The construction sector accounts for up to one third of carbon dioxide emissions, while increasingly strict legislation is accelerating the transition towards improved recycling and reuse of construction and demolition waste. RAKI responds to this transformation by bringing together regional stakeholders and promoting commercially viable solutions that support the circular economy.
The Lahti region offers significant potential for pilot projects, as 71% of the region’s building stock was constructed between 1940 and 1999. This creates substantial opportunities to accelerate the deep energy renovation of buildings, to the reuse and recycling of materials such as demolition concrete and timber, improving energy efficiency, and developing new circular economy services and solutions.
Project objectives and expected results
The project aims to establish the RAKI Cluster, bringing together companies, educational institutions, research organisations and public-sector actors and providing a platform for collaboration.
At the same time, the project will identify and pilot circular construction value chains involving different material streams, including wood, concrete, plastics and bio-based materials.
The RAKI project will also focus on removing barriers to business development and facilitating new investments. In addition, the project will develop:
- a RAKI Playbook, providing companies with practical tools and business models for circular construction; and
- an open digital knowledge platform that brings together cluster information, tools and networking opportunities in one place.
The project is targeted particularly at SMEs in the construction, infrastructure and circular economy sectors in the Lahti region, as well as other companies interested in developing circular economy business models or identifying new market opportunities arising from the transformation of the construction sector.
The project will also indirectly benefit educational institutions, research organisations, municipalities, regional authorities and national cluster networks.
Key outcome
The central outcome of the project will be a new collaboration platform for circular construction, the RAKI Cluster.
The cluster aims to strengthen companies’ competitiveness and expertise in low-carbon construction, promote high-quality material cycles, and help companies make more effective use of materials recovered from demolition and renovation activities.
At the same time, the cluster will create new business and investment opportunities in a market where both regulation and market demand are increasingly driving the transition towards circular construction.