Byggåterbruket

Basic information

Project Title

Byggåterbruket

Full project title

Byggåterbruket - A collaboration between the city of Umeå and local companies

Project Description

Byggåterbruket is inagurated,
The city of Umeå has in collaboration with local companies opened a market hub for reused construction material.

The companies shall identify residual and dismantled material, deliver it to the Market Hub where it will be sold to new customers.

The collaboration shall also share insights and knolwdge, build capacity togehter.
Develop circular processes and pilots

Geographical Scope

Local

Project Region

Umeå , Sweden

Urban or rural issues

Mainly urban

Physical or other transformations

It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

EU Programme or fund

Yes

Which funds

ERDF : European Regional Development Fund

Description of the project

Summary

The project was initiated by the Västerbotten Construction Federation in August 2020 who carried out a pre-study on the need to create a marked hub for the reuse of construction material. The pre-study was carried out in collaboration with stakeholders from the municipality and industry representatives and stated that the construction sector in Umeå needs to increase the reuse of building components in order to reach its environmental goals, there is a need to establish a storage facility to store the demolished building material and we need to promote the use of the demolished building materials through contacts with construction comapeniescompanies.

A civil servant from the municipality was assigned the mission to lead the way forward. This was in May 2022. Then followed a thorough partnership process including lots of workshops, analysis and roundtable discussions that involved stakeholders from the value chain. It all concluded that the municipality and private companies represented by architechts, public housing, waste management, insurance, construction and relareal estate needed to continue collaborate and together start a market hub for reused construction material and build capacity and knowledge for a circular transition. The market hub was inaugurated on Jan 17 celebrating the collaboration between the municipality and the companies, now organized in an Economic Association.

Key objectives for sustainability

The vision is a Circular system and Marketplace for building material and construction goods that meet the needs from different stakeholders; Insurance companies, banks, builders, contractors, architects and material suppliers. One of the key objective was creating the circular marketplace for construction material. By the creation of Byggåterbruket; we are extending life for construction material and construction goods, decreasing CO2-emissions and saving material from becoming waste.
Another key objective was to bring together different stakeholders (insurance companies, banks, builders, contractors, architects and material suppliers) that work together towards the same goal. Byggåterbruket meets the needs of those different stakeholders and reach the conclusion that we have to work together in order to achieve the desired transformation of the build environment taking into account
The third key objective was to create a viable/sustainable business model for the collection and use of the building material. We work with local construction companies to collect demolished and leftover construction materials. These materials undergo a quality assessment before being put up for sale in Byggåterbruket. Byggåterbruket offers a wide range of high-quality recycled building materials at favorable prices ready to be used in new projects, contributing thus to sustainable development

Key objectives for aesthetics and quality

By creating Byggåterbruket, we are enabling architects and creators to use reused construction material in their construction and creations. The need from architects have been clear from the start of the project; in order to make the use of reused material in a new reality and standard; there has to be a market hub that connects and sells the material. Only then reuse can be scalable. It also gives us a chance showing that reuse can be something really pretty and avant garde.
The workshops and roundtable discussions among the stakeholders gave the opportunity for different sectors to meet each other, connect and discuss the value chain of the construction material and how they can contribute to create aesthetic desirable and high quality constructions using demolished and leftover construction material.

Key objectives for inclusion

From the start of the project accessibility and affordability has been core values. By creating and opening Byggåterbruket we have an opportunity to widen the knowledge and interest for construction and creation. We aim to collaborate not only with Universities but also with primary and secondary schools – giving students of all age an introduction to the construction industry and to the care of material and our planet.
Byggåterbruket sells its products at half the price compared to prices of building material stores, giving more people access to affordable construction material and construction goods.

Results in relation to category

We have achieved a systemic solution; a market hub for construction material, in collaboration between the municipality and local companies. Research institutes and universities as well as other stakeholders are interested in developing pilots and training together.

How Citizens benefit

The Citizens of Umeå is one of our key target group.
As part of our climate transition, we need to change the perception of reuse and raise the status for reuse. By saving construction material from the sector in Umeå and reselling it to the public – we hope to inspire the citizens and enable more projects.
Throughout the process we have been in contact with students from the Universities and NGOs who have been interested in the possibility of accessing and buying reused construction material. Now when the shop is open we can engage all of our target groups and stakeholders, not only with our vision but with possibilities ready for implementation

Physical or other transformations

It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Innovative character

The innovation lies in the fact that no one of the involved persons or stakeholders had ever done this before. In fact we were looking for other examples to replicate from but found no other examples that met our needs and wishes. So, we started to create a solution that would work for us. It was a cross sector systemic challenging process that lead us forward. We know of no mainstream action.

Disciplines/knowledge reflected

Our local Universities, mainly faculties in design, forestry, architecture as well as the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE) has been involved in the process together with the County Architect, local companies representing communication, business development, public housing, waste management, architecture, real estate management, construction and insurance companies. As well as the municipal departments of property management, education, business development and city administration. The interaction happened through workshops, roundtable discussions
The added value was that all actors started working together towards a main goal.

Methodology used

Our process lead was given the assignment and trust from the local companies and the blessing from the political and civil leadership in the municipality and hence started the cross sectoral process of uniting everyone from different committees, departments, companies from different sectors in the overall goal of creating a circular solution of a market hub for construction material. With the help from erdf we could finance the process lead and her work.

How stakeholders are engaged

Primarily, it is local actors, municipal departments, companies and universities that have been involved in the design and implementation of the project. They and their needs and ideas have been the basis for the development of Byggåterbruket. Furthermore, the process leadership has been monitoring for other examples around Europe and transferred ideas to the local working groups. We have been trying to draw the attention from national and EU-institutions but most interest has come from other cities or companies working on the same ideas. We have since the start been doing study visits and meetings with cities that have similar solutions and other professionals.

Global challenges

Only by changing the local consumption of construction material, we can have an impact on the global emissions, waste streams and recources. By extending life to our products and material we are learning how to cope and secure our resourcers.

Learning transferred to other parties

Many municipalities struggle with the same challenges and there are indeed elements that could be replicated. Starting with the approach of gathering as many stakeholder to the table and the workshops – making sure everyone was included and invited to participate. The outcome would of course differ from city to city depending on the needs and solutions that would be defined by the process. The collaboration and business model between the municipality and the economic association could also be replicated.