Artikkelit

Rahman, M.R., Korsunova, A., Dmitrijeva, A. & Toppinen, A. (2025). From Barriers to Solutions for Reclaiming Wood in Construction: a Business Ecosystem Case in Finland.

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Julkaisun nimiFrom Barriers to Solutions for Reclaiming Wood in Construction: a Business Ecosystem Case in Finland.
KirjoittajatRahman, M.R., Korsunova, A., Dmitrijeva, A. & Toppinen, A.
JulkaisijaCircular Economy and Sustainability
ISBN/DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-025-00575-7
Julkaisupäivä7.5.2025
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Abstract

The transition to circular economy requires reconsidering how value is created and captured and what new roles for actors need to emerge to enable circular business ecosystems. In construction, wood has been found to have the greatest reuse capacity as a building material. Although the EU emphasizes increasing circularity of wood, the current reuse rate in Finland is at a marginal level. Previous research has shown that business ecosystems are critical for increasing wood material circularity. This study explores the involvement of various business ecosystem actors in Finland, reviews the barriers in reclaimed wood circulation, and proposes potential solutions for increasing reclaimed wood use. The analysis is based on 14 semi-structured qualitative interviews and two participatory workshops with 13 experts from various phases of a building’s lifespan. Our results emphasize that the business ecosystem around reclaimed wood is complex, yet there is a pronounced need to create more interaction among the actors from various phases of a building’s lifespan to improve the circularity of reclaimed wood. Moreover, due to the heterogenous nature of wood as a material, the involvement of intermediaries specializing in reclaimed wood at different phases of a building’s life is called for to sensitize the ecosystem actors to the possibilities of reclaimed wood. Furthermore, the strong positions of the forest industry and virgin wood resources in Finland serve to weaken the momentum for use of reclaimed wood. Therefore, our results underline the need to find solutions with leverage potential to address the barriers across market, technological, regulatory, and cultural categories.

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Breaking barriers for reclaimed wood in Finnish construction?

Our recent study examines the root causes for low utilization rate of reclaimed wood in the Finnish built environment. We explore the characteristics of the existing business ecosystem and identifying solutions for increasing the reclaimed use of wood as part of circular economy.

Both the EU taxonomy and renewing construction product regulation continue to push for more circular practices in construction, Finland still lags when it comes to wood recycling and reusing in construction. At the same time, wood material is the second largest share of construction and demolition (C&D) waste after concrete. In order to achieving EU carbon neutrality goal by 2050, construction sector should enhance reusing and recycling of wood instead of incineration.

How does reclaimed wood business ecosystem looks like?

Our study, based on both interview and workshop data, found that reclaimed wood is part of a complex business ecosystem. Yet, to make better use of it and support circular economy practices, there needs to be stronger connections and communication between the stakeholders involved at every stage of a building’s life—from construction to demolition and beyond. Additionally, the involvement of strong intermediaries specializing in reclaimed wood at different phases of a building’s life is required.

What existing barriers are there for reclaimed wood?

The reasons behind the current low cascading rates of construction materials are many, including technological, regulatory, market and cultural barriers. From market perspective, well established forest industries and availability of affordable virgin wood material in Finland weaken the push for reclaimed wood use. Culturally, construction industry’s conservatism, resistance to change, and wariness of innovation, the fears and prejudices against new approaches and perceived high risks are mentioned as main barriers. Considering construction technology, we found weak development of knowledge and skills, along with digitalization and standardization tools in dealing with reclaimed wood. Additionally, lack of incentives and stricter policy requirement on reused material utilization are found to be limiting the reclaimed wood use. As mentioned by one stakeholder:

“Regulation definitely does not support circularity. Many regulations are based on the idea that we have virgin construction materials and components, and they do not consider the special issues if we use recycled material. […] you must have licenses and permits to use it because it is a waste, even though it would be technically possible [to reclaim it]”.

What potential solutions are there for boosting the use of reclaimed wood?

Our results highlight harmonization required from EU to national level policy instruments, such as the EU green deal and taxonomy. There is a need for collaboration between public-private partnership, which is a key for the success of reclaimed wood use. This will further assist to develop large scale demo piloting projects, in which the industries can learn together through experimentation. Moreover, reclaimed wood has their own story which may increase the value during business. The language of ‘waste wood’ should be replaced with ‘reclaimed wood’ or ‘recovered wood,’ as the former conveys a negative perception regarding its usability and quality. We also found the necessity of using reclaimed wood in more diversifying way. As addressed by one stakeholder: “Maybe I would like to see a more diversified use. I mean, trying new purposes, maybe experimenting a little bit more boldly, and also seeing value in the old.”

All in all, the renewal of the Construction Act in Finland in 2025 introduces an obligation to report demolished materials, with the help of digital applications for mapping materials and substances in buildings that brings new hope for wood cascading.

Based on our study, the businesses surrounding reclaimed wood in Finland is only emerging, and there remain many barriers. The ambitions, motivations, and willingness of actors will be crucial for mainstreaming reclaimed wood use. By developing intermediary services, including use of digital tools and finding physical places for sorting, cleaning, and storage could reduce the technical challenges of implementing reclaimed wood while effective at tackling market barriers, assure product safety and validity.

Read more

Rahman, M.R., Korsunova, A., Dmitrijeva, A. & Toppinen, A. From Barriers to Solutions for Reclaiming Wood in Construction: a Business Ecosystem Case in Finland. Circ.Econ.Sust. 5, 3551–3574 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-025-00575-7.

Writers

Md. Rayhanur Rahman is a PhD researcher at the Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki. In the Decarbon-Home project and as a part of his dissertation, he analyses local wood-based construction policy network and business ecosystem for reclaimed wood in construction.

Anne Toppinen is a professor of Forest Economics at the University of Helsinki. She was the Decarbon-Home consortium leader during the first project period 2020-2023 and currently acts as a Senior Adviser to the consortium. Her expertise deals with low carbon construction business.

Photo: Md. Rayhanur Rahman

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Viljanen A., Kurttila M. & Toppinen A. (2024). Retrofitting urban areas with wood: the origin of new projects in an emerging business ecosystem.

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Julkaisun nimiRetrofitting urban areas with wood: the origin of new projects in an emerging business ecosystem
KirjoittajatAnne Viljanen, Mikko Kurttila, Anne Toppinen
JulkaisijaSilva Fennica
ISBN/DOIDOI:10.14214/sf.23068
Julkaisupäivä25.9.2024
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Abstract

Nurturing a low-carbon residential building stock requires businesses to create new solutions for markets. Wood material-based retrofits would be one solution but have remained rare in the urban context. Our study explores the structure and dynamics of an emerging business ecosystem (BE) of wooden retrofits in Finland. We study wooden retrofit projects, from the perspective of the initial steps of local-level development. By applying the concepts of BE and dynamic capabilities, we aim to shed light on the role of actors and their early-stage decision-making and use actor mapping and qualitative analysis of 27 thematic interviews with retrofit businesses and municipal actors. Results show that project initiation has relied on individual champions seizing opportunities as a main base in building dynamic capabilities. Builders and customers are key actors of wooden retrofit projects in local BEs in Finland. The identified actors are further involved with future plans for wooden retrofits, some with ambitious deep renovation with wood. Motivations for projects are driven from urban densification strategies, improvement of suburban neighborhood attractiveness and from the efficiency of space utilization. Results further elaborate a certain degree of difficulty in the early-stage decision-making. This study contributes to the scientific knowledge of both the BE and the dynamic capability perspective by exploring a path to material-driven sustainable construction in the Finnish context. We provide new information on this emerging retrofit construction business with potentially significant international implications if scaled up more widely.

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Viljanen, A., Lähtinen, K., Kanninen, V. & Toppinen, A. (2023). A tale of five cities: The role of municipalities in the market diffusion of wooden residential multistory construction and retrofits.

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Julkaisun nimiA tale of five cities: The role of municipalities in the market diffusion of wooden residential multistory construction and retrofits
KirjoittajatAnne Viljanen, Katja Lähtinen, Vesa Kanninen, Anne Toppinen
JulkaisijaForest Policy and Economics
ISBN/DOIDOI:10.1016/j.forpol.2023.102991
Julkaisupäivä26.5.2023
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Abstract

To enhance sustainable urban development, cities may contribute to the market diffusion of wooden multistory residential construction (WMC) and to wood use in the renovations of old multistory residential buildings (i.e., wooden retrofits). For the construction sector, building with wood enables a shift from the dominant concrete-based building regime, which has hindered the industrialization of building processes and the use of prefabricated modules. Although industrial wood construction has become more common in Finland in the 2000s, WMC and especially wooden retrofits have remained niche systems in residential building markets. The aim of our study is to provide information on how municipalities, especially cities at the core of urban development, may contribute to the market diffusion of WMC and wooden retrofits through policy instruments and via their involvement in local business ecosystems (BE). The interview data of the study were mainly gathered from 40 professionals representing the five case cities, but we also included other experts connected to local BEs that linked with the WMC and wooden renovation cases. We employed qualitative methods in the analyses. Our study shows that WMC and wooden retrofits could be catalyzed by both policy instruments and collaboration in BEs. Results show that policy instruments have been more effective when they include characteristics of the building projects (e.g., instrument usability differs between municipalities or private persons as building owners). To be powerful actors, municipalities could take on more active collaborative roles within the local BEs (e.g., as initiators of projects as building owners or as active enablers). As an implication of these results, city-level experimentation could benefit from a full range of policy measures and mixes to accelerate the diffusion of WMC and wooden retrofits.

Tiivistelmä

Kaupungit voivat merkittävästi vaikuttaa puun käyttöön uudis-, korjaus- ja täydennysrakentamisessa. Esimerkiksi kerrostalojen lisäkerrosten rakentamisessa ja julkisivujen korjauksissa puiset ratkaisut ovat mahdollisuus resurssitehokuuden parantamiseen ja kiertotalouden vahvistamiseen. Tutkimusaineistomme perustuu viidessä suomalaisissa kaupungissa tehtyihin 40 haastatteluun. Tulostemme mukaan kaupungit voivat ottaa puurakentamisen mahdollistajina erilaisia rooleja suhteessa muihin toimijoihin sekä käyttäessään erilaisia poliittisia ohjauskeinoja ja niiden yhdistelmiä. Muut toimijat näkivät usein myös kaupunkien roolin puurakentamisen edistämisessä jopa merkittävämpänä kuin haastatellut kaupunkien edustajat, jotka taas itse korostivat kaupungin roolia eri toimijoiden välisen yhteistyön edistäjänä.

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Toppinen, A., Aaltio, A., Lähtinen, K., Jussila, J. & Toivonen, R. (2022). “It all depends on the project”—A business ecosystem in residential wooden multistory construction in Finland.

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Julkaisun nimi“It all depends on the project”—A business ecosystem in residential wooden multistory construction in Finland
KirjoittajatAnne Toppinen, Anniina Aaltio, Katja Lähtinen, Jaakko Jussila, Ritva Toivonen
JulkaisijaFrontiers in Built Environment
ISBN/DOIhttps://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2022.1046954
Julkaisupäivä24.11.2022
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Abstract

Using wood in multistory apartment construction (WMC) has a climate-positive advantage with buildings acting as long-term carbon storage. Business ecosystem (BE) development around WMC is needed to accelerate the adoption of wooden materials in the conservative construction industry. As the business actors around WMC are essentially different from those using other building materials, new knowledge must be built from the project level. This study uses a qualitative interview approach among actors from three pioneering urban building projects to address their perceptions of building with wood regarding a project-based BE. Based on the thematic analysis, sources of both tangible and intangible value creation were found to arise from building with wood. A higher degree of prefabrication associated with WMC was seen in all projects to influence the reorganization of logistics, enabling faster building processes and lean material use. No strong sustainability-driven culture could be identified in any of the projects. Results further flag the sensitivity and importance of management and coordination skills in targeting improvements of the construction business based on WMC. In the bigger picture, there is still room for further research at regional and global level on business model changes in building with this renewable and recyclable material.

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Viholainen N., Kylkilahti, E., Autio, M., Pöyhönen J., Toppinen, A. (2021). Bringing ecosystem thinking to sustainability-driven wooden construction business.

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Julkaisun nimiBringing ecosystem thinking to sustainability-driven wooden construction business
KirjoittajatNoora Vihalainen, Eliisa Kylkilahti, Minna Autio, Juho Pöyhönen, Anne Toppinen
JulkaisijaJournal of Cleaner Production
ISBN/DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126029
Julkaisupäivä10.4.2021
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Tiivistelmä

Rakentamisen materiaalivalinnoilla on merkittäviä ympäristövaikutuksia. Puukerrostalojen lisäämistä on ehdotettu yhdeksi keinoksi edistää kestävyysmuutosta kaupungeissa. Rakennusalalla on kuitenkin vahva polkuriippuvuus vakiintuneiden rakennusmateriaalien ja -menetelmien sekä kumppanuuksien käyttämiseksi. Tässä tutkimuksessa pyrimme ymmärtämään verkostoperustaista yhteistyötä ja oppimista sekä loppukäyttäjien osallistumista uudenlaisen puurakentamisliiketoiminnan kontekstissa. Tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään laadullisia menetelmiä ja aineistoa analysoidaan liiketoimintaekosysteemi-lähestymistavan kautta. Tutkimuksessa kävi ilmi, että yhteistyön esteitä puukerrostaloliiketoiminnan ekosysteemien kehittämiselle ovat sekä toimijoiden välisten yhteisten tavoitteiden selkeyden puute että loppukäyttäjien heikko osallistaminen. Yritykset ja loppukäyttäjät eivät myöskään täysin tunnista puukerrostalon kestävyyteen liittyviä näkökohtia. Yhteistyötä ja oppimista mahdollistaviksi tekijöiksi tunnistettiin muun muassa sujuva viestintä ja luottamuksen rakentaminen liike-elämän toimijoiden kesken erityisesti suunnittelu- ja rakentamisvaiheiden aikana. Tutkimustulokset viittaavat siihen, että laajemman liiketoimintaekosysteemi-lähestymistavan omaksuminen, eli myös asumisen ja rakennuksen käyttövaiheiden huomioiminen, tuottaisi toimialalle ajattelutavan muutoksen. Tällöin kestävyyteen perustuvaa logiikkaa voitaisiin kehittää kannattavan rakennusliiketoiminnan rinnalla, luoden arvoa kuluttajille.

Abstract

Lowering environmental impacts by material choices is proposed as a way to promote urban sustainability transition, and one solution is building more wooden multi-storey constructions (WMCs). In the construction industry, however, there is a strong path dependency towards applying well-established construction materials and methods, as well as partnerships. To gain understanding of network-based collaboration, learning and end-user involvement in novel wooden construction business, the study uses qualitative methods and employs business ecosystem approach in the analysis. The studied WMC business case revealed that barriers of collaborative business ecosystem development include both the lack of clarity in the shared goals between actors and weak end-user involvement. Moreover, neither companies nor end-users fully recognize sustainability aspects around WMC. Enabling factors such as smooth communication and building trust among business actors during planning and building were recognised. The study suggests that a broader business ecosystem approach, including the living and use of the building, offers a mindset shift for developing sustainability-driven logic alongside profitable construction business and creating value for consumers.

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