The Nordic Swan applied to multi-family housing

Purpose: Today the amount of Eco labelled multi-family houses are increasing. The Nordic Swan is a well-known certification that has grown a lot when it’s comes to certifying multi-family houses in Sweden. Unlike other well-known ecolabels there are not many studies done on the Nordic Swan. By studying the certification, and its establishment, in two large projects the goal of this study is to pinpoint weaknesses in the process of attaining the Nordic Swan and then make improvement proposals.Method: In order to provide improvement proposals, a qualitative study was chosen. A study of literature and a document analysis is the foundation of the study by taking theoretical aspects into account, within the Nordic Swan and multi-family housing. The chosen qualitative method is also based on semi structured interviews. The interview respondents were selected as: two production supervisors, a site manager, a quality and environmental coordinator, a project manager and a project developer. All respondents are working daily with the projects, characterized by the Nordic Swan. The different persons were chosen to obtain a high validity of the study. To further increase the validity and its reliability, respondents were given back the empirical data so that they could make further comments and revisions. Reliability was assured by providing well-designed questions.Findings: The goal refers to improvements with the certification, propelling to new knowledge, within the area of the subject. The empirical investigation shows recurring problems with the product database within the certification, seen from the respondent’s experiences of working with the Nordic Swan in projects. They’ve informed about challenges that comes with respective working process. The certification is solid and gives a qualitative product, but has a time-consuming learning process. Overall, the respondent’s focused on the way of working with the ecolabel and the organisations way of managing the product database, both for an older and a new version.The improvement proposals that results from an analyzation of interviews concerns the communication between the Nordic Swan and its customers, how the Nordic Swan’s product database can improve when future versions releases and how the ecolabel could accomplish a greater eco-impact to the projects by promoting “green innovations”.Limitations: The study is limited to the application of the Nordic Swan in multi-family housing in two large projects. As the guidelines in the process do not differ between companies, the result can be considered general. Retrieving information from even more companies on the other hand could have resulted in a more accurate overall result.Implications: The drawn conclusion from the thesis is that the result creates opportunities for improving the certification process. It can also be used to get more companies to use the Nordic Swan. It provides an opportunity for both companies and individuals to farm an understanding regarding the certification.Kvarteret Mars, Kolla Parkstad