Mikenti Talotekniikka trains future HVAC professionals

Marko Pärssinen, Director of HVAC installations at Mikenti Talotekniikka, confirms that trainees are an important part of the site team. Marko is himself an active educational officer in the Central Uusimaa Plumbing and Heating Association. The association supports the study of building services engineering by, among other things, distributing Keuda (Central Uusimaa Consortium of Schools and Colleges) with 2 scholarships and other educational institutions with 2 scholarships.

– We have a very good cooperation with Keuda in Mikenti Talotekniikka. Through them, several young people studying to become HVAC fitters join us every year, and we have a few trainees at different sites almost all the time, says Marko Pärssinen.

Teacher Eetu Eskelinen is responsible for developing the building services engineering curriculum at Keuda in cooperation with other teachers. Keuda is also active in international Erasmus student exchanges.

– Work placements are a central part of the curriculum. The sector is in constant need of new talent and internships in the field are key. Working life partners like Mikenti Talotekniika are needed. As well as at home, more and more people are interested in doing a traineeship abroad. In April, three people from our building services department will be going to the Netherlands for a five-week exchange.

Traineeships provide practical working life skills

Mikenti Talotekniikka is responsible for the HVAC contracting in a new housing project under construction in Jakomäki, Helsinki. The project consists of three buildings with a total of 72 homes. The developer is Avain Rakennuttaja Oy and the construction contractor is Tencon Oy. Two students from Keuda are working on the site. Alex Pinsel is a second-year student of HVAC installation.

– I started at the beginning of January and the traineeship will end at the end of March. I got into a team with good advisors. More experienced workers have shown me what to do. You just have to come with good motivation and be positively involved, Alex concludes.

One of Keuda’s partners is the French vocational school BTP CFA Centre Val de Loir. This year Keuda started a cooperation with them in the field of building services engineering. The first French trainee can be found at the site in Jakomäki. Melvyn da Cunha, who is studying to become a plumber, will spend three weeks learning about vocational training in Finland.

– I don’t speak much English, so the language is a bit of a problem, but the fitters have shown me how things work here. It’s interesting to see different techniques, some things are done differently in Finland than in France. Also, the (plumbing) installer can install different things. In France, there are much clearer boundaries of can be done, i.e. one person only installs pipes, another installs air conditioning and another installs heating systems.

Trainees are an important help on site

Jari Koponen, who has been working at Mikenti Talotekniikka for 15 years, is the team leader on the site.

– Trainees are a familiar sight here. Some may think that familiarisation takes time, but the benefits are greater. Of course, it always depends on the guy and whether he is motivated and interested in the field. I myself have been a trainee in my time. It makes it easier for a young person to get a permanent job when they first get their foot in the door, Jari sums up.

Pictured: Jari Koponen, Marko Pärssinen, Paavo Kallioniemi and trainees Melvyn da Cunha and Alex Pinsel.

For more information:

Marko Pärssinen, HVAC Director, Mikenti Talotekniikka Oy, marko.parssinen@qmg.fi, tel. +358 44 588 4994