Preface

This project is part of the Nordic Sustainable Construction program initiated by the Nordic ministers for construction and housing and funded by Nordic Innovation. The program contributes to the Nordic Council of Ministers' Vision 2030 by supporting the Nordic region in becoming a leader in sustainable and competitive construction and housing with minimal impact on the environment and climate. The program supports the green transition of the Nordic construction sector by creating and sharing new knowledge, initiating debates within the sector, establishing networks, workshops, and best practice cases, and helping to harmonize Nordic regulations on the climate impact of buildings.

Work Package 1 – Nordic Harmonisation of Life Cycle Assessment

Work Package 2 – Circular Business Models and Procurement

Work Package 3 – Sustainable Construction Materials and Architecture

Work Package 4 – Emission-free Construction Sites

Work Package 5 – Programme Secretariat and Capacity-Building Activities for Increased Reuse of Construction Materials

This text is connected to the Work Package 3.

The Work Package 3 is managed by the platform SUSTAINORIC whos purpose is to involve and facilitate the actors who hold the power and mandate to catalyse the necessary cultural change within and around the built environment to activate a shift towards a total conversion of the Nordic housing and construction sector towards practises with minimal environmental and climate impacts.

We believe that the barriers to this shift are just as much driven by mental barriers, old habits and unchallenged belief systems as they are upheld by legislative, structural and financial norms.

It is the mission of SUSTAINORDIC to identify and start breaking down those barriers.

The work has been conducted by Form/Design Center and Climate-KIC in collaboration with over a hundred experts and practitioners connected to the value chains related to construction and housing in the Nordics.

The wealth of data collected has been carefully processed, observations clustered and analysed, and classified by topic, type of challenge, opportunity or tendency. All recommendations found in this report consolidates insights from 116 urban planners, policymakers, architects, engineers, developers, building owners, and activists, gathered through three years of knowledge generation  and continuous guidance from the SUSTAINORDIC advisory board. 

All quotes found in the report have been harvested through 28 panel debates and events, 24 interviews, 4 roundtable conversations as well as numerous conversations with experts connected to the SUSTAINORDIC project. A list of all the involved direct and indirect contributors can be found at the end of this report.

All recommendations represent the views and interpretation of the SUSTAINORDIC.

Project leader:
Dorte Bo Bojesen 

Author:
Pernille Martiny Modvig 

Contributors:
Dorte Bo Bojesen
Angelica Åkerman
Mads Randbøll Wolff
Nikolaj Sveistrup

For more information on Nordic Sustainable Construction, visit our website here: www.nordicsustainableconstruction.com