The construction industry has for several decades demonstrated a problem with financial crime black labour, while the state loses tens of billions of SEK each year due to tax cuts. The government has been fighting undeclared work for several years, and the construction industry is also working to support healthy competition and remove the unequal working conditions that this entails. The purpose of the study is to examine black labour in small companies in the construction industry, the problems that workers are exposed to and why they choose to work in this way. The study was limited to examining small construction companies and the collection of empirical material took place in the Stockholm region. The work is based on previous findings regarding undeclared work as well as semi-structured anonymous interviews conducted with employers and employees working in two small construction companies in the Stockholm region. Both companies make use of illegal workforce and all respondents who lined up admit that they either work illegally full time or alongside their regular jobs. The results show that the undeclared work does not contain any directly bad or unequal working conditions per se which has been the result in some previous studies. The problem is rather that there is no protection if events occur at work and that the state is withheld tax for work done. Furthermore, the study shows that it is a direct desire of the private individuals who are customers to have the work done as undeclared work.

This study is an initial attempt to investigate the relationship between banks and developers in Stockholm and its regions. It gives a good impression about the field of construction and project developments in terms of the finance and the negotiations associated with these types of projects. Main actors of the Stockholm’s construction financing market were of major interest for this study. On this regard, the relationships and ramifications of this group were investigated by using a qualitative and quantitative research method. The aim of the study was to analyze the attitudes of banks and developers, their partnerships and individual expectations. This empirical study was conducted between January and April 2015. In order to give a brief overview of the construction market in Stockholm, the study starts with an explanation of different characteristics and unique features of the real estate and construction field. Based on this, the study continues with a detailed presentation of the financing process with its loan terms, negotiations and regulations. In a subsequent chapter, the risk part within construction will be emphasized and explained. The theory part of the study closes with an exposition of the transaction cost theory and strategy as well as with a portrayal of the decision-making process of banks and developers in a construction project, the different types of partnerships and the according advantages and disadvantages. While keeping the above listed aspects in mind, all study participants were asked for their opinion on partnerships between banks and developers. In general, the study results prove the existence of a significant interest in partnerships between banks and developers. For both parties, a close relationship provides many benefits like a lower time-consumption or smoother loan negotiations. However, the following analysis also shows that due to reserved attitudes and a low interest of banks to change their investment strategies in construction and development projects, it seems very difficult to meet the full expectations of both parties on a level where both sides would agree on entering a strategic partnership. / Den här studien är ett inledande försök i att undersöka förhållandet mellan banker och byggföretag i Stockholm och dess tillhörande närområden. Den ger en god överblick i byggande och byggprojekt, framförallt när det kommer till finansiering och förhandlingar associerade med byggprojekt. Huvudintressenterna i studien var de största aktörerna på Stockholms bygg- och finansieringsområde. Dessa grupper undersöktes med hjälp av både en kvalitativ och en kvantitativ metod med mål att analysera deras attityder, partnerskap och individuella förväntningar på närmare sammarbeten. För att ge en bra överblick av byggbranschen i Stockholm så inleds studien med en förklaring av karaktärsdrag hos fastigheter och byggande. Studien fortsätter sedan med en mer detaljerad redovisning av finansieringsprocessen och dess lånevillkor, förhandlingar och regelverk. Sedan i följande avsnitt så presenteras och förklaras de risker som kan kopplas till byggande. Teoridelen av studien avslutas med en utläggning av en teori kring transaktionskostnader, relevanta strategier, en skildring av beslutsfattande av banker och byggföretag samt olika sorter av partnerskap och dess tillhörande för- och nackdelar. Med teorin i bakhuvudet så ställdes aktörer på marknaden frågor om vad de anser kring partnerskap mellan banker och byggföretag. Sammanfattningsvis, studiens resultat visar på ett tydligt intresse av partnerskap mellan banker och byggföretag. För både banker och byggföretag så genererar ett nära sammarbete många fördelar så som kortare projekt med smidigare förhandlingar. Dock så visar analysen att på grund av återhållsamma attityder och ett begränsat intresse från banker att ändra på sin investeringsstrategi kopplat till byggprojekt så verkar det svårt att uppfylla de förväntningar som de båda parterna har på ett partnerskap dem emellan.

Bakgrund: Världen står idag inför en mängd olika hållbarhetsutmaningar, bland annat till följd av att många företag använder en linjär ekonomisk modell. Baserat på detta har modellen för cirkulär ekonomi utvecklats. Ett nödvändigt steg i omställningen till en cirkulär ekonomi är att övergå till en cirkulär affärsmodell. För att göra detta har den tidigare forskningen identifierat en mängd olika cirkulära aktiviteter. Det saknas däremot industrispecifik empiri på hur företag inom byggindustrin praktiskt går tillväga för att göra detta. Vi kommer därför undersöka byggföretagens arbete med att övergå till en cirkulär affärsmodell genom en jämförande flerfallstudie.  Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en ökad förståelse för hur de fem största byggföretagen i Sverige använder cirkulära aktiviteter för att övergå till en cirkulär affärsmodell, samt vilka mönster som finns mellan dem. Dessutom syftar studien till att undersöka vilka skillnader som föreligger mellan byggföretagens cirkulära affärsmodeller.  Metod: Denna flerfallstudie har en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi, iterativ forsknings- ansats, och utgår från ett hermeneutiskt forskningsperspektiv. Det empiriska materialet består av semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från de fem största byggföretagen i Sverige, och dokumentstudier i form av års- och hållbarhetsrapporter, samt byggföretagens hemsidor.  Slutsats: Studien visar att de studerade byggföretagen i Sverige utför nio olika cirkulära aktiviteter för att övergå till en cirkulär affärsmodell. Vidare påvisades olika mönster, i form av både likheter och skillnader, mellan byggföretagens arbete med dessa cirkulära aktiviteter. De mest framstående visade sig handla om huruvida arbetet utförs internt och/eller externt, samt huruvida det utförs i förebyggande syfte. Utifrån dessa mönster, i kombination med befintlig teori om resursflöden, konstruerades ett generiskt, jämförande ramverk som innefattar fyra typer av cirkulära affärsmodeller. Sammantaget kunde det konstateras att dessa cirkulära affärsmodeller skiljer sig åt mellan byggföretagen. / Background: Today, the world faces several different sustainability challenges, partly due to the fact that many companies use a linear economic model. Based on this, the model for circular economy has been developed. A necessary step in the conversion to a circular economy is to transition to a circular business model. To do this, the previous research has identified a number of different circular activities. However, there is a lack of industry specific empirical evidence on how construction companies practically perform this. We will therefore investigate the construction companies’ work on the transition to a circular business model through a comparative multiple case study.  Purpose: The purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of how the five largest construction companies in Sweden use circular activities in order to transition to a circular business model, as well as what patterns that exist between them. In addition, the study aims to investigate what differences there are between the construction companies’ circular business models.  Methodology: This multiple case study has a qualitative research strategy, an iterative research design, and is from a hermeneutic research perspective. The empirical material consists of semi structured interviews with respondents from the five largest construction companies in Sweden, and document studies in forms of annual- and sustainability reports, as well as the construction companies’ websites.  Conclusion: The study shows that the examined construction companies in Sweden perform nine different circular activities in order to transition to a circular economy. Furthermore, different patterns in forms of similarities and differences were detected between the construction companies’ practice of these circular activities. The most prominent patterns concerned whether the circular activities were performed internally and/or externally, and whether they were performed preventively. Based on these patterns, in combination with existing theory about resource flows, a generic and comparative framework was constructed that includes four types of circular business models. From this, it could be established that the circular business models differ between the construction companies.

Today Portland cement based concrete is used in great extent in building construction, which is an environmental problem as cement production stands for 5-8 % of total global greenhouse gases.  A need for a more environmentally friendly concrete is growing. In a literature study it’s established that there is extensive research in the field of more environmentally friendly concrete, where the results proves that the environmentally friendly concrete shows as good, or better, properties than the concrete with Portland cement. Concrete is one of the most important construction materials and there are high demands on its correct performance. Construction companies in Sweden have a rumor of being indisposed to change and inert to embrace new material and means of construction. This survey intended to map what properties the environmentally friendly concrete should meet to encourage Swedish construction companies to use it. The survey was designed with a statement and criteria derived from the literature study. The literature study consists of peer reviewed articles found via the databases Libris and Scopus through the search words  “concrete”, “green concrete”, “fly ash”, “sustainable” och “challenges”. The respondents were asked to rate the criteria from one to four on how well the statement agrees with the respondents values. The collected data is presented with a bar graph. The result shows that the highest rated criterion is its Long term properties and the lowest rated criterion is a Possible introduction of a company specific emission ceiling.