Reviewing cost management and more efficient implementation at the Lahela campus, as well as the municipality's overall investments, and presenting the findings to the council, initiative 

The Tuusula service network reform was launched during the last council term in response to serious and widespread indoor air quality problems, which affected and continue to affect our schools and daycare centres, among other places. Our promise of zero tolerance for indoor air problems was included in the mayor’s programme in 2017, and this commitment was repeated in the mayor’s programme in 2021. 

We have implemented our service network plan as strictly according to schedule as we have been able to through our own actions. At the beginning of 2018, when scheduling the implementation of the service network, the council decided that the Rykmentinpuisto and Lahela school campuses would be implemented simultaneously. Extensive indoor air quality problems have been identified in schools and daycare centres in both areas, and some of them are operating in temporary premises.

Until the Lahela daycare centre and school campus is completed, the municipality will incur ongoing high costs for renting temporary premises and for repairing and sealing existing properties with indoor air quality problems. With the Lahela campus project being continually postponed, these costs will inevitably and unpredictably arise.

During the project planning phase, the cost estimate for the Lahela campus project also rose unexpectedly to an unprecedented level in relation to other campus projects in Tuusula, such as the latest Riihikallio and Rykmentinpuisto projects. The construction costs for the project are estimated at €4,037/brm2 (VAT 0%). The initial furnishing costs for the project are estimated at approximately €2,300/person (students + staff). (cf. the Rykmentinpuisto project plan, where construction costs are €2,873/m² and furnishing costs are €500/person, and the Riihikallio project, where construction costs are €2,530/m² and furnishing costs are €500/person). The challenging buildability of the Lahela site and the need for piling partly explain the increase in costs.

The life cycle project as the only implementation option will result in significantly higher costs and less competition for the municipality, but it is also a major risk, considering the difficult situation in the construction industry. In the current challenging global and economic situation, will the company offering the life cycle project even be in operation for the planned 20-year contract period? The municipality has not anticipated this.

At the same time, a dangerous game is being played with the health of residents. When deciding on the service network plan, it was agreed that children and staff would be guaranteed healthy, safe and functional working environments throughout the Tuusula area. This was the starting point and main objective of the entire service network reform. The equal fundamental rights of children living in the Lahela and southern Tuusula villages and the employees working there, also in comparison to other areas of Tuusula, have not been realised. Tuusula should therefore require financially sound service network planning and implementation that promotes the health of its residents.

I propose that

• In order to enable a more efficient and cost-effective implementation of the Lahela campus project, a tender process will be opened for all implementation options, not just life cycle project implementations. A cost comparison of the different implementation options will be presented for decision-making.
• In addition, a report on the overall investments of the municipality of Tuusula will be prepared for the council. This report will highlight the investments and schedules of the municipality's various sectors and assess the urgency of each project and the potential for cost savings.

Local councillors must have the opportunity to influence the municipality’s value choices concerning, for example, which projects the municipality decides to postpone and which to implement for cost reasons. To make this assessment, councillors need thorough preparatory information that takes all the different options into account.

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