Finnishcluster - Recreate

August 9, 2024

Tommi Halonen, project manager, City of Tampere, Finland

Sometimes I get asked: ‘Why is the City of Tampere participating in ReCreate, and what is our role in the project?’ It might be much easier to see why a university or a construction company is taking a part in a project where the goal is to (de)construct buildings in a novel way. But what is the city doing in ReCreate, especially when the deconstruction pilot was not a public building? From my viewpoint, cities have in particular the following two roles to play in the circular transformation:

Role 1: developing public processes that enable the implementation of CE solutions.

First, cities have a significant role as regulators in the construction industry. If there are any issues related to public regulation that do not allow reuse or make it extremely bureaucratic, it is impossible or very difficult (or expensive) to create business out of ReCreate or any other circular solution. There are especially two matters that are regulated by the city authorities that are worth paying attention to: (1) implications of waste legislation and (2) product approval practices.

(1) During the ReCreate project, we’ve had multi-stakeholder discourse in Finland about whether reused building parts should be considered as waste or not – some stakeholders opposed, and some supported the waste status. However, at the end, it is the city officers that control the matter and they needed to decide how to proceed with it. I cannot go through all the matters the authorities needed to consider in order to clarify the issue but in brief, the hardest part was to find a balance between environmental protection and excessive (too heavy) bureaucracy. Eventually the authorities were able to clarify their policies so that, in Finland, reused components are not considered as waste when certain pre-requisites are fulfilled. At the time of writing this blog, we’ve also received an official decision that ReCreate elements are not considered as waste. This is a huge development step in the Finnish industry towards circularity.

(2) Another matter the cities regulate is the product approval of reused building components. Unlike new products, the CE (conformité européenne) mark does not apply to reused products. In Finland, the products are approved as part of a so called ‘building site approval process’ that is regulated by the municipal building supervisors. There is no prior experience of the approval process. Consequently, the situation is now very similar to the aforementioned case: city authorities must again develop practices and policies that ensure that essential technical requirements are met when reusing components but are not too burdensome for practitioners to comply with. As I write this blog, we are in the process of discussing these practices with the authorities.

Role 2: creating needed incentives for companies for CE development.

Cities are not only passively enabling the circular transformation, but they can – and they must – actively initiate the change, too. Indeed, me and my colleagues have received feedback from multiple companies stating that due to early stage of the circular development, the industry cannot move to circularity solely with the help of market drivers and market logic. The companies emphasized the need for public initiatives that create incentives for circular development. Cities have at their disposal policy instrument that can create this market push. The most notable instruments are (1) public procurements and (2) plot handovers.

(1) During the project, we have had multiple meetings and workshops with the leaders of the city so that Tampere could incorporate reuse to future procurements and building projects. Sooner or later, reuse of building components will break through to public procurements and when it does, it will have a significant impact on the market.

(2) Another policy instrument that can initiate change is the plot handover process. In Finland, municipalities are the biggest landowners in urban areas. Traditionally, sustainability or circularity goals have not been part of the handover processes. However, in 2022 the City of Tampere initiated an all-time first circular plot competition. It was a success with nearly 20 building proposals and applications and received a lot of positive attention in general as well as in professional media. Many cities got inspired and wanted to repeat the circular competition. What we decided to do with my colleagues was to launch a working group, the goal of which was to create upgraded and unified circular criteria for the municipalities. Around 30 experts worked on the criteria for a year, and after receiving feedback in different workshops and seminars, we were able publicize the criteria at the beginning of this year. Now, we are keen to see the impact that the criteria will create when the cities are starting to include them to their plot handovers and competitions.

All in all, while this blog is not an exhaustive list of all the role the cities have in the circular transformation, I do hope that I was able make the case that cities are one of the major players enabling the transition. Indeed, for me personally, it is very difficult to see how the industry could make the transition to the circular economy on a large scale if the cities are not developing public policies and processes to promote circularity.

by ReCreate project

March 15, 2024

Inari Weijo, business development manager (refurbishment), Ramboll Finland

During my master’s thesis work over 15 years ago, I familiarised myself with precast production and its history in Finland. After that, precast concrete has been playing a role in one way or another in my work career. Many projects have involved either repairing precast concrete buildings or building new ones. Since the 1970’s, precast concrete production has formed a significant part of the Finnish construction sector. The systematic and ‘simple’ method provided a standardized way to build, and it quickly became very widespread. The precast concrete system has been criticized for producing a unified stock of buildings, reducing versatility in urban environment and suppressing designers’ creativity. Since the early days, though, the technique spread to erecting ever more complex and monumental buildings. It has been foundational for providing a fast and trusted way for building construction in Finland. There are thousands and thousands of precast concrete buildings here, and some of them are already slated for demolition. A part of the buildings suffers from degradation, but many are just mislocated from today’s point of view.

Figure 1. Finnish deconstruction pilot in Tampere, building vacated before the deconstruction of elements for reuse.

I believe that technical know-how is essential for creativity and enables responsible and sustainable construction. We must be more aware of our decisions’ environmental impacts when building new. Architects’ and engineers’ creativity is ever more challenged as we must prioritize sustainability values. Knowing the technical limitations and possibilities is crucial, so that creativity can be unleashed in the right place at the right time, and adverse uncertainties can be eliminated. Building new is inevitable in the future too, but we need to redefine ‘new’. We must apply regenerative thinking, create net positive solutions and aim for more ambitious circularity. The actions we undertake should have a positive impact on nature and the environment so that instead of consuming it, they restore and revive it. This is a leading value for Ramboll.

Figure 2. Regenerative approach to construction. Image source: Ramboll.

The prevalence of precast technology and the aim for a regenerative effect on environment are two leading thoughts that that drive our ambition here at Ramboll to examine and challenge the present business as usual in the construction sector. The headline’s statement inspires me and my colleagues at Ramboll Finland when we seek to find alternative ways to utilize what already exists. The built environment is a bank of building parts that has technically perfectly fine components stocked in it, preserved intact inside buildings. Only processes and systems to utilize them effectively are needed. I sometimes face people itemising reasons and obstacles why reusing building parts is way too difficult. I believe this pessimistic attitude may well up from the insecurity that follows from the building sector changing dramatically. There may also be a disbelief whether the huge leap, which is necessary, can be taken. Some of the items that the sceptics list are well known, some are relevant, and some are just fictional. We need to keep solving them one by one, showcasing with real-life projects that this is possible and acquire more experience to narrow down the gaping hole between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ way of building.

An important milestone has been reached when the Finnish cluster finished the deconstruction of the pilot building in Tampere this autumn. We succeeded to reclaim several hundred hollow-core slabs, columns and beams intact, ready for use on next building site. It’s been encouraging to gain good test results, both before deconstruction, through a condition investigation, and after deconstruction, as some of the deconstructed elements have been load tested. All has been well from an engineer’s perspective! Now, the reclaimed building parts are being fitted into prospective new building projects. The search for the new building site has not been stalled because of any technical issues but rather by the currently poor market situation.

That final issue to solve – an important one indeed – is the business model that can support reuse. A circular business needs more collaboration among all the players in the field. Technically we are ready to say ‘yes’ to reusing precast concrete elements!

Figure 3. Reclaimed hollow-core slab, deconstructed from the donor building in Tampere.

by ReCreate project

January 31, 2024

Toni Tuomola, District Manager, Skanska (Finland)

Skanska’s role in ReCreate is strongly linked to its goal of building a better society. Being climate-smart – one of our sustainability themes – supports the achievement of this goal. Within the ReCreate project, we are studying how to produce low-carbon solutions through our business operations. ReCreate will provide us with information on how the circular economy of building elements could be promoted in the future – for example, in the planning phases of construction projects. We can have a major influence over the carbon footprint of a project’s outcome, especially in in-house development projects and, above all, in projects where we are responsible for the design.

ReCreate’s Finnish deconstruction pilot site is a 1980s office building in the city of Tampere. The precast concrete frame has been dismantled using a new technique developed and studied as part of the project. Construction projects are complex entities that demand close cooperation to meet targets. We have already worked with the ReCreate project partners for a couple of years on studies and advance preparations to facilitate the practical deconstruction work. Thanks to the studies, we were capable of dismantling the precast concrete elements intact for reuse. We also know how to verify the properties of reusable elements reliably and cost-effectively.

The possibility of technical implementation alone is not enough

Creating a business ecosystem for reusing building elements is an important part of the project. Reuse requires off-site production plants for factory refurbishment and the creation of an entire logistics chain and information management process to put the elements to use again. A marketplace is also needed to bring product providers and users together. Barriers must be lowered in building regulations and practices, and operating models must be harmonized.

What are the implications if reuse is successful? Firstly, the environmental benefits will be significant because the carbon footprint of reused concrete elements is about 95% smaller than that of corresponding new elements. Therefore, it will be possible to realize a substantial decrease in the carbon footprint of new buildings. Reused elements may not necessarily be used to construct entire buildings, but they would be utilized in the most suitable places. This would ensure that the dimensional and strength properties of reused elements can be used to the best effect.

The reduction in the carbon footprint helps us to meet the low-carbon requirements that will be introduced through regulation in the future. Environmental certification programs such as LEED and BREEAM also award extra points for reusing building materials.

Decommissioning a building by deconstructing elements is slower and more expensive than conventional destructive demolition. However, prior international research has found that a reused element can be as little as 30% of the price of a new element. This is an important perspective for projects researching business opportunities based on the circular economy.

A climate-neutral society is the sum of many parts, large and small. The circular economy of precast concrete elements is one factor among many. We need all the parts to work together to reach this goal.