Arctic partnership to accelerate sustainability in construction sector

Societal transformation and the huge industrial investments in green value chains mean that the entire Arctic Scandinavian region will have significant needs for sustainable industrial and community construction over the next 10 years. To strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium-sized construction companies, Sweden, Norway and Finland are now establishing a joint collaboration platform for sustainable construction in cold climates.

Within Sustainable Arctic Construction and Built Environment in Arctic Climate, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be offered coaching and support with business and product development, establishing new innovative partnerships as well as training on new materials, technologies and methods for sustainable, cost-efficient and attractive constructions.

– Digitalisation, increased demands for sustainability, rising material costs and international competition for contracts are the reality for the construction industry and our region is home to hundreds of competitive construction companies with a strong tradition of technical know-how and quality mindset that are well placed to do so. Through increased cooperation, we will strengthen the competitiveness of the entire industry and at the same time drive innovation and sustainability forward, says project manager Anders Högström, LTU Business.

Together with the business community, the universities will conduct research to develop new solutions that can be directly used by industry. Examples of innovation areas are tall timber structures, bridge structures, digitalisation and methods for building and casting concrete in winter climates, for example.

– Much of the prep-work has already been done, so this spring we hope to get started on joint growth-generating initiatives with the stakeholders,” concludes Anders Högström.

FACTS

Sustainable Arctic Construction and Built Environment in Arctic Climate (SCABEAC) is a three-year Interreg Aurora project funded in Sweden by the EU, Region Norrbotten, LTU and the business community. The project is led by LTU Business, Luleå University of Technology, University of Tromsø, SINTEF Narvik, KUPA AS, University of Oulu and Arctic Construction Cluster Finland.

Want to know more about the project?

Contact Anders Högström, anders.hogstrom@ltubusiness.se