1:32 min., video from 15.01.2021
For one in three Germans, the car is still a status symbol. But due to running costs and the scarcity of parking spaces, more and more city dwellers are giving up their own car. Is it worth relying completely on car sharing?
Source: WISO tip: Car sharing - ZDFmediathek
Keywords:
Construction and operating costs, CarSharing, DE-News, Mobility
More climate protection with the renewable raw material wood. Timber construction in Freiburg is an important instrument in climate protection and indispensable for achieving the city's ambitious climate protection targets. Timber construction can make an effective contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.
For this reason, Environment Mayor Gerda Stuchlik and Building Mayor Martin Haag are today presenting the new timber construction guide and the planned timber construction funding programme, which will be presented to the municipal council for approval at its meeting on 22 October. "18 years after the introduction of the successful "Energy-conscious refurbishment" funding programme, the city is launching another municipal funding programme for more climate protection and sustainability in the building sector with the timber construction funding programme," explains Environment Mayor Gerda Stuchlik. And Building Mayor Martin Haag: "Timber buildings are not only traditional buildings, but also innovative buildings that harbour great potential. For this reason, I am certain that our timber construction funding programme will provide a massive boost, especially in Freiburg's residential construction sector."
The wood that grows and is harvested in the city forest and also in the region can be used in many ways in the construction sector. Wood can easily be used instead of energy and resource-intensive materials such as concrete, steel or aluminium.
Freiburg's municipal forest and the utilisation and use of its wood reduce the carbon footprint by binding, storing and avoiding carbon dioxide. This means that a total of over 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide can be stored or avoided by 2050. For this reason, the city council wants to further promote the use of wood in the construction sector. In 2017, the municipal council commissioned the administration to launch a municipal timber construction promotion programme and to create a timber construction guide, which presents already completed and pioneering timber construction projects in the city district.
Both building blocks are now available, the new timber construction guide and the planned timber construction support programme
The new timber construction guide presents 29 already realised and pioneering timber construction projects in Freiburg. The innovative buildings are intended to inspire and convince interested clients, project organisers, architects, planners and students to take a closer look at timber construction and discover its aesthetics, cost-effectiveness and potential for climate protection and ultimately implement it in their own projects.
pdf-Download Timber Construction Guide (10 MB)
The projects for the timber construction guide were selected by a jury of representatives from the Chamber of Architects, the Architecture Forum, a timber construction engineer, the forestry office and proHolz Schwarzwald. The variety of projects, from the canteen of the Loretto School to the extension of the Breisacher Hof in the city centre, shows how great the potential of timber construction is. From the summit of Schauinsland, where the observation tower and the radionuclide station are two pioneering timber construction projects for their time, to the residential homes in modular timber construction in Merzhauser Strasse and Höllentalstrasse, the projects spread across Freiburg show that even extremely demanding structural challenges can be solved using timber construction.
The timber construction guide not only explains technical details, but in addition to planners and builders, the residents and users of the selected buildings were also asked about their experiences. The timber construction guide was produced in collaboration with proHolz Schwarzwald.
"It is an important signal that the city of Freiburg, with its pioneering role in climate protection and sustainability, is increasingly focusing on timber construction and setting up a municipal funding programme. This strengthens craftsmanship and the timber construction industry in the region as well as sustainable forest management and thus climate protection and regional value creation beyond the city limits," explains Michael Hafner from proHolz Schwarzwald.
The planned timber construction funding programme, for which around 300,000 euros in funding will be available in 2020, which will be partly financed from climate protection funds from the concession fee, is intended to realise even more timber buildings in the future, especially in residential construction in Freiburg.
Builders and planners are currently increasingly discovering the possibilities and designing pioneering timber buildings or timber hybrid buildings. With the amendment to the state building regulations that came into force on 1 August 2019, the state government has made a further contribution to facilitating the use of wood and putting wood on an equal footing with other building materials in Baden-Württemberg.
However, the city wants to promote the use of wood not only for design reasons, but above all for ecological reasons. The city's timber construction programme consists of three components: The financial promotion of timber construction, the timber construction prize and the promotion and support through advice, networking and advertising of timber construction. The city has already created an additional half-time architect position for this purpose, which is based at the Building Law Office and starts work on 1 December.
The city wants to promote specific timber construction projects with the planned timber construction funding programme. The aim is to bind as much CO2 as possible in the long term in order to counteract climate change. The new programme is also intended to promote residential construction projects with four or more residential units as well as additional living space in existing buildings through extensions. The funding programme has easy-to-understand criteria so that there is as much time as possible to advise those wishing to build. Funding is based on the mass of the building.
The second component of the timber construction programme is the awarding of a timber construction prize. The aim of the prize is to highlight individual buildings in Freiburg and thus present building with wood to a wider public. The city's timber construction prize will be awarded for the first time in early 2021 for buildings completed in 2019 and 2020.
In addition to the new funding programme and the future timber construction prize, the timber construction funding office in the Building Law Office will advise interested parties and organise consultations in future.
Keywords:
Building materials / Construction, DE-News, Funding, Wood construction, Climate protection, Communities, NaWaRohs, Sustainable management, News Blog Baden-Württemberg, Quarters, Settlements, Housing, Housing policy, Life cycle assessment, Ecology
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Blogs & Portals, Cohousing, DE-News, Media, Quarters, Build it yourself, Settlements, Social / Culture, Residential, Housing projects, eG
"The raw material wood is precious. It is therefore important to use it responsibly and in a way that conserves resources," warns Peter Aicher, Chairman of Holzbau Deutschland. Even if wood is affected by environmental influences or the bark beetle, it does not represent an inferior raw material, but has almost identical properties to conventional construction timber. "If the so-called 'calamity wood' has the same structural quality in terms of load-bearing capacity as conventional sawn timber, it can be used without restrictions," explains Aicher. In addition, the wood retains its important function as a CO2 sink, regardless of external impairments.
"If the wood is used as a building material, the carbon bound in the wood remains stored there in the long term, thereby significantly reducing the burden on the environment."
The goal must be an economically and ecologically sensible and efficient use of the domestic resource. In the interests of sustainability and climate protection, regional wood resources should therefore be used optimally.
Calamity wood is of high quality and can be used without restrictions
In most cases, bark beetle infestation is irrelevant for the use of the wood as a building material. The bark beetle lays its burrows in the bast, i.e. the area between the bark (bark) and the trunk, but not in the load-bearing wood itself. In addition, the sawn timber is technically dried during further processing. During this process at the latest, any remaining populations of insect pests are reliably killed off, so that beetle-free timber processed into sawn timber is guaranteed to be beetle-free. Every piece of sawn timber - regardless of its origin - must meet the criteria of DIN standard 4074 in order to be used as load-bearing timber in a building. In some cases, the wood turns a slightly bluish colour after a bark beetle infestation. It can then be used in the non-visible area.
Environmental factors and the effects of climate change have further facilitated the mass spread of the bark beetle in the past year. In most cases, rapid felling of the affected trees is the only alternative to stop the further spread of the pest. The logs are immediately removed from the forest and stored. This results in an oversupply of so-called 'beetle wood'. The prompt further processing of the calamity wood into sawn timber is an active contribution to climate protection.
Holzbau Deutschland appeals to the public sector as well as to architects and builders to make greater use of regional calamity wood and to specify this in tenders. The use of domestic calamity wood not only supports regional value creation, but is also a sign of solidarity with regional forest owners.
Source: Holzbau Deutschland-PM from 5.3.2021
Keywords:
Building materials / Construction, Procurement, DE-News, Wood construction, Climate protection, NaWaRohs, Sustainable management, Quarters, Resource efficiency, Settlements, City, Housing
