From a construction perspective, the Hietamankoski fishway is a 125-metre-long reinforced steel bridge structure consisting of a lower pool and an upper pool, connected in-between by a vertical-slot section, where water flows more slowly through resting pools. The project was particularly challenging because the fishway was to be constructed in a small space between the power plant’s lower channel and diversion aqueduct. Some of the work was carried out at height. Due to a lack of space and the environmental topography, the fishway consists entirely of technical concrete-structured sections. Some of the fishway rests on pillars and some are ground-supported. The lowest quarter of the fishway is partly constructed underneath the water surface in an excavated canal.

Construction work on the project began in April 2019 and the fishway was taken into use in spring 2020. The cost estimate totalled 2.4 million euros, and construction of the fishway received support from the EU’s Freshabit LIFE IP project and government key project funding. Vattenfall Oy was responsible for all other costs.

The same project included the construction of the fishway at Leuhunkoski in Saarijärvi. Engineering began in September 2019 and construction started in 2020. The construction of the two fishways aims above all at restoring the endangered lake trout’s migration route to the Saarijärvi route. Several other species of fish will also be able to use the fishways.

Fimpec as a fishway construction manager

Fimpec Oy acted as construction management consultant and safety coordinator for the Hietamankoski fishway project and has been involved in the project since the engineering phase, which began back in summer 2018. Fimpec’s responsibility was to manage the project’s engineering, carry out construction management and construction supervision, and to complete safety coordinator tasks.

Fimpec also took on the same roles in the construction of the Leuhunkoski fishway.

All news