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Technology and top research boost sustainable indoor conditions – Halton and Granlund export Finnish expertise to the Middle East

There is a demand for Finnish indoor air expertise in the Middle East market. Our technological solutions are energy efficient and improve the quality of indoor air in hot conditions. The results of Finnish indoor air research are utilized in ensuring health safety.

In recent years, the GCC area has seen a huge growth in construction and real estate. Dozens of hotels, shopping centres and office high-rises are being developed in the Dubai area alone. With the fast increase in built environment, the need for healthy and sustainably produced indoor air is growing.

As the temperature in Dubai rises to over 40 degrees for more than half of year, 60–70% of the energy used in buildings goes to cooling. This creates a huge demand for constantly developing ventilation solutions that reduce the energy usage and, at the same time, provide healthy and comfortable indoor conditions.

Optimal indoor air supports healthy people and planet

Indoor air quality is directly linked to people’s comfort, health and productivity. “Since we spend most of the time indoors, high-quality indoor air is a must, not a choice”, states Azzam Hunjul, Managing Director at Halton Middle East.

High quality indoor air and energy efficiency go hand in hand. “As we ensure people’s wellbeing, we also need to pay attention to the planet we are living on. One should not be at the cost of the other.”

Halton and Granlund provide energy efficient technology

The Middle East market is welcoming prominent Finnish companies that offer energy saving solutions, such as global technology leader in indoor air solutions, Halton, and the leading Finnish MEP designer, Granlund.

One of Halton’s solutions is a smart and adjustable ventilation system for restaurants and other professional kitchen facilities. The system reduces the exhaust air flow by up to 64%, which brings significant savings in energy cost and CO2 emissions.

Granlund also focuses on solutions that increase both energy efficiency and indoor air quality. For example, with cloud-based facility management software Granlund Manager, it is easy to optimize the building’s energy consumption as well as monitor the indoor conditions, such as the amount of air, temperature and CO2 level, in real-time.

“Timely and systematic building maintenance also secures optimal indoor conditions for the users of the building”, says Pasi Oksanen, Customer relations Director at Granlund.

Clean air is also a safety issue

With COVID-19, the demand for health safety has reached a whole new level. One of the key issues in preventing and fighting airborne viruses is ventilation.

“Effective ventilation and high-quality air filtering solutions help minimize the spreading of viruses in the indoor environments”, says Piia Sormunen, Industry Professor at Tampere University and Granlund’s Business Development Director.

Research is a platform for innovations and technological solutions

Recently, Finnish research organizations and companies, including Granlund and Halton, launched a 12 M€ research and development project aimed at finding effective ways to prevent the spreading of viruses and other pathogens in indoor environments.

“Finnish top research enables companies to develop technological solutions that ensure healthy and safe indoor air all around the world”, says Piia Sormunen, one of the research coordinators in the E3, Excellence in Pandemic Response and Enterprise Solutions project.

“After all, nobody owns air, but we all need it. That means we have a responsibility to take care of it together”, says Piia Sormunen.

Granlund and Halton at the Dubai 2020 Expo 

Granlund and Halton are part of the Finnish team at the Dubai 2020 Expo. You can find both companies at the Smart Cities area of the Finnish Pavilion.

Finnish-based Halton is a leading global technology provider in indoor air solutions such as ventilation systems, air conditioning, airflow management and air handling. To learn more, please visit Halton.com.

Granlund’s cloud-based property maintenance and energy management tool Granlund Manager is used in over 60,000 properties in 30 countries.