Learning, continuity and growth

60-year old UKI’s CEO Mikko Heikkinen reflects on the past, the present and the future of the company.

What can we learn about the past?

UKI Arkkitehdit is a family business, and while being at it, we’ve learned how important our values and actions are. Our values have always been at the heart of everything we do. We appreciate perseverance instead of looking to make a quick buck.

It is certain we have learned something, as our office keeps receiving new projects and the number of employees grows steadily. I believe we’re in a progress of learning even more. This is an on-going process where we constantly compare our business operations to the demands of the society, our customers and other important stakeholders. We need to be ready to update our processes when necessary.

What is important right now?

I’d say it’s assuring continuity. It’s essential that our office’s partners and our personnel share the company’s values and principles. Simultaneously we need to ensure that UKI stays competitive and constantly evolves.

We’re in a middle of transition, we have an opportunity to grow and the company’s situation looks positive. There will be challenges, that is certain. One of them is that we need more professionals in our team.

What will the future bring us?

We want to be an even stronger entity in our field. We strive for growth in all of our design areas. We have identified growth possibilities particularly in the Helsinki area.

In the future, one major factor will be climate change. It will certainly affect our field, too, but how exactly? What kind of solutions will it require? I don’t have the answers now, but we will closely monitor this issue and strive to provide positive solutions.