The overall goal of Återhus is to transition the construction and real estate industry to a circular economy and enable a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Återhus 3.0 will develop processes and tools that will be used to implement the reuse of building components with the highest climate impact – load-bearing structures in concrete and steel on a large scale. The goal is to develop a market for reused frames with the help of digitalization tools and to develop logistical solutions and business models, standardized methods for quality assurance, design for reuse and updating regulations such as standards and certification. All these tools will be applied and demonstrated in six different demonstration projects on a large scale.
Teknikhöjden one of the demonstration projects
One of the demonstration projects is Teknikhöjden, an empty building from the 1960s owned by Akademiska Hus and located in the northern part of the Albano campus in Stockholm. The building was covered by a demolition decision due to a long-ago decided zoning plan, but will now be a dismantling and innovation project with the ambition to be able to build new from the old. Teknikhöjden has a cast-in-place frame, interior walls in lightweight concrete and a façade of concrete sandwich elements. By making the building part of Återhus 3.0, Akademiska Hus will investigate the reuse potential, but also develop the business model for projects that lack recipients for materials, as well as investigate logistics, storage locations and storage costs.
- The purpose of dismantling Teknikhöjden is to create the conditions for a circular economy and values of a circular business that the construction and real estate industry can agree on. By participating in Återhus, we have great opportunities to learn new lessons and find completely new ways of working with other actors," says Linda Karlsson, Head of Sustainability Projects at Akademiska Hus.
14 parties included
Återhus 3.0 will start in December 2023 and will run for two years. The budget is SEK 51 million. 14 parties are part of the project consortium: RISE, Akademiska Hus, Bjerking, Codesign, Förbo, Heidelberg Materials-Precast Contiga, KTH, Magnolia Bostad, NCC, Palats, QPG, City of Stockholm, Svensk Betong, Tyresö Municipality.
"We see several results ahead of us. A number of new tools can facilitate, speed up and scale up the reuse of the most climate-heavy load-bearing elements that must also demonstrate the strictest quality requirements. There is a clearly expressed desire among Swedish property developers, contractors, architects and designers to push for and reduce the climate footprint of the construction industry, and we also see signs that business models are moving towards circularity. We will complete all the missing pieces of the puzzle to use it on a full scale," says Katarina Malaga, project manager for Återhus 3.0 and researcher and head of the Department of Infrastructure and Concrete Construction at RISE.