Identifying Drivers Facilitating Product Development within the Industry for Wooden Multi-family Houses

Sweden is forecasted to grow its population with 1.1 million people over the next eight-year period, increasing the demand on the construction phase of housing units throughout Sweden. However, at present, 240 of Sweden's 290 municipalities show an existing deficit of available housing units in their regions, resulting in inherent difficulties fulfilling this demand utilizing the current production structure. Therefore, further utilizing wood as a building material could contribute to minimize the gap, as well as fulfilling the EU’s goals towards the Europe 2020 strategy and the EU forest strategies, focusing on development towards innovation, bio-economy, sustainable sourcing and use of raw materials. This study is aiming to identify drivers supporting the Swedish industry of wooden multi-family houses to enable market growth through competitive and sustainable strategies. The representatives within the building process identify drivers, how they perceive their effect on the companies’ abilities to develop based on long-term and short-term strategic impact. Thus, the goal is to find ways in which wooden multi-family houses could compete as a building solution, compared to established solutions, thereby increasing the market share in Sweden. The methods used in this study is surveys distributed to representatives from municipalities, developers, contractors, architects and real estate companies. The result identifies three change drivers influencing the industry development for wooden multifamily houses in Sweden: technological-, knowledgeand environmentaldrivers. These drivers have an effect on the companies’ ability for successful new product development and for development of sustainable strategies towards market growth for wooden multi-family houses.