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• Prolonging life cycle of construction material has significant environmental effect. • Reusing structural timber leads to significant reduction of the environmental burden. • It is preferable to prioritize material recovery rather than energy recovery. • Main concerns to reuse structural timber lie in guaranteeing the strength properties. • Policymaker is considered as the motive for initiating the circular economy of wood. The aim of this study is to investigate the economic, environmental and technological challenges, as well as the environmental potential, of prolonging the life cycle of construction materials with focus on structural timber in Finland. To achieve this, a literature review was conducted along with interviews with actors pertinent to timber construction. Moreover, a case study of life cycle environmental impact assessment was conducted to quantify the potential of reusing timber to abate global warming and other environmental burden. The literature review highlighted the possibility of reusing structural timber, but pointed to the need for efficient and standardized assessment criteria. The interviews indicated interest towards the concept of circular economy applied to construction and demolition wood material, although this appears to be driven more by policy and regulation rather than for business reasons. Therefore, a reconfigured conceptual framework to achieve circularity for wood is proposed, where material brokers would be used to connect different actors along the value chain. The paper concludes with a case study showing that reusing structural timber components can result in a significant reduction of the environmental burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]