The City of Helsinki aims to restrict the consumption of natural resources in construction and to reduce the amount of construction and demolition waste. In the past council period of office, the City updated its Roadmap for Circular and Sharing Economy into an action plan and established a circular economy cluster to boost the circular economy in construction to promote these objectives. The Circular Economy Cluster Programme is an economic development project managed by the City's Economic Development Division, which aims to promote the spread of circular economy competence in the construction sector.
The City's circular economy policy has been studied in the Governing Transition to a Circular City: Engaging public and private stakeholders in the circular economy project funded by the Research Council of Finland. According to the study, the action plan and the circular economy cluster support the development of the City's procurement practices, but a significant part of the progress is based on various experiments and temporary projects.
Aiming to improve resource efficiency and increase use of recycled materials
The objectives and measures of circular economy are summarised in the City's Action Plan for the Circular and Sharing Economy, which names construction as one of the four main target areas. The long-term ambitious goal of the plan is to achieve the sustainable consumption of natural resources and carbon neutral land use and construction by 2035.
An ongoing research project has looked at the cooperation between construction companies and City workers involved in the circular economy cluster pilot projects. Preliminary results show that companies have appreciated the pilot environment and the expert team provided by the City. In particular, respondents have found practical examples of technical solutions and the opportunity for networking useful. At the same time, companies have called for more open criteria for selecting pilots and for more cooperation between Helsinki and other cities in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
