negotiations were terminated. Simultaneously the Building Committee decided to ask
Ahti whether his new bid was still valid.^669
The legal adviser of the Federation, Armas Kataja, participated in the next meeting
of the Building Committee a few days later. The Committee found that no agreement
had been reached with Tektor, the Committee members had continued negotiations
with Arvi Ahti, and the contractor had lowered his bid to FIM 3.995 million. The
Committee solicited the Board to sign the contract with Arvi Ahti.^670 The Board
accepted the proposal “because it was feasible”. A recent closing of accounts of Ahti’s
company was presented at the meeting.^671
With this procedure, the three companies who had submitted lower bids than
Arvi Ahti were also dismissed. The minutes do not reveal whether any negotiations
were arranged with them. The Helsinki-based Tektor, which operated all over Finland,
was a significant contractor with experience in different types of projects, ranging
from industrial buildings for notable companies and schools to multi-storey apart-
ment buildings.^672 In several of these buildings, modern concrete techniques had
been applied and mushroom columns had been used, for example, in a warehouse in
Helsinki (1929) built for the OTK, a cooperative wholesale company.^673
The construction of the reinforced concrete frame was to commence without delay
and the work was to be completed by the end of November. The frame construction
was based on architectural drawings, of which there were 12, as well as a work spec-
ification. In addition, the contractor had special and full-scale drawings, which were
based on the aforementioned documents and were made after the contract was signed.
The scope of the work was defined in the work specification. In the event that the
master drawings contained any discrepancies, the client was to decide which drawing
should be applied. The contractor was to check the material volumes from the structural
calculations. According to the work specification, the contractor was to adhere to the
construction methods as provided in the drawings, and was not allowed to alter their
structural nature. Supervisors appointed by the developer, Aalto and Henriksson, were
to be treated as fully authorised representatives of the client.
The contract agreement required that the contractor employed mainly work-
ers based in Southwest Finland. Local workforce was to be at least 90 percent of
the total workforce. The cement, bricks and other materials used in the reinforced
concrete frame construction were to be produced in Finland.^674 Emil Henriksson’s
669 Building Committee June 12, 1930, Section 5. PSA.
670 Building Committee June 17, 1930, Section 1. PSA.
671 Building Board August 21, 1930, Sections 12 and 14. PSA.
672 References to Tektor from the late 1920s were also listed in an advertisement published in Suomen arkkitehtiliiton
rakennusteknillinen käsikirja SARK (Construction Technical Handbook of the Finnish Association of Architects).
Harmia ed. 1937, p. 20.
673 The building is located in Katajanokka, Helsinki. Heikinheimo et al., Ark-byroo architects, 2012.
674 Contract between the Building Board and construction manager Arvi Ahti for the erection of the reinforced concrete
skeleton of the main building of the sanatorium June 17, 1930. Work and contractor contracts 1929–1951. PSA.