The hallway evolution, a service vestibule was introduced in Yrjö ja Hanna Kodit
Yrjö ja Hanna Kodit is a major Finnish housing developer
The Yrjö and Hanna Foundation, which is a Finnish housing developer and provider of care services with more than 20 years of experience, immediately surprises with its size: it is among the five largest companies operating in the field in Finland. Yrjö and Hanna offers homes for different life stages and situations: right-of-occupancy housing for all ages, rental housing for seniors and service housing for the elderly and other special groups.
Homes and buildings are designed to last: you can live in them for the rest of your life. That is why we want to invest in quality. Petri Kokkonen, the foundation’s CEO, mentions that although they invest in quality and development, the foundation’s structure allows the rent paid by residents to withstand a critical review.
Services according to the need of the resident
In Yrjö ja Hanna Kodit, all living is accompanied by a service. There is a model of service housing, in which pre-produced care services are an integral part of housing, as well as a model in which residents are free to choose what kind of services they want to use as a complement to their housing experience. The aim was to make services that change according to the life situation possible for all residents, and it was therefore important to ensure that it was safe to buy services. The result of the development work was the hallway evolution, a service-oriented vestibule.
One4all Finland Oy was responsible for its technical implementation. The concept enables the resident to choose the service providers that are suitable for him or her, for example, to agree on the time of delivery directly with the producers. In this case, the foundation acts as an enabler of the service and an ecosystem platform.
New service concept: service vestibule
One4all has followed the development of the service concept with particularly warm interest, so it is great to hear that the service-oriented vestibule has received a lot of positive feedback from residents. And while it’s a new concept for people, it’s still perceived as easy to use and safe.
The concept will continue to offer a wide range of applications: for example, the refrigerator will be successfully installed in the service area, thus giving the resident access to a cold storage space.
Particularly inspiring from the perspective of housing service development is that the ecosystem of housing services has grown naturally through end-user activity: the ecosystem of service providers in the house is joined at the invitation of the end-user. The method is exceptional and implements a truly user-oriented development of housing services.
How to develop in an industry known for its slowness?
Petri Kokkonen states that various cost optimization challenges slow down the introduction of new innovations in the field. Decision making is also often slow. According to his observations, the best place for the development of the sector is to be an ARA player, especially if he wants to contribute to social renewal. As an interesting phenomenon that develops the entire industry, he also mentions the spearhead projects of construction companies, in which new innovations are widely introduced.
Although the production of a wide range of consumption data for residents through different platforms has failed, Petri calls for them and can be found in the world of the music industry or mobile phones, for example. Both have experienced several development cycles that have shaken the industry and user experience.
In addition, the needs of the residents are changing rapidly as life situations develop. In the middle of them, we are now more prepared, for example, to share different spaces, if they have functionally meaningful and inviting solutions. Petri cites the condominiums’ gyms as a good example of this.
According to him, the solutions related to the circular economy are slower, but they are still inevitable, and in these real estate can provide its residents in the future with an efficient environment for changing their own consumption and recycling habits, for example.
