“It all depends on the project”—A business ecosystem in residential wooden multistory construction in Finland

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.

Unlocking success: key elements of sustainable business models in the wooden multistory building sector

“…Logistics, costs, sustainability communication, and marketing emerge as vital considerations among WMC companies. These findings support the importance of the development of an institutional context for market development, similar to what has been identified needs in Finland (Toppinen et al, 2022). While wood construction contributes to sustainability transitions, this study suggests that this evolution is gradual, contingent on factors like public procurement, incremental learning, client preferences, sustainable business models, and legislative changes.…”

“…Barriers to faster dissemination of WMC include path dependence, manifested in sunk investments and subcontractors' expertise, favoring conventional techniques like concrete and steel (Toppinen et al, 2022). The accumulated pool of skills and knowledge also leans towards non-wood alternatives, facilitated by technical education curricula (Roos et al, 2010).…”