Marina Housing

It is very possible that we will see floating villages appearing along the coasts of Finland in the near future, provided the bold plans of Marinetek will reach their completion. All-year living should be no problem, either, if only the municipal site planning will allow it. In most cases the floating houses are meant for vacation and recreation use. Globally, floating living has indeed long traditions. In the age of the Azteks there was a floating city in Mexico, known for the fact that flowers and vegetables were grown on soil-covered platforms. We Finns have seen some examples of floating life style by watching some contemporary American movies and TV shows.

A Helsinki-based pier and landing bridge constructor, known as Marinetek Finland Ltd., would like to import the idea of floating living to Finland’s shores and bays. Four years ago a model house was constructed in Keilalahti, Espoo, which is Helsinki’s western neighboring city. For the coming years there are plans to construct a whole floating village consisting of a total of 30 condominiums to this marina administered by Marinetek.

Growing markets

The necessary alterations in municipal site plans are still underway, but there are more than enough potential buyers according to the construction company. Images of sunny terraces with boat places and swimming are offered to the buyers to be. The price tag on a vacation dream is approximately EUR 4,000 per sqm and one guarantees a life span of 50 years for the construction. CEO of Marinetek Finland Ltd., Mr. Ilkka Seppälä firmly believes in the growth of floating construction. His company is seriously in the process of conquering markets both in Finland and abroad.
"Floating constructions and structures, such as restaurants, condominiums, boardwalks, bridges and routes for the light traffic, are a growing trend," he points out.

A lot as a house pontoon

Marinetek is creating new "lots" by constructing house pontoons that do not differ much from the pier pontoons manufactured by the company’s factories in various parts of the world. Even extensive floating lots, such as comprising three hectares, have been planned for, and there are several examples around the world of floating airports and spas. For a floating home Marinetek usually joins together two pontoons by stable metal rods made of stainless steel. The floating structure is securely moored with seaflex rubber cables to massive concrete anchors on the sea floor. The company has relied on this type of rubber cables in areas, where the tidal flow changes are prominent and the currents strong. In the conditions prevailing in Finland the more immediate concern is that the floating construction has to be truly winter-proof. Mr. Seppälä says that one of the obvious advantages of floating construction is the environment-friendliness: neither trees need to be cut down nor any rock or soil excavation done.

Differing opinions about the environmental consequences

Special researcher Ilpo Kouhia from Finland’s VTT Technical Research Center/Construction Technology wants to point out that in case we build a very large number of floating houses relative to the surface area, we can not avoid changing the directions of the currents. Mr. Seppälä is yet ready to counter this argument by ensuring that in the Marinetek pontoons this consideration is no problem: "These pontoons do not contain a cellar and the part of the pontoon structure under the water level is only half a meter deep." The floating house itself can in principle be of any design, however, the brick construction is out of the question due to its weigh. Marinetek is offering houses of various sizes as one and two-level solutions with a total weight limit at 50 tons. There is a clear preference for light-weight construction, the frameworks being made of aluminium, steel or wood, with lots of glass surfaces and much reliance on light-weight panels. In addition, due to higher humidity in the seaside settings only stainless steel, aluminium-framed windows and other humidity-resilient materials are used. The ready-made house elements are transported to the site by trucks and then joined together. The interiors of the houses are complete including the parquet floors and all the details in the bathrooms and toilets. Not only can the condominiums be fitted with sewage and electricity joinings but also a thermal heat pump using the accumulated energy from seawater in sub-zero temperatures can be installed.