All told, nearly 200 bathrooms will arrive on site during the next year, all produced by Oy Parmarine Ltd in Finland. The Gastro centre receive the first on September 29th. Three semi-trailers arrive with 4 bathrooms loaded on each. The bathrooms are then hoisted into the building during Friday night and Saturday.

Low cost

	TEST: A complete bathroom has been on site for the last weeks, to make sure all details are correct.

– Friday and Saturday are calmer days with excess crane capacity, explains design coordinator Trond Jacobsen of NCC, who believes this is the way to go for all large projects.

– We have bought nearly 200 bathrooms for a total of 1.5 million Euro, which translates into NOK 60 000 per bathroom. Anybody who has tried to refurbish their home bathroom knows that is a low price, Jacobsen says.

The greatest saving is however on standardising the solution before production. There are four variants plus a handicap type bathroom. Two ”regular” bathrooms were pre-delivered in order for patients, hospital, hygiene control and builders to evaluate and comment on the design and production quality. Most comments are very positive, the bathrooms are considered to be ‘surprisingly roomy’. But there is no agreement on color scheme – of course!

Less Damage

	POSITIVE RESPONSES: Users, hygiene control, builders and nurses are mostly positive.

The actual purchase cost is close to the cost of building bathrooms on site. Factory made bathrooms means less damages (scratches, broken tiles, scoffed painting) which must be fixed afterwards, normally a substantial extra cost. The bathrooms are also produced and tested to the required quality under controlled conditions – with far less danger for hidden damages or damage over time, which again means less warranty and unscheduled maintenance. For the contractor, moving 19 000 work hours from site to Forssa in Finland also means savings. Less pressure on the work market, less cost for work facilities like wardrobe, dining etc.