Concepts and definitions
- Building
A building refers to any independent structure permanently constructed or erected on its site. It has its own entrance and contains covered space intended for different purposes, usually enclosed within outer walls or walls separating it from other structures (buildings).
Caves and other subterranean spaces which are mainly enclosed within rock or similar walls and/or which do not contain structures comparable to the interior structures of buildings proper, for example underground oil tanks, are not buildings.
Stalls, kiosks, etc. that do not contain space separated by closed walls, and transportable caravans, ships, etc. are not classified as buildings.
The building stock statistics do not include:
- free-time residences
- buildings intended for storing liquids
- buildings used only in agricultural production
- sauna buildings belonging to residential buildings
- outhouses of residential buildings
- buildings entirely controlled by foreign missions
- buildings of the Armed Forces
- air raid shelters
The data on buildings come from the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre.
- Building material
The building material refers to the material from which the vertical supporting structures of the building are mainly made. The classification is as follows:
- concrete, light concrete
- brick
- steel
- wood
- other, unknown.
- Building permit
A building permit is a licence to build which is issued in accordance with the Land Use Act and the Planning and Construction Act and is granted by the municipal building control or environmental control authority dependent on the size of the building project. A notification must be made of all building projects subject to a building permit, and statistics on building and dwelling production are compiled from the information in these notifications.
Projects subject to a building permit comprise construction of a new building, construction of an annex, repairs and alterations comparable to the construction of a new building, extension of a building or increase of the space included in its floor area, and essential change of the purpose of use of a building or part of a building.
- Building production
Building production refers to the production of buildings subject to a building permit as a result of which buildings are created for different purposes of use.
- Completed building
A building has been completed once a municipal building control official has conducted a commissioning inspection of it and entered the date of the inspection into the Population Register Centre's building and dwelling register (on form RH5).
- Cubic capacity of a building
The cubic capacity of a building is calculated in accordance with the Finnish Standards Association's standard SFS 2460, RT 120.12.
- Dwelling
A dwelling refers to a room or a suite of rooms which is intended for year-round habitation; is furnished with a kitchen, kitchenette or cooking area; and has a floor area of at least 7 square metres. Every dwelling must have its own entrance. A single-family house may be entered through an enclosed porch or veranda. If a dwelling is entered through the premises of another dwelling, it is not regarded as a separate dwelling but instead those two constitute one dwelling.
- Dwelling production
Dwelling production refers to building construction subject to a building permit as an outcome of which dwellings, or residential apartments are produced. A dwelling refers to a room or suite of rooms which is intended for year-round habitation, is furnished with a kitchen, kitchenette or cooking area and has a floor area of at least 7 square metres. A dwelling also has its own, direct entrance.
- Facade material
Facade material refers to the material of which most of the facade of a building is made:
- Concrete
- Brick
- Metal cladding
- Stone
- Wood
- Glass
- Other.
- Intended use of building
The intended use of a building is determined according to the purpose for which the largest part of the gross floor area of the building is used. The categories are as follows:
- residential buildings
- commercial buildings
- office buildings
- transport and communications buildings
- health care and social services buildings
- assembly buildings
- educational buildings
- industrial buildings
- warehouses
- fire fighting and rescue services buildings
- other buildings.
The classification of the intended use of buildings is given in Statistics Finland's Handbook Classification of Buildings 1994. Not all the classes in the building classification are included in the Statitics Finland's building stock.
- Method of construction
Method of construction is determined by the main method of construction used for the building frame:
Buildings in which over half of load bearing structures or certain parts of load bearing structures, such as externals walls, are mass produced are referred to as having a prefabricated structure.
Buildings for which load bearing structures are built on site are deemed to have been produced in-situ. Only heating and ventilation ducts, flights of stairs, balconies and bathrooms may be factory-made in a building constructed in-situ.
- Newbuilding
Newbuilding refers to construction subject to a building permit as a result of which a new building or new space to an existing building is created.
- Residential block of flats
A house with at least three dwellings of which at least two are on top of each other.
- Residential building
A building used for dwelling in which the dwelling area makes up at least one-half of the total floor area (Classification of buildings).
- Single-family house
Single-family houses refer to detached houses, semi-detached houses or two-storey houses with two dwellings.
- Started building
A building is recorded as a started building in the Population Register Centre's population information system when a municipal building control authority has completed an initial inspection and entered information about the starting date of building work into the system by filling in form RH5.
- Type of building
Residential buildings are classified according to type of building as follows:
- Detached houses: residential buildings containing 1 to 2 dwellings, including semi-detached houses and other comparable detached residential buildings (e.g. permanently occupied free-time residences)
- Terraced houses: residential buildings with at least three adjoining dwellings
- Blocks of flats: residential buildings of at least three dwellings in which at least two dwellings are located on top of each other and which do not belong to the previous categories
- Other buildings: also includes buildings whose type is unknown.
- Unfinished building
Unfinished buildings refer to buildings on which construction has started but which have not been registered as completed in the Population Register Centre's register of buildings and dwellings at the end of the reference time period.
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF):
Building and dwelling production [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-9590. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 27.5.2012].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ras/kas_en.html.
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