Swedish construction company Peab, steelmaker SSAB, and property developer Wihlborgs have unveiled the world's first building made with fossil-free steel.
The Tomaten 1 building, located in Lund, Sweden, is an industrial facility covering 6,000 m2 and is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2024.
The fossil-free steel was used to make sandwich panels for parts of the building walls.
The building’s wall and roof structures have been designed and produced by Ruukki Construction. Wihlborgs is the customer and developer, and the tenant will be contract manufacturer Inpac.
SSAB's fossil-free steel is produced using Hybrit technology, which directly reduces iron ore using hydrogen and fossil-free electricity, instead of coal and coke, which are used in conventional steelmaking. This process produces water instead of carbon dioxide as a residual product.
Peab and Ruukki Construction, a subsidiary of SSAB, plan to use fossil-free steel in future projects from 2026. This new steel will contribute to sustainable growth in the construction sector and help Sweden achieve its climate neutrality goals.
Jesper Göransson, CEO of Peab, said: ‘We’re extremely proud to be part of a historic shift for our industry. The building is a starting point for work to reduce the climate impact in the steel industry on a broad front. It’s a real community building project and, together with Ruukki and SSAB, Peab is now further strengthening itself to meet its customers’ growing demands for more sustainable material choices.’
Christina Friborg, head of sustainability at SSAB, commented: ‘It’s amazing to see what great steps forward can be taken with sustainable development when it’s done together with others – the project with Peab and Ruukki shows what is actually possible right now. For SSAB, it’s not just about reducing our own emissions with fossil-free steel, but also about contributing to reducing the carbon footprint in other parts of the value chain.’
Sami Eronen, president of Ruukki Construction, added: ‘This project is an excellent example of how going forward we can revolutionize construction together with our customers. We’re proud to be involved in driving the construction industry forward with our products that are not only made with fossil-free steel, but also developed with sustainability and the entire life cycle impact of the product in mind.’
Ulrika Hallengren, CEO of Wihlborgs, said: ‘We can only achieve the industry’s goal of climate neutrality if we collaborate and together develop products and buildings that make a real difference. This project is an important step in this direction, and as the customer we have a major responsibility to constantly raise the level of our own requirements, so that the entire chain is characterized by high sustainability ambitions.’
The construction and real estate industries account for about one fifth of Sweden's domestic carbon dioxide emissions. The development of the world's first building using fossil-free steel is a milestone for these industries and could help to reduce their environmental impact significantly.
