Materia has started work on Byggom, an AI-driven decision platform intended to tackle a core bottleneck for material reuse in construction. Lasse Kilvær, CEO of project owner Materia, says time-consuming specification and procurement often make reused items lose out to new products despite potential economic and environmental gains. Materia currently manages over 20,000 unique component types on its digital platform.
Shifter reports the development is a three-year project with a total budget of NOK 15.4 million. The Research Council of Norway is providing NOK 7.4 million and the balance comes from partners including Norsk Byggtjeneste, NTI, Backe, Tribia, Mad Arkitekter, Bertel O. Steen Eiendom, Resirqel and Ombygg; Sintef is named as research partner.
Kilvær says the tool will be developed incrementally and tested in projects as early as next year. Åshild Wangensteen Bjørvik of Mad Arkitekter wrote in an email to Shifter that the consortium aims to make reuse faster, cheaper and more scalable so circular options become competitive.