Construction site foreman Leo Nurminen
Construction technology is more advanced in Finland than it is in Russia, but the basic principles of building are the same in both countries. Finns trust in Russian ability only when it has been proven, however. If the work goes well prejudice against Russian builders disappears.
Leo Nurminen, who is an Ingrian Finn and 36, is supervising the construction work on a site for a block of flats going up in Helsinki. He has worked for YIT as a site foreman for two years.
“I start work at 7 a.m. and I delegate jobs to the builders. During the day I go round and make sure everything is going right.”
Nurminen does planning work, orders materials and maintains contact with the subcontractors. The work on site varies, depending on what stage the project is at. The agreed timetable is broken down into three-weekly, weekly and daily targets. Once a week there is a planning meeting. Nurminen goes to the meetings and talks on the telephone.
“There are always different professionals and different kinds of skills on any construction site. Every employee has to do the very job he knows best. An experienced foreman knows how good someone’s skills are, can organise the work and motivate the workers.”
“Building technology is developing all the time. A professional has to keep up-to-date.”
Nurminen studied to be a construction engineer at St Petersburg State Technical University, and was a master builder in Russia. In Finland the construction engineer’s qualification was the equivalent of a Master of Science in Engineering, but his poor level of Finnish slowed down his access to work which he was qualified to do.
Nurminen studied Finnish for a few months and did various jobs in construction for three years. He started work as a welder and moulder, later on got a job as a supervisor, did engineering work estimating contracts and finally got to be a site foreman.
Both of his grandmothers are Ingrian. His mother’s mother lived in Finland during the war, then returned to Estonia, and later moved back to her native city of St Petersburg. His father’s mother spent 10 years in Siberia, before she could go back to Ingria. At home his family spoke only Russian.
“At my grandmother’s I heard the Finnish language, but I didn’t really learn it. Here my knowledge of the language has improved, but I don’t know the everyday expressions as well as the professional vocabulary. It’s easier to speak about construction drawings that to order food in a restaurant”.
Nurminen moved to Espoo five years ago, and 18 months later his wife and daughter arrived. Before moving to Finland Nurminen had close contact with the country.
“I went to Finland to pick straw berries during two summers and I had two holidays here with my wife. It was on those trips that we thought about moving to Finland.”
Text and photograph: Anu Likonen, Jukka Vuolle and Nanni Akkola
The Ministry of Employment and the Economy