YIT Oyj is a diversified Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

-based company

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

, headquartered in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

, which provides a range of services, mainly to other businesses. YIT's operations span three main business divisions: Building and Industrial Services provides maintenance and management services for residential property and physical plant

Physical plant

Physical plant or mechanical plant refers to the necessary infrastructure used in support and maintenance of a given facility. The operation of these facilities, or the department of an organization which does so, is called "plant operations" or facility management...

s; while the Construction Services Finland and International Construction Services units build housing

House

A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

, large-scale infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

 and amenities

Amenity

In real property and lodging, amenities are any tangible or untangible benefits of a property, especially those that increase its attractiveness or value or that contribute to its comfort or convenience...

. Almost all of YIT's business is conducted in the Nordic countries

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

, the Baltic countries

Baltic countries

The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

.

History

The origins of YIT can be traced back to 1912, when Sweden's

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 General Engineering Company established a subsidiary in Finland, initially to operate in the water supply sector. The Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

 translation of the group's title, Yleinen Insinööritoimisto, is the source of the name YIT. The first project undertaken by the new company was the construction of a water tower

Water tower

A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....

 in Porvoo

Porvoo

Porvoo is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately east of Helsinki. Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century...

. The firm's field of operation was gradually broadened over the following decades, but it was not until the 1970s that the company moved beyond the civil engineering

Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

 sector into construction of building

Building

In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...

s (including residential property) and industrial works. In September 1987, Yleinen Insinööritoimisto merged

Mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...

 with rival Finnish contractor

General contractor

A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...

 Perusyhtymä Oy, creating YIT-Yhtymä (YIT Corporation). Since the merger, YIT's growth into new sectors has been aided by several acquisitions: in 1995, the piping

Piping

Within industry, piping is a system of pipes used to convey fluids from one location to another. The engineering discipline of piping design studies the efficient transport of fluid....

 design and maintenance specialist Oy Huber AB was acquired, the same year that the company's shares

Share (finance)

A joint stock company divides its capital into units of equal denomination. Each unit is called a share. These units are offered for sale to raise capital. This is termed as issuing shares. A person who buys share/shares of the company is called a shareholder, and by acquiring share or shares in...

 were listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange

Helsinki Stock Exchange

The Helsinki Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Helsinki, Finland. Since 3 September 2003 it has been part of OMX, referred to as OMX Helsinki . Since NASDAQ's acquisition of OMX in February 2008, the official name of the Helsinki exchange has been NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.- History :The...

, and the Swedish pipeline

Pipeline transport

Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....

 installation and maintenance firm Calor AB and its Finnish subsidiary

Subsidiary

A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...

 were purchased in 2001. These additions assisted a wider move into the industrial upkeep and maintenance market. Primatel, the network construction and maintenance arm of the telecommunications firm Sonera

TeliaSonera

TeliaSonera AB is the dominant telephone company and mobile network operator in Sweden and Finland. The company has operations in other countries in Northern, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Spain, with a total of 150 million mobile customers...

, was added in 2002, and a year later the building systems concerns of ABB in Russia and the Nordic and Baltic regions were acquired, further increasing YIT's presence in the service sector. In 2008 and 2010 YIT has continued expanding its operations into Central Europe.

Current activities

YIT's recent acquisitions have seen the company increase markedly in size - both the company's revenue

Revenue

In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....

 and workforce

Workforce

The workforce is the labour pool in employment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic region like a city, country, state, etc. The term generally excludes the employers or management, and implies those involved in...

 more than trebled in the ten years to 2007, making YIT the largest construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

 company in Finland and the largest supplier of building systems services in the Nordic region by sales. This growth is also reflected in the scope of YIT's business: long-term servicing and maintenance contracts for items such as steam boilers

Boiler

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

, piping, heating, plumbing and electricity networks and water treatment

Water treatment

Water treatment describes those processes used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use as drinking water, industrial processes, medical and many other uses. The goal of all water treatment process is to remove existing contaminants in the water, or reduce the...

 plants now account for over a quarter of annual revenues. The Construction Services division, building homes, water and waste

Sewage treatment

Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...

 treatment plants and infrastructure ranging from railway station

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

s to golf course

Golf course

A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...

s remains the group's largest source of revenue as of the end of 2006.

Notable projects

YIT was the main contractor for the Pekka Helin-designed annex to the Finnish Parliament building

Eduskuntatalo

Parliament House is the seat of the Parliament of Finland. It is located in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, in the district of Töölö.-History:In 1923 a competition was held to choose a site for a new Parliament House...

, the Pikkuparlamentti

Pikkuparlamentti

The Finnish Parliament Annex is a building in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. It houses offices for about one hundred members of the Parliament of Finland. The building was built in 2004 and the design comes from the winning entry of a design competition held from 1998 to 2000...

 (Little Parliament), which was inaugurated in 2004. It was also responsible for the construction of the Cirrus

Cirrus (building)

Cirrus is a high-rise cooperative apartment building in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Cirrus is the tallest building in Finland with a height of 86 meters . The building, which is located in Vuosaari in East Helsinki, has 28 floors and 140 apartments...

 apartment building in Vuosaari

Vuosaari

Vuosaari is a neighbourhood in the City of Helsinki, Finland. It is located by the sea in East Helsinki, and with its area of 15.38 km² is geographically the largest district in the city. It also has two Helsinki Metro stations, Rastila and Vuosaari...

, East Helsinki

East Helsinki

East Helsinki is an area in Helsinki, Finland, usually thought to comprise the city's eastern and south-eastern major districts , including the districts of Vartiokylä, Myllypuro, Mellunkylä, Vuosaari, Herttoniemi, Laajasalo and Kulosaari...

, which was completed in 2007. Cirrus is currently the tallest high-rise building in Finland. Other major projects built by the company include the Helsinki Fair Centre

Helsinki Fair Centre

The Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre is the biggest and most famous fair centre in Finland. It is located in the capital city of Helsinki....

 and the Töölö

Töölö

Töölö is the collective name for the neighbourhoods Etu-Töölö and Taka-Töölö in Helsinki, Finland. The neighbourhoods are located next to the city centre, occupying the western side of the Helsinki Peninsula....

 opera house, home of the Finnish National Opera

Finnish National Opera

The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties...

.

Critics

In Bani Walid

Bani Walid

Bani Walid or Ben Walid, prior to 2007, was one of the districts of Libya. In the 2007 administrative reorganization the territory formerly in Bani Walid District was transferred to Misrata District.Bani Walid bordered the following districts:...

in Libya, YIT constructed in silence a military factory in 1983. Company changed its name from Perusyhtymä to YIT in 1987. “Ompelukonetehdas” autiomaassa, Suomalaiset rakensivat kaikessa hiljaisuudessa miljardin markan asetehtaan Libyaan, Helsingin Sanomat 28.8.1994

40 residents made complaints of ammonia observed in YIT residential constructions in St. Petersburg in September 2011. Russians add ammonia to concrete in the winter construction.