Oskari Vilamo Fund Prize Awarded To Tapani Mäkikyrö, M.Sc. (Tech.)

OSKARI VILAMO FUND PRESS RELEASE         5 NOVEMBER 2015 AT NOON

OSKARI VILAMO FUND PRIZE AWARDED TO TAPANI MÄKIKYRÖ, M.SC. (TECH.)

The Oskari Vilamo Fund, the remit of which is to promote higher research into construction, awards an annual prize for merit in the field of construction. The Oskari Vilamo Fund has conferred this year’s award for merit, a total of EUR 5,000, on Tapani Mäkikyrö, Master of Science (Tech.).

Tapani Mäkikyrö (b. 1948) took his Master of Science (Tech.) degree in 1974 at the University of Oulu, majoring in building construction technology. In 1975–1995, he worked as Managing Director in various engineering offices and as Senior Assistant at the Department of Construction Technology at the University of Oulu, among other positions.

Mäkikyrö’s latest positions include those of the construction supervision office manager and director at the City of Oulu in 1995–2014. In these positions, he has contributed to the creation of the so-called Oulu model, a new type of serving, guiding and value-adding operating model created for construction supervision. The model is gaining a national foothold, and it has received support from, for instance, the Ministry of the Environment, the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT, Tekes and Sitra.

Mäkikyrö has received a great deal of national professional recognition for his work. For instance, he received the title of Rakennusalan diplomi-insinööri (The M.Sc. of the Year in the Construction Industry) in 2004. The grounds for the title were his merits and innovativeness in the development of the construction sector as well as his human approach in all activities. Furthermore, Mäkikyrö was selected Vuoden rakennustarkastaja (The Building Inspector of the Year) in 2005 on the basis of his extensive merits in promoting construction supervision and its goals. Other recognition received by him include, for instance, the RAKEVA award from the Building Information Foundation RTS in 2013 and, as his most recent award, Kosteusturvallisen rakentamisen palkinto (Moisture-Safe Construction Award) in October 2015.

Tapani Mäkikyrö has published many articles in professional periodicals and course publications. In addition, he has held numerous presentations and lectures at various training events and seminars.

Thesis awards for two doctoral dissertations and ten Master’s theses

In addition to the prize awarded for merit, the Oskari Vilamo Fund also presents an award for the best academic dissertation in the field of construction based on a proposal of university professors. This year’s doctoral dissertation prizes have been awarded to Harri Hautajärvi, Doctor of Science (Technology) and Eeva Määttänen, Doctor of Science (Technology). The doctoral dissertation prize is EUR 3,500.

The fund’s Master's thesis prizes have been awarded to Teemu Hall, M.Sc. (Tech.); Otso Helenius, architect; Petteri Huttunen, M.Sc. (Tech.); Jussi-Pekka Matilainen, M.Sc. (Tech.); Laura Nenonen, architect; Henry Niemi, M.Sc. (Tech.); Eija Prittinen, M.Sc. (Tech.); Heidi Salo, M.Sc. (Tech.); Tina Ullrich, architect; and Ida Väänänen, architect. The Master’s thesis prize is EUR 2,000.

Oskari Vilamo Fund – Promoting Construction

The fund, named after Economic Counsellor Oskari Vilamo, is presided over by the Foundation for Economic Education and aims to promote higher-level research into construction. The fund was founded by Lemminkäinen in 1985. This year marks the 30th year an annual award for merit has been made since the awards began in 1986. Master’s thesis awards have been granted since 1993. The fund has issued the award to a total of 46 doctoral dissertations, 20 licentiate theses and 109 Master’s theses, including this year’s prizes.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
OSKARI VILAMO FUND
Secretary to the Advisory Committee Matti Aalto
Tel. +358 (0)400 408 173
matti.aalto@oskarivilamo.fi
www.lemminkainen.fi/oskarivilamo
www.lsr.fi