OP Financial Group’s South Karelia Branch

Description of the project: OP Financial Group’s South Karelia branch, Lappeenranta

The eight-storey main office of the OP Financial Group’s South Karelia branch in the heart of Lappeenranta in eastern Finland was completed in 2018, and it is heated and cooled by ItuGraf radiant ceiling panels. The customer chose the ItuGraf system because of its cutting-edge technical qualities, but the decision was also supported by previous positive experiences of the heating and cooling system supplied by Itula for the OP Financial Group headquarters in Vallila, Helsinki.

- Our decision was first and foremost influenced by the competitive price and excellent technical properties of ItuGraf. The system has met our expectations for the building’s heating and cooling properties when the staff are in the building. Moreover, we were more than pleased with Itula’s system in the OP Financial Group headquarters in Vallila, so that too supported our decision to go with ItuGraf. Working with Itula has been a breeze and the installation phase has gone smoothly, says CEO of OP Financial Group’s South Karelia branch Petri Krohns.

Sami Toikkanen, Service Specialist at the OP Financial Group’s South Karelia branch, sheds more light on the building’s special characteristics and the challenges they pose for the heating and cooling system, “A substantial portion of the building is covered with glass. The windows, which extend from floor to ceiling, require a cooling and heating system with advanced technical properties. Thanks to ItuGraf, we have been able to maintain a comfortable temperature level in both the summer and the winter, and the energy consumption remains reasonable.”

- One of the most important benefits of the panels, and one of the main reasons we chose them, is the absence of drafts when the system is in use. Staff working in the current Lappeenranta office complained of drafts, so that problem was definitely something we wanted to eliminate when we planned the new building. At the same time, we acknowledged that the new office had to be fitted with a cooling system. ItuGraf provides both heating and cooling with one system. The panels fit seamlessly in the modern building and suspended ceiling structure, which gives the system the perfect finished look, Sami concludes.