Browsing by Subject "puukerrostalorakentaminen"

The aim of this study is to assess future export markets for the Finnish industrial wood construction sector. This is done by analysing secondary materials, previous studies and creating a future vision of Finnish industrial wood construction sector and particularly its exports by the year 2030. This analysis is based on qualitative individual expert interviews and a backcasting analysis using expert panel data. In addition, the study compares the current status of the forest industry exports and future assessments between Finland, Sweden and Estonia by analysing secondary materials, previous studies and expert views. The study was implemented using two different qualitative data sets. Semi-structured thematic expert interviews were collected from Finland, Sweden and Estonia. Expert interviews were used to get an in-depth understanding of the current status of the domestic industrial wood construction sector and the related export opportunities in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. A panel made up of Finnish experts were invited to create an ideal vision of the industrial wood construction sector in Finland and its exports for the year 2030. The panel gathered at a workshop, where their visions were created. In addition, pre- and post-event-questionnaires were part of the expert panel data collection, and this data was used to identify the most promising export countries/regions and the entities of exports in the industrial wood construction sector (e.g., whether to export materials, modules or construction projects). The results emphasised that concrete collaborative actions are needed as soon as possible in knowledge sharing and the industrial wood construction marketing. Based on the International market selection model (IMS), which is employed in this study and combining all the information from the workshop, interviews, literature and questionnaires have proven that the most promising future markets would be Central Europe, the UK and the Nordics by 2030. Otherwise the Finnish expert views of most promising export entities by 2030 varies between products, know-how and projects. During the research process it was realised that future markets need to take a closer look especially from the companies’ perspective. Finnish experts have varying views of the industrial wood construction export in their ideal vision for 2030. The study proved that the experts’ views were divided. Many of them desired that Finland should export more know-how and projects in 2030. Others believed that Finland should concentrate on the export of value-added materials. However, all the experts agreed that Finland should activate the local market and harmonize the regulations, which has had a positive influence on competence and know-how. In the ideal vision for 2030 Finland has improved its networks and co-operation inside the forest industry but also together with other fields. Finland has an open digital platform for knowledge sharing and the standards and regulations are more advanced. The wood construction industry is ideally in 2030 more attractive for students and experts than now, domestic market is wider and Finland has gained more experience and knowledge in the field of industrial wood construction. Finnish experts saw that the future exports markets for industrial wood construction are China, the Nordics, Germany, Russia and Central Europe. China was seen as an attractive market due to the size of the market, rising environmental awareness, wealthier middle class and increasing urbanization. However, China and other emerging countries have to be treated with caution, because they were not highlighted in the Estonian, Swedish or literature-based data analysis. Secondly, the Nordics construction culture is similar, location is nearby and the use of wood is increasing. Also, the harmonization of standards with Nordics came up in the expert data. Overall, the practise of industrial wood construction and environmental awareness are increasing in Europe, especially the countries where there are traditions in wood construction like countries in Central Europe. Swedish experts saw market potential and competitiveness in Central Europe and Eastern Europe, but the data from Sweden is limited to researchers’ opinions. The Estonian experts saw market potential in the UK, Germany and Ireland by 2030. However, the future markets for industrial wood construction needs a closer look as well as export entities, which divided the expert’s views.

Growing concern on climate change has provided impetus for developing and implementing sustainable solutions in various industries. For instance, the theme of bioeconomy has increasingly gained interest in the 2000s. Other megatrends such as population growth and urbanization further highlight the importance of finding and implementing sustainable solutions to various industries, or as in this connection, the examination of the residential multi-story construction (MC) industry. More specifically, viewpoints regarding the industry’s productivity, environmental regulations and future trends regarding both MC and residential wooden multi-story construction (WMC) were emphasized. This study was conducted applying qualitative research methods. Semi-structured interviews were held in 2018 for 10 construction company executives, managers or people with an equivalent status mainly in areas related to procurement and production. The selected sampling strategy was purposeful sampling. The main criterion in the selection process was that the companies contacted did not have prior experience in WMC, as they were not seen being overly represented in previous literature especially in the context of WMC. Based on the results, the majority of experts perceived the productivity development in the construction industry similar as previous studies have shown. That is, productivity development has been slow compared to other industries. Some of the expressed solutions considered moving increasingly more toward prefabricated solutions and minimizing on-site construction, and the further development of technologies such as building information models (BIMs). However, the current zoning policies were seen to inhibit some of the potential, as they do not permit incorporating more repetitive production methods. The adoption rate of digital solutions were mentioned as an opportunity for productivity development, and the role of digitalization was seen to enhance productivity. Regarding the theme of environmental regulations, no additional or special metrics were brought up, as the current policies already demand extensive documentation. The emphasis in discussion was more inclined toward operational energy use instead of embodied energy. For example, investigating opportunities for implementing geothermal heat or solar panels were mentioned. Investors were seen to demand increasingly environmental certifications (e.g., BREEAM & LEED) in real-estate investments, however, consumer demand for this was not specifically identified. Regarding future trends in MC, prefabrication was mentioned the most often. In addition, digitalization and robotics were seen to have a larger role in future. The effects of urbanization to the Finnish housing market and to the consumers raised questions. As the results imply that the prefabrication rate will increase in the future, this in turn could possess a potential for WMC especially in off-site modular construction. However, it would seem that e.g. clear cost-advantages should be achieved to raise grater interest of construction companies. The results found similar implications of other studies where producing cost-advantages and developing standardization was emphasized. The market share of WMC in future was seen to either stay at the current levels or to increase. Notably, none of the experts saw that the market share of WMC would decrease toward 2030.