CIRCULAR BUILDING GOING IN CIRCLES: CHALLENGES IN CIRCULAR BUSINESS MODEL IMPLEMENTATION IN THE DANISH CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Paper in proceeding, 2025

Developing a circular built environment is essential for achieving climate goals, yet the Danish construction sector faces significant challenges in adopting this transformative production model. In this paper, we investigate how a major contractor in Denmark aims to tackle these challenges by combining internal strategies with innovative collaborations, ensuring both sustainability and business viability. Based on a longitudinal study, the findings reveal a multi-level approach to implementing circular initiatives, partially centrally coordinated to align with the company's strategy. The contractor assumes a dual role as both producer and consumer of circular materials, partially creating a closed loop to enhance resource efficiency. Strategic alliances with non-competitive partners are critical, enabling access to expertise, resources, and scaling opportunities. Furthermore, investments in a building material platform are made to facilitate the development of new markets and businesses, underlying the importance of collaboration in overcoming the sector's barriers and fostering industry-wide transitions to circularity. However, these collaborations do not deliver the expected financial results, and the circular business models tend to stay in the inner circle.