Construction industry

Together with partners, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA has developed a bivalent furnace that can switch flexibly between electricity and gas, thereby reducing energy costs in the production of castings. The innovative approach is designed to enable companies to react to fluctuations in electricity prices and manage their energy supply more efficiently.

Innovative online kitchen planners offer consumers a quick and realistic way to visualize their dream kitchen and have long since replaced hand-drawn sketches. "Buying a new fitted kitchen must have been a matter of absolute trust in the past," says Volker Irle, Managing Director of AMK - Arbeitsgemeinschaft Die Moderne Küche. Whereas in the past...

A home is a reflection of your own preferences and lifestyle. The kitchen plays a key role in this and the current trend is towards open-plan kitchen concepts. Up to 90 percent of all new builds are to be fitted with open-plan kitchens. Open-plan kitchens are modern, spacious and prestigious. The lack of walls creates a harmonious transition between the individual...

In 2022, 1,900 more apartments were completed in Germany than in 2021 (+0.6%). According to the Federal Statistical Office, 295,300 new apartments were built. However, the 2020 level of 306,400 apartments was not reached. Of the completed apartments, 258,800 were new-build apartments in residential buildings. The differences in construction output varied depending on the type of...

The Berlin Botanic Garden warns against blind actionism in species protection. Thomas Borsch, Director of the Botanical Garden, emphasizes the need for sound knowledge about biodiversity and species protection. He argues that well-intentioned but uninformed actions such as the indiscriminate sowing of seeds can even do harm. The conservation of a species is more complex than generally assumed. The...

How do employees who mainly work outdoors protect themselves from intense sunlight? And what precautionary measures do employers take? Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have now investigated this. The study shows that there are differences in terms of gender, industry sector and working hours when it comes to individual...

Building owners in Germany are to be able to submit their building applications digitally this year. Felix Pakleppa, Managing Director of the German Construction Industry Association (ZDB), welcomes this development. However, he is calling for mandatory guidelines. By the end of 2023, more than half of the lower building supervisory authorities are to go digital, according to the Federal Building Ministry. "That is...

The proposals for changes to the construction contract law of the German Civil Code (BGB) have met with resistance from the construction industry. The core of these proposed amendments concerns the possibility for clients to independently change contractually agreed services. The construction trade and construction industry associations reject the abolition of the attempt to reach an agreement before such an amendment...

The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has a direct impact on spatial development in Germany and Europe. It has an impact on the supply of energy and raw materials and raises questions about the resilience of settlement structures and the protection of critical infrastructure. In its current issue, the specialist journal IzR of the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR)...

A bio-inspired microphone that could revolutionize speech recognition in smart home applications has recently been developed by Ilmenau University of Technology together with research partners. The microphone mimics the human ear and thus improves speech recognition in noisy environments. This technology could enable complete acoustic systems consisting of a microphone and speech recognition to...