Browsing by Author "Konttinen, Katri"

The construction industry together with the use of buildings generates a significant amount of the European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions and uses vast amounts of energy, materials and water. Increasing wooden multistory construction (WMC) could be a way to enhance the sustainability of the construction sector, since studies have shown that the lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions and energy-use are smaller in wood-framed buildings than in corresponding buildings built with concrete. Several national and multinational authorities have set targets for increasing the share of wood in construction to decrease the environmental impact of the construction sector, but the share of WMC has increased rather slowly despite the political support. According to previous research, the reasons for the slow growth of the industry include for example path dependencies of the construction sector (i.e. that past events affect future decisions and events), attitudes and lack of knowledge. This thesis aims at increasing the knowledge of the profitability of WMC by finding out the perceptions of WMC experts on the current cost level in WMC, discovering factors that affect the profitability and market share of WMC and finding ways to enhance the profitability of WMC. This study is qualitative and was conducted using semi-structured theme interviews. Six professionals of the WMC industry were selected using purposive sampling and interviewed in 2017. The main criterion in the selection process was that the interviewees are in a decision-making, senior level position in their company and have prior experience about WMC. The results of this study indicate that WMC is currently more expensive than building with concrete. According to the results, the main causes for the higher costs are lack of knowledge, low number of actors, costs caused by planning and difficulties in tendering. However, WMC industry professionals believe that the profitability of WMC will increase in the future and that the market share of WMC will grow. Based on the results, the best ways to increase the profitability of WMC are learning from repeated projects, product development, utilizing industrial construction, cooperation with other companies and open dialogue with public administration. Furthermore, the professionals emphasized that wood should become a genuinely competitive construction material and that wooden construction’s competitive advantage should not be dependent on support from politicians, municipalities or city planning.