Climate change, population aging, urbanization. These global megatrends are also shaking Finland violently. At the same time, we are challenged by the geopolitical uncertainty created by Russia's war of aggression.
The pressure of change and uncertainty will cause enormous challenges for the built environment in the coming years. We need 35 new apartments in growth centers every year, renovation construction should at least be doubled and the functionality and reliability of the infrastructure should be ensured. At the same time, emissions should be significantly reduced.
Currently, the real estate and construction sector produces about a third of Finland's emissions. 76% of them are generated from the consumption of the current building stock and the rest from construction. Achieving carbon neutrality goals requires first of all influencing the current building stock, but also the emissions during construction. In the coming years, we need to build even more, but with less carbon.
How to do the trick?
The greatest impact is to improve productivity throughout the life cycle of the building. This means that the same end result is produced faster and with fewer resources (material, labor, machine hours, energy). At the same time, emissions and the need for financing will decrease.
The most important ways to improve productivity are to make things more planned and to standardize operations throughout the entire construction life cycle. The next step is to harmonize the data contents so that we can automate operations. In practice, we should plan more precisely and standardize what we do, whether it's a planner or a site foreman.
In the real estate and construction industry, we have taken on the challenge of e.g. by establishing the innovation center KIRAHub and launching the KIRA-Growth program, the core of which are these themes. We need all parties in the built environment to participate in this change, which will benefit the entire Oy Suomi Ab.
The article has been published in Tekniikka & Talouden In the construction & infrastructure theme supplement 10.3.2023 March XNUMX.
Antti Aaltonen
Director, Construction Development
antti.aaltonen@rt.fi + 358 40 514 3626Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (CFCI)
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