When buildings are damaged, they are rarely well cared for. If a floor gets water damage today, it is common to rake up the entire floor and lay a new one. This despite the fact that perhaps only a small part of the floor is damaged. It also goes beyond climate. According to the environmental foundation Zero, 40 percent of the world’s climate emissions come from the construction industry, and many materials are often thrown away unnecessarily. The insurance company Fremtind and the newly started company Loopfront will do something about that. – Every year we have enormous amounts of injuries, says Benjamin Raugland in Fremtind. Benjamin Raugland, product manager for property and insurance at Fremtind. Photo: Simen Rudi / Fremtind Material costs account for close to 35 per cent of damage settlements for homes and buildings. Now they have entered into an agreement with a company that has created a digital platform for the resale of used material. – This will mean that you both get access to things you otherwise have to wait for, and that you get it for a more reasonable price. Our claim settlements will be more affordable, and that will in turn help to keep the price of insurance down, continues Raugland. Digital portal for material This is where the technology company Loopfront comes into the picture. The company was founded in 2018, and the following year they launched their first version of a digital marketplace for building materials, furnishings and fixtures. – Without information on how reusable the materials are, and how much can be saved, we will never be able to stop the development of the enormous amount of waste we have today, says managing director Michael Curtis. Materials deemed reusable or repairable are entered into a portal so construction companies can see what is available. Until now, they have passed 200,000 materials in the platform, which is now in use in both Norway, Sweden and Germany, says Curtis. – These are large sums. We are talking about materials worth over NOK 150 million that would otherwise have ended up in landfill. Michael Curtis is general manager of the company Loopfront. Photo: Loopfront And the idea has already managed to gain a foothold in the industry. In addition to private players, Statsbygg, Oslo and Bærum municipality and Trøndelag and Vestland county council are already on the customer list. Statsbygg: Environmental considerations weigh heavily Kristine Kolshus in Statsbygg says reuse is one of the measures they are looking at to reduce emissions in the construction industry. – The market is still quite immature in terms of obtaining used materials. – There are already local markets today, but the biggest change from before is that the possibility of re-use is now always considered. It hasn’t been that long since you didn’t do it, she says. Nevertheless, it is not entirely easy to use used materials. In the past, strict regulations have made that exercise difficult. – But things are starting to happen now that make it easier to use used building materials. But one could wish that it could happen faster. – To what extent has Statsbygg made use of such digital marketplaces? – To a very small extent until now. We are currently testing several solutions on the market. They are now working on surveying all new renovation and demolition projects under the auspices of Statsbygg in order to gain knowledge about which types of materials are suitable for reuse – and which ones there is a market for. – Terrible experience On a construction site in Bodø stands Ove Fredriksson. He is a supervisor at the contractor Gunnvald Johansen building. He believes the industry has a lot to do when it comes to recycling. – We have a project that we are working on, where we replace old windows. These windows will be reused in another project. – You don’t always need something completely new. Maybe what we’re replacing isn’t worn at all. Ove Fredriksson is supervisor for Gunnvald Johansen construction in Bodø. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news All too often he finds himself having to throw away material that could perfectly well have been reused. – It is a terrible experience. There is a lot that goes into containers that could have been taken care of, he says. Great will in the industry for restructuring Stein Windfeldt is director of the Entrepreneurs’ Association in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark. He says the reuse of materials, masses and land is a major discussion in all parts of the industry throughout the country. – I feel that the will is great. But there have been a number of regulations on documenting material use, but this was eased this spring. He believes the biggest challenge is to get reuse to become a market that is used. – Because the interest is there, I feel. Stein Windfeldt is director of the Entrepreneurs’ Association in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark. He notices a clear change in the industry in the direction of reuse. Photo: EBA According to a report from 2020, Norway fares poorly in circular economy compared to other European countries. Only 2.4 percent of the materials used are phased back into other projects. In comparison, the Netherlands stands at 24.5 percent. – Why is Norway so bad at recycling? – I would rather say that the Netherlands and other countries have been particularly good. There has been a maturation in Norway and in our industry in recent years where a lot has happened.
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Framtind will make construction cheaper by recycling destroyed houses – news Nordland
