Sitowise has acquired Paloässät Oy, a design agency that specializes in fire protection engineering.The merger is both a natural continuation to long-term cooperation and a response to customers’ growing need for specialist expertise on the back of construction trends.

Paloässät’s twenty-plus experts will transfer to Sitowise to supplement the company’s existing expertise in fire protection engineering and its overall service package. Together, Sitowise and Paloässät will form the largest specialist design agency for the built environment, offering a unique blend of extensive specialist expertise all across Finland.

“We want to provide our customers with the best possible service experience and a broad range of services that will meet all the needs of a prosperous living environment. When joining forces with another company, it’s vital to have a strong, shared vision of future service development. Paloässät’s customer-oriented approach, combined with its significant specialist expertise, will give Sitowise plenty of opportunities to provide its customers with even better service,” says Timo Palonkoski, Business Director, Building Solutions at Sitowise.

The acquisition is also a response to new customer needs arising from changing trends in the construction industry. The professionals employed by Paloässät and Sitowise will come together to form a nationwide unit specializing in fire protection engineering. Combined with rock construction, structural design, acoustics and technical building systems, it will form a unique package.

In line with current construction trends, there has been an increase in both wooden and hybrid construction and high-rise and underground construction, which is in turn increasing our customers’ need for both demanding specialist expertise and the ability to combine that expertise. Together with Paloässät, we’ll be responding to this identified need while also focusing on flexibility and high-quality service in all kinds of projects. 

Timo Palonkoski, Business Director, Sitowise

Paloässät and Sitowise are old partners, as they have already carried out more than a hundred projects together.  For more than ten years, they have been cooperating on demanding underground construction projects and challenging technical building systems.

“We’ve successfully cooperated on many joint projects. Paloässät’s core concept is to work with our customers to find the best methods for designing fire protection engineering solutions for demanding construction projects. At Sitowise, everything revolves around customer service. I believe that, as part of Sitowise, we will increase both our competitiveness and the competence of our existing and future experts. We now have the chance to develop our fire protection engineering expertise with a familiar partner, as part of Sitowise’s diverse offering. This is a great opportunity for us both,” says Sami Hämäläinen, founder and CEO of Paloässät.

As a result of the transaction, Paloässät’s owners Jere Sulkama, Joni Kinnunen, Sami Hämäläinen, Arttu Sjöstedt and Anssi Kuhlman will become Sitowise shareholders. Paloässät’s 20 top experts will transfer to Sitowise as existing employees, and all of the company’s contracts and customers will also be transferred to Sitowise.

For further information, please contact:

Timo Palonkoski, Business Director, Sitowise
+358 40 833 0265, timo.palonkoski@sitowise.com

Sami Hämäläinen, CEO, Paloässät
+358 50 436 4358, sami.hamalainen@paloassat.fi

Sitowise is a Nordic expert in digital solutions and the built environment. We design smart cities and living spaces in which daily life is organized on a sustainable footing. We operate in three business areas: buildings, infrastructure and digital solutions. Every day, almost 1,900 experts in different fields join forces to ensure that transport, infrastructure and buildings provide the best framework for safe and easy living. We want to raise the bar when it comes to smart solutions and sustainability, which is why our vision is to be a responsible partner in the development of a prosperous living environment. Sitowise has grown rapidly and profitably in recent years, and the Group’s net sales currently total about EUR 160 million. Sitowise’s head office is located in Espoo and Pekka Eloholma is the Group’s CEO. The company is owned by 200 key employees and a private equity investor, Intera Partners.www.sitowise.com

Paloässät Oy is a design agency that specializes in fire protection engineering. The company was established in 2009 and employs more than twenty design professionals. Paloässät has carried out a total of 3,000 design projects all across the country, and has also been actively involved in developing fire protection engineering expertise in Finland.www.paloassat.fi