Home: Issue 3 2008 › Homing in on success
Homing in on success
04/07/2008 | Channel: Construction, Manufacturing
Kodumaja is leading the way in the design and production of innovative pre-fabricated housing
Using high-quality materials, Kodumaja specialises in the design and production of prefabricated residential buildings and modules. The company is one of the market leaders in the regions of Estonia, Sweden, Finland and Denmark and is committed to producing user-friendly environments by utilising the very finest construction products and services. Boasting a skilled workforce of approximately 450 people, it has prospered in recent years, winning a number of significant contracts in the Scandinavian region and has significantly increased its manufacturing abilities to satisfy increased demand.
Kodumaja builds houses alongside other construction companies and real estate developers as well as independently and strives to produce a wide array of houses and apartments to cater for a variety of tastes. While the styles greatly differ from one another they all share the ability to catch the eye. It is this diversity that Lembit Lump, the company's chairman, believes sets it apart from some of the competition in the marketplace. “One of the main differences between us and other similar companies is the flexibility we offer, they are focused on a certain type of house or module.
“That is not ideal for architects as they are artists and are not comfortable with so many limitations. We welcome new ideas and are committed taking visions and putting them into practice, one of Kodumaja's major strengths is that all of our houses are very different and custom designed. The fact that we are also located in a geographical region that offers cost advantages also helps us, but that is not to say
that we are the cheapest option. The cost to quality ratio that we offer is up there with the best - they are not my words but the words of our clients,” he says.
That quality has seen the demand for the company's products soar in recent years. This, alongside the desire to expand into new markets, saw the company significantly expand its main factory in Tartu, Estonia almost two years ago. “Today the facility has about 23,000 sq m of storage and production space,” Lembit says. “We have been able to triple our capacity with the build, which we had to do if we were toachieve our targets of serving more customers in other regions. Before the facility was constructed we were focused almost solely on the Norwegian sector and while we wanted to continue to serve those clients, we also wanted to expand into Denmark Finland and Sweden - this has enabled us to do just that.”
The facility and its capabilities are truly impressive to behold. Its scale allows for masses of carefully sourced materials to be stored comfortably until they are scheduled to be put together to create modular rooms and buildings on location. They can then be held until it is convenient for the installations to be transported to the final construction sites. This practice is advantageous compared to more traditional building works as it offers an absence of weather conditions and an environment that affords efficiency and is easily controlled, as well as being safer for staff.
To further illustrate the quality that can be fashioned in such a setting, the company is currently finishing a contract it was awarded last spring for the construction of 37 affordable apartments that are being installed in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. The units will make up a section of the city's affordable housing programme that formed the cornerstone of the city council's recent manifesto. Commenting on the project, Lembit says: “It is the most interesting project that we are undertaking at present. Given the nature of the programme there was a lot of competition and we are proud that our bid to participate was successful.”
He is equally proud of the company's increasing regard for developing and building in a way that is increasing sympathetic to the environment. There has been an increasing importance placed on the use on effective ventilation and insulation systems as well as high performance windows and other energy saving equipment, such as heat exchangers. “While it has become something of a topical issue, Kodumaja has been working in this direction for many years, for example we have commissioned housing pilot schemes in Estonia that have cut energy consumption in half. We are committed to developing further products and practices because they
will become even more important in the future,” Lembit comments.
It is a future that looks extremely promising for the company. Such an outlook is given further credibility by a further new factory that is set to open in the North of Russia to take advantage of the wealth that the region's vast reserves of gas are creating. While the facility will start off on a small scale, it has the potential to be expanded and could yet play an important role in realising Lembit's vision of turning Kodumaja into the leading player in the pan-European housing pre-fabrication industry. Looking to the future, he concludes: “I am very proud of the team we have at the company, we are all very ambitious. I believe that it is realistic to aim to become the best building factory in the whole of Europe. That might not sound possible, but when you take into account the already existing strengths and huge capacity, it is more than attainable.”
Kodumaja builds houses alongside other construction companies and real estate developers as well as independently and strives to produce a wide array of houses and apartments to cater for a variety of tastes. While the styles greatly differ from one another they all share the ability to catch the eye. It is this diversity that Lembit Lump, the company's chairman, believes sets it apart from some of the competition in the marketplace. “One of the main differences between us and other similar companies is the flexibility we offer, they are focused on a certain type of house or module.
“That is not ideal for architects as they are artists and are not comfortable with so many limitations. We welcome new ideas and are committed taking visions and putting them into practice, one of Kodumaja's major strengths is that all of our houses are very different and custom designed. The fact that we are also located in a geographical region that offers cost advantages also helps us, but that is not to say
that we are the cheapest option. The cost to quality ratio that we offer is up there with the best - they are not my words but the words of our clients,” he says.
That quality has seen the demand for the company's products soar in recent years. This, alongside the desire to expand into new markets, saw the company significantly expand its main factory in Tartu, Estonia almost two years ago. “Today the facility has about 23,000 sq m of storage and production space,” Lembit says. “We have been able to triple our capacity with the build, which we had to do if we were toachieve our targets of serving more customers in other regions. Before the facility was constructed we were focused almost solely on the Norwegian sector and while we wanted to continue to serve those clients, we also wanted to expand into Denmark Finland and Sweden - this has enabled us to do just that.”
The facility and its capabilities are truly impressive to behold. Its scale allows for masses of carefully sourced materials to be stored comfortably until they are scheduled to be put together to create modular rooms and buildings on location. They can then be held until it is convenient for the installations to be transported to the final construction sites. This practice is advantageous compared to more traditional building works as it offers an absence of weather conditions and an environment that affords efficiency and is easily controlled, as well as being safer for staff.
To further illustrate the quality that can be fashioned in such a setting, the company is currently finishing a contract it was awarded last spring for the construction of 37 affordable apartments that are being installed in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. The units will make up a section of the city's affordable housing programme that formed the cornerstone of the city council's recent manifesto. Commenting on the project, Lembit says: “It is the most interesting project that we are undertaking at present. Given the nature of the programme there was a lot of competition and we are proud that our bid to participate was successful.”
He is equally proud of the company's increasing regard for developing and building in a way that is increasing sympathetic to the environment. There has been an increasing importance placed on the use on effective ventilation and insulation systems as well as high performance windows and other energy saving equipment, such as heat exchangers. “While it has become something of a topical issue, Kodumaja has been working in this direction for many years, for example we have commissioned housing pilot schemes in Estonia that have cut energy consumption in half. We are committed to developing further products and practices because they
will become even more important in the future,” Lembit comments.
It is a future that looks extremely promising for the company. Such an outlook is given further credibility by a further new factory that is set to open in the North of Russia to take advantage of the wealth that the region's vast reserves of gas are creating. While the facility will start off on a small scale, it has the potential to be expanded and could yet play an important role in realising Lembit's vision of turning Kodumaja into the leading player in the pan-European housing pre-fabrication industry. Looking to the future, he concludes: “I am very proud of the team we have at the company, we are all very ambitious. I believe that it is realistic to aim to become the best building factory in the whole of Europe. That might not sound possible, but when you take into account the already existing strengths and huge capacity, it is more than attainable.”
