Published: 20 January 2025
Text: Anne-Marie Korseberg Stokke
Photo: Anne-Marie Korseberg Stokke
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Loopfront is a Norwegian company that has developed a digital platform for reusing building materials and furniture. Five years ago, an architect frustrated by the lack of effective tools for reuse in construction projects conceived the idea. Together with four others, he started Loopfront, aiming to make reuse easy and accessible for everyone.
“With Loopfront, a company can track all their furniture and building materials. They can more easily see if something can be used elsewhere in the company or potentially sold to someone else,” says Taru Holm, Chief Commercial Officer at Loopfront.
The platform functions as a marketplace, similar to finn.no, where companies can buy and sell used materials internally or externally. This increases visibility and accessibility to materials that would otherwise be discarded, helping to reduce costs, waste, and CO2 emissions. Additionally, Loopfront offers tools for mapping and managing materials, as well as reporting features that make it easier for companies to document their sustainability efforts.
“Our customers use the solution to record everything from PCs and conference room equipment to ventilation systems, playground equipment, or toilets. Trondheim municipality even maps apple trees and uses Loopfront to keep track of trees that are sick or need replacing.”
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“Trondheim municipality has storage solutions that allow them to preserve furniture and building materials, use them later themselves, or sell them on. As a result, they are now saving about 1-2 million each month, in addition to the obvious sustainability benefits."
Taru Holm, LoopfrontReusing furniture and fixtures can lead to significant savings for both public and private organizations.
“In Asker, when three municipalities merged and moved to a new building, they managed to reuse or acquire used items for 98% of all inventory from 24 separate locations. They only bought 2% new.”
Holm says one of the biggest challenges they face is changing industry practices. The construction industry has been characterized by linear thinking for decades, focusing on efficiency and "just in time" deliveries. Additionally, there is a lack of storage solutions for used materials. To succeed in reuse, the industry must shift to a more circular approach, requiring a change in mindset and a willingness to invest in new solutions.
“Trondheim municipality has storage solutions that allow them to preserve furniture and building materials, use them later themselves, or sell them on. As a result, they are now saving about 1-2 million each month, in addition to the obvious sustainability benefits,” says Holm.
Many companies try to keep track of materials using spreadsheets and email, but this is not scalable and limits the potential for effective reuse. Loopfront's goal is to "democratize" materials by making them visible and accessible to everyone, thus facilitating a more circular system.
Since its start in 2018, Loopfront has experienced positive growth. The company currently has around 80 paying customers in Norway, Sweden, and Germany, and sees increasing interest in reuse, especially among public customers, property owners, and larger companies.
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