Daniel Kjørberg Siraj and Christoffer O. Hernæs
In the latest episode of the Shaping Sustainable Places podcast, we speak with two experts who believe collaboration with start-ups can play a big role in improving efficiency and productivity in the construction and property sectors. Daniel Kjørberg Siraj is CEO of OBOS Group, a major Nordic housing developer and investor in the construction industry. He’s joined by Christoffer O. Hernæs, Chief Digital Officer and director of Skanska Digital at Skanska Norway.
Better planning for communities
OBOS is a large housing cooperative that was established to help regular people buy homes. CEO Daniel says while OBOS is great at what it does, it’s very much focused on the here-and-now challenges, rather than searching for innovative new approaches.
He says this is where start-ups can help – by focusing on problems that large firms don’t have the internal resources to solve. OBOS has been able to improve the efficiency of its operations in a range of areas by working together with and investing in start-ups with novel ideas. Such start-ups have helped improve the energy efficiency of OBOS projects, enabled the introduction of digital locks and made residential management more efficient.
In a recent collaboration, OBOS has been working with a digital consultancy known as Augment City, experts at creating digital twins for offshore oil and gas infrastructure. Together, the businesses are now exploring the potential for creating digital twins of neighborhoods and cities, with anticipated benefits around sustainability and efficiency.
Daniel says another promising collaboration with a smaller partner has been OBOS’s work with flood data company 7Analytics. Using 7Analytics’ modeling, OBOS is able to predict if projects and developments are likely to be susceptible to flooding in the future. It can then take measures to avoid this.
A way to bring in new competencies
Christoffer Hernæs from Skanska agrees working with start-ups has much to offer bigger companies. Sometimes the people with the skills needed to solve a particular challenge work outside the business, and collaboration with an external start-up or scale-up is the best way to bring those skills onboard.
Christoffer says he believes large companies who work with start-ups have several obligations. They should work to share the benefits and knowledge they gain with the wider industry. And they should also only commit to a start-up collaboration they truly believe in and have a need for. Having a lukewarm approach to a collaboration can kill the creative idea at its heart. Christoffer says big companies should not be afraid to say ‘no’ to start-up ideas that don’t suit their business model, and also to direct start-ups to others in the industry with a greater need.
In Skanska’s case, collaboration with start-ups often focuses around the core areas of operational efficiency, reduced emissions, site safety and quality. One example is Skanska’s work with data analytics business Ditio around increasing sustainability on building sites. Work is being done to reduce emissions for example reducing excavator idling time and finding the optimal slope for access roads in construction.
Provided the construction industry keeps an open mind to new solutions, collaboration between big and small companies could play a key role to improving overall productivity and efficiency.
For more details and expert insights, tune in to the full episode of Shaping Sustainable Places on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
