Case Castellum - Practical guide for reuse

Castellum is a property company whose purpose is to create successful and sustainable workplaces in Nordic growth regions. The company’s focus on sustainability extends to the material use in the interior renovations of work environments.

The parent company in Sweden provided a solid foundation with its reuse guidelines, yet the need for localized application in Finland was apparent. The principles of the circular economy are the same everywhere, but the implementation methods of reuse strongly depend on local actors.

Ethica understands that a big part of extending the life of building parts are the users’ perceptions; the appeal of new, shiny materials often dominates client visions for modern workspaces. To counteract this trend, Ethica not only crafted tangible guidelines for reuse, but also worked with Castellum team to reengineer the client process and shift the narrative towards sustainability.

As part of the guideline project, Ethica helped Castellum identify the essential impact points along the rental process and the roles of customer managers in promoting reuse in interior renovations. After the circular economy workshops we organized, the Castellum staff was more prepared not only to implement the guidelines but also to identify weak signals and propose new circular economy solutions related to their job descriptions.

As a concrete result, Castellum received a thorough induction for its staff about the circular economy of work environments, a practical guide to preserving and reusing building parts in interior renovation projects, and recommendations for developing the rental process from a circular economy perspective. The guide was immediately well received by partners in interior renovation projects.

Developing business models and customer processes from the perspectives of climate impact and material use would be one possible way to continue Castellum’s path as a pioneer of sustainable work environments.

“Ethica helped Castellum create internal guidance for sustainable interior renovation projects. The project included mapping current operating models from different functions’ perspectives and implementing the parent company’s reuse strategy into the Finnish operating environment. The project focused on creating concrete guidelines for circular economy activities, emphasizing the use of dismantled and low-carbon materials in the planning phase of interior renovation projects. Thanks to Ethica’s specialized sparring and good facilitation, the finished guidance marks a significant step towards sustainable practices in an industry whose material use still causes an unsustainable amount of emissions. I am happy to recommend Ethica’s knowledgeable circular economy team for similar projects for a more sustainable built environment.”

– Elmeri Kauko, Sustainability Coordinator, Castellum