The prize has been organised since 2005 by the Senator for the Environment, Building and Transport in cooperation with the Federal Chamber of Architects. Previously known as the Bremer Bauherrenpreis, the competition recognises the commitment of builders in Bremen and Bremerhaven. The aim is to showcase the range of services offered by housing construction in the state of Bremen and to provide impetus for future building projects.
The next award ceremony will take place in spring 2018.
The city is to become cleaner and quieter: Under the heading "blue_village_Franklin", important future topics such as new mobility, energy efficiency, climate-optimised living or smart grids are being tested with the conversion of the former military area FRANKLIN. The SQUARE project, two model houses renovated according to the latest energy standards, and the electromobile bus lines 66 and 67 are part of this master plan. Franz Untersteller MdL, State Minister for the Environment, Climate and Energy Management, visited the two model projects in the new urban quarter on Tuesday, 4 August, as part of his summer tour "Environmental Future".
"With SQUARE, the city of Mannheim and the Mannheim housing association are showing a way to design climate- and energy-optimised living in existing buildings," said the Environment Minister during his visit. "It is impressive to see what has been implemented here in terms of building refurbishment, electromobility and smart grids. And it will be exciting to evaluate the results of this model project and make them usable for other projects."
Lord Mayor Dr. Peter Kurz explains: "With Franklin, an ecological urban quarter for over 9,000 people is being created that will set new standards. Our goal is to consume as little energy as possible throughout the district, to generate as much renewable energy locally as possible and to cause as few emissions as possible. In this context, the SQUARE model project presents two interesting approaches to solutions."
Back in 2014, the model project for energy-efficient building refurbishment SQUARE (smart quarter and urban area reducing emissions) was awarded a prize in the "Klimaschutz mit System" (Climate Protection with a System) competition run by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment. The SQUARE project application was prepared by the City of Mannheim's Economic Development Department in cooperation with the Climate Protection Control Centre. Thanks to the award, SQUARE was able to be included in the ERDF funding programme at the time and supported with three million euros. "SQUARE stands for one of the most ambitious projects in the field of GreenTech and climate protection in the city of Mannheim in the past decade. It is one of the pioneering projects developed from the "Blue City Mannheim" strategy concept of the Economic Development Department. The green tech innovation strategy from 2013 is still highly topical and sets the course for climate-neutral mobility and smart grids," emphasizes Mayor Michael Grötsch.
GBG - Mannheimer Wohnungsbaugesellschaft finally successfully implemented the model project on FRANKLIN. The first tenants moved in at the end of 2019. The two almost identical buildings were renovated according to different standards, one building according to the EnEV standard (SQUARE now), the second building with passive house elements according to an EnerPhIT standard (SQUARE next). Technologies such as smart grids, seasonal heat storage using ice storage and intelligent mobility concepts are being tested. The total of 48 rental apartments are spread across 3- to 5-room apartments between 84 and 109 sqm. "We are very excited about the insights we will gain through SQUARE. According to the calculations and simulations, we can achieve a CO2 saving of more than 50 percent in the comparison of the two buildings. In order to be able to save even more CO2, we are relying on the generation of regenerative energies. The ENEV building therefore received a photovoltaic system, the EnerPhIT building a solar thermal system," explains Karl-Heinz Frings, Managing Director of GBG.
"This is where the city of the future with the energy system of the future is being created," explains Bernhard Schumacher, head of the Smart Cities business unit at Mannheim-based energy company MVV. To this end, MVV is using smart technologies and the new possibilities of digitalisation on Franklin and is linking the various sectors intelligently and efficiently with each other - "not only to bring electricity, water, heat and mobility to the district, but also to make the new district the beacon of a necessary energy turnaround at the same time". MVV is also demonstrating what is already possible today in terms of electromobility on Franklin. In addition to environmentally friendly car-sharing solutions, such as FRANKLIN mobil, publicly accessible charging points are being set up, which will be networked with the energy management system and made more flexible. At the same time, the heating sector also plays an indispensable role. MVV has therefore built an innovative low-temperature heating grid here, which also enables the efficient integration of renewable energies.
Another item on the agenda of the visit is the three electric buses of the type E-Citaro, which have been in operation in Franklin on line 67 since April 2019. One of the buses was also funded under SQUARE. The environmentally friendly buses run every 20 minutes between the conversion areas on Franklin and the Käfertal Bahnhof stop. This will give people who already live, work or go to school in Franklin a direct connection to the rnv public transport network. "We are delighted to have EvoBus as a strong partner for this forward-looking project right on the spot," says Martin in der Beek, Technical Managing Director of rnv. "Over the past year, we have gained a lot of valuable knowledge in the operation of conventional electric buses and at the same time proved that the technology can stand up to the rigours of everyday public transport." In the future, however, other forms of propulsion will also be examined, he added. "We are currently looking intensively at the use of hydrogen buses in public transport and will soon be testing this technology at the rnv," reveals in der Beek. "Traveling by public transport is already more environmentally friendly per se than traveling by car, but we want to do even more for climate protection and therefore also convert our vehicle fleet to emission-free drives as far as possible."
Making life in the neighbourhood more ecologically, socially, economically and culturally sustainable together with the residents; that is the aim of "Real-world laboratory 131: KIT finds the city" at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). In Karlsruhe's Oststadt district, researchers in this laboratory are looking for ways to reduce CO2 emissions, conserve resources, strengthen neighbourhoods and improve the health of people in the district. The project has now been honoured twice by the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE).
"The special thing about this project is that we work directly with the people living and working on the ground at eye level and can therefore not only incorporate specific local knowledge and think ahead. Rather, this makes it possible to take action for sustainable development," says Alexandra Quint from the project team at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS). Ways to make neighbourhoods more pedestrian-friendly are being researched, as are new methods for energy-efficient building refurbishment, and services for sustainable living and sustainable mobility behaviour are being developed. The researchers' work is highly interdisciplinary: "Architects, philosophers, landscape planners, cultural scientists, environmental scientists and geoecologists work together in this team," says the urban geographer.
This is not just research, but also very practical work: "For example, there is a newly developed energy concept for increasing the proportion of renewable energies in existing buildings or initiatives for slowing down our increasingly hectic everyday lives," reports Dr Oliver Parodi, Head of Reallabor 131. In the "Beds and Bees" project, citizens and scientists have jointly designed a snack bed with herbs, fruit and vegetables in public spaces and set up a hive as a home for bees. Quint explains that this not only serves to raise environmental and nutritional awareness, but above all to build community. All of this is done in co-operation with civil society groups, the city administration, associations, businesses and, above all, the local citizens who regularly take part.
A series of events also provides approaches and ideas for alternative consumer behaviour. Parodi mentions plant swaps, clothes swap parties and a regular repair café. "Reallabor 131 is designed as a platform for participation and has a strong networking character." The project's own "Future Space for Sustainability and Science", a former shop, combines the characteristics of a neighbourhood office, a science shop and a community centre and is now a popular meeting point, event and educational venue.
According to Quint, the concept is attracting worldwide interest: "The laboratory is a model, is designed to be transferable and has so far been researched by scientists from the Netherlands, Spain and Australia, with requests for cooperation coming from Mexico, Russia, Switzerland, the USA, Estonia, Portugal and Spain."
Honoured as a transformation project
The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), which advises the German government on sustainability issues, has now honoured the Reallabor twice: with the "Project Sustainability 2017" seal of quality and as one of four "transformation projects" nationwide. With this seal, the RNE recognises initiatives from society that make a special contribution to sustainable development in Germany and the world. Around 240 projects applied for the award. According to the jury, the transformation projects honoured have particularly great potential to make the world more sustainable. The awards were presented at the end of May at the RNE's annual conference in Berlin.
The website provides information on all the activities of the real-world laboratory: www.quartierzukunft.de
Council of Ministers approves bill to amend state building code
In its meeting on 26 May 2020, the Rhineland-Palatinate Council of Ministers approved in principle a draft bill to amend, among other things, the Rhineland-Palatinate Building Code. The amendment of the state building code is intended to implement changes to the so-called model building code that have already been adopted or are in preparation.
The amendments to the State Building Code relate in particular to facilitations for building with wood, which the construction ministers of the federal states agreed on at the last Construction Ministers' Conference, according to the official Press release. "I very much welcome the expansion of the possible applications for wood as a material. Wood is a particularly sustainable, environmentally friendly building material that plays an important role in achieving national and international climate protection goals. Moreover, wood is extremely versatile. Components can be produced for all areas of application, and there are particular advantages, for example, for serial construction as well as for conversion and extension measures. Last but not least, wood often enables cost-effective construction and promotes regional forestry, especially in Rhineland-Palatinate. In Rhineland-Palatinate there are many successful, exemplary projects in timber construction," explained Construction Minister Doris Ahnen.
With the amendment of the State Building Code, the use of timber components in taller buildings (especially multi-storey residential buildings) is now to be made possible under certain conditions. Accordingly, wood can be used as a building material for buildings up to a height of 22 metres; previously the limit was 13 metres.
The draft law now goes into the participation and consultation procedure.
Source: PM from Holzbau Deutschland dated 27.5.2020
We use cookies to optimize our website and services.
Functional
Always active
Technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a particular service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that have not been requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access, which is solely for statistical purposes.Technical storage or access used solely for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary consent from your Internet service provider, or additional records from third parties, information stored or accessed for this purpose cannot generally be used alone to identify you.
Marketing
Technical storage or access is necessary to create user profiles, to send advertising or to track the user on a website or across multiple websites for similar marketing purposes.