The Pursuit Towards Circular Business Models in the Real Estate Industry : Challenges and Enablers in Commercial Tenant Adaptations

Sammanfattning: Today's society rests upon a mainly linear approach where the make-use-dispose model dominates. At this moment, it is undeniable that human activity and the use of virgin resources has led to major negative impacts on the environment, which makes today's linear approach unsustainable. Considering the climate impacts that stem from the real estate and building industry, there is an urgent need to transition to more sustainable practices in order to contribute to the mitigation of the global climate crisis. One possible way to do this is to implement circular business models in the building industry that focuses on recovery, reuse and recycling of materials and decoupling economic growth from use of finite resources. Tenant adaptations are a significant part of commercial real estate businesses taking place frequently, often ensuing mindless renovations and vast amounts of material waste. This study aims to increase the understanding of what challenges and enablers individual real estate companies face when they venture towards more circular practices in tenant adaptations. The Resource Based View and the Moderating Role of External Factors will allow a holistic analysis of the matter, including both the internal and external perspective. The findings suggest an immature external environment where circular tenant adaptations do not currently present a market advantage. However, with the increase of CE-related legislation and public concern, the study shows that investing in resources such as knowledge, stronger relations in the value chain (mainly clients and contractors) and material banks, will in time become important in order to successfully implement CBM’s in tenant adaptations. The study contributes with the individual organizations perspective when pursuing implementation of CBM’s in tenant adaptations.