Regional Network towards Sustainable Construction 2025

Within the construction industry, there is a constant struggle to decrease the carbon footprint. This affects three different sectors within the construction industry that will be addressed in this project; infrastructure, new constructions and renovation of existing buildings. The businesses in the region are facing increasing demands for material choices, material handling and circular economy solutions and the timetable keeps getting tighter. As a result, there are not enough resources left for the companies and municipalities to keep up with the development of their own operations.

To be able to support the process among actors in the construction industry as well as municipalities and designers, a development project is required. The development project will contribute with knowledge and information that will make it easier for the actors to decrease their carbon footprint and promote a sustainable lifecycle in the construction industry in the region. During the project, a network for sustainable construction will be established within the region. In the project, we will address different themes by collecting relevant information and tools and refining them into user-friendly formats that make it easier for the actors to implement the knowledge.

Information and tools will be presented at various events, occasions, and meetings (physical, digital and hybrid) that are carried out during the course of the project. The knowledge is also shared through the newly founded network for sustainable building. By the end of the project, the actors in the construction industry have adopted and implemented new methods in order to face the challenges related to reducing their carbon footprint and thus enhance the sustainable life cycle of the construction industry.

The Ministry of the Environment's criteria for low-carbon construction will initially only be applied to public construction projects. The aim is that the carbon footprint from the entire lifecycle of buildings is monitored by legislation by the mid-2020s. Guidelines for assessing the low-carbon levels of a building have been developed by the Ministry of the Environment of Finland. At the end of 2019, the Ministry of the Environment also published a free tool for assessing the environmental impact of a building throughout its lifecycle. This method is currently being tested and in 2025, the calculation of the carbon footprint of buildings will become mandatory when applying for a building permit. Within the project, we will follow the legislative process and communicate future requirements to the target groups of the project.