Construction industry

The Construction Circular Economy Initiative under the auspices of the German Building Materials Association recently published a new monitoring report with figures on the generation and fate of mineral construction waste. According to Dr. Matthias Frederichs, Managing Director of the German Building Materials Association, "mineral construction waste is now almost completely...

A new design strategy for processing medium manganese steel with improved properties has now been developed by a research team, mainly from China's Northeastern University and the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research (MPIE) in Düsseldorf. During development, the research team took into account the fact that steels now not only have to be sustainable, strong and formable, but...

The German Architecture Prize 2023 is being awarded by the Federal Ministry of Building and the Chamber of Architects. Proposals for exemplary buildings or building ensembles can be submitted until Wednesday, March 29, 4 pm. These must have been built in Germany between January 1, 2021 and January 15, 2023. Proposals can also be submitted for buildings or building ensembles abroad.

The German Quality Association for Furniture (DGM) advises people to try out chairs and upholstered furniture extensively before buying. Prospective buyers should take 30 minutes or more to test the new piece of furniture. According to the DGM, they should not only check the individual seating comfort, but also take a closer look at the other features of the piece of furniture. In doing so...

The "Social Housing" alliance is calling on the federal and state governments to launch a joint "social housing offensive". A special fund of 50 billion euros must be made available by the state for social housing by 2025 in order to achieve the target of 400,000 social housing units by the end of the legislative period. Only 20,000 social housing units were built in 2022. The alliance is also calling for...

Interested parties can still apply for the Aerogel Architecture Award 2023 until Sunday, April 30, 2023 (11:59 p.m.). The "Realized Solutions" category is looking for internationally realized projects by architects and civil engineers in which aerogel is used in a special way. Students can submit their project ideas in the "Student designs" category.

The Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) has looked at living conditions in cities, districts and regions against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and published a corresponding publication. The "Atlas of Urban and Regional Development" is also dedicated to the area of housing. Among other things, the authors have analyzed the development of rental and...

The price of new-build apartments rose by around 17% from November 2021 to November 2022. This was reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Increased prices for various services and materials are likely to have had a significant impact on this. According to Destatis, prices for roofing and sealing work, among other things, rose by 20.3% in the period in question, while prices for...

Roofers and electricians will cooperate in future to pool their knowledge of photovoltaic systems. This was decided by the Central Association of German Electrical and IT Trades (ZVEH) and the Central Association of German Roofers (ZVDH). As part of the cooperation, further training in relation to photovoltaic systems is planned, among other things. The aim of the...

If home builders want to create a raised wooden bed in their garden, on their patio or on their balcony, they can find tips on the "bauen.de" portal. First, 2.5 to 5 centimetre thick wooden slats (depending on requirements) must be purchased for the side walls as well as squared timber or posts for stabilization and coated with an appropriate protective glaze. Then the...