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
The construction sector is one of the biggest consumers of resources in Germany. With the "Seeviertel" new housing development, the municipality of Inden in the Rhenish lignite mining region, together with RWE Power, the Aachen-based Kathy Beys Foundation and the development company indeland GmbH, has set itself the goal of halving resource consumption. As the first settlement of its kind in Germany, the Seeviertel demonstrates how energy efficiency and resource conservation can be integrated into neighbourhood development right from the ground-breaking ceremony.
In 2020, the state of Baden-Württemberg intends to support various players in the field of building refurbishment with grants of 10 million as part of the "Climate Protection Plus" funding programme.
Municipalities, businesses, church institutions and associations can submit their applications up to and including 30 November 2020. This applies subject to earlier exhaustion of funds.
Further information and application forms are available on the website of the Ministry of the Environment at www.um.baden-wuerttemberg.de/...
21.01.2020 Everyone is talking about sustainability - including the construction industry. A prize that the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) have been organising since today provides the perfect talking point: With the new "Federal Environment and Building Prize", which will be awarded for the first time in 2020, the initiators want to recognise projects that are exemplary in terms of sustainability - not only in the classic areas of existing and new buildings, but also in five other categories. All players in the construction sector can apply. The closing date for entries is 15 April 2020 and the patron of the competition is the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Svenja Schulze.
The desire of more and more building owners and planners to combine high utility value and architectural quality with Climate - and environmental protection has resulted in many exciting projects. They demonstrate by practical example that sustainable construction offers many advantages over the life cycle - also in terms of costs.
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze: "This is precisely where the Federal Environment and Building Award comes in. On the one hand, the prize is intended to illustrate the spectrum of what is already structurally and technically possible today. On the other hand, it is intended to raise awareness of the outstanding examples through the award and thus invite imitation."
Professor Dirk Messner, President of the Federal Environment Agency: "It's about holistic solutions that incorporate the technology, the design of the building and its surroundings. Individual 'greenfield' projects are expressly not supported. In no other competition is the interplay between the environment and building assessed in such a way as in the Federal Environment & Building Award."
About the Federal AwardIn order to show the breadth of sustainable building, the Federal Award comprises the categories "Residential buildings", "Non-residential buildings", "Neighbourhoods" and "Sustainability and innovations". The first two categories focus in particular on the energy-efficient refurbishment of existing buildings, as this is where the greatest need for action exists from a climate protection perspective.
In addition to these competition categories, the BMU and UBA also award three special prizes for particularly innovative approaches. Under the headings "Resilience" and "Sufficiency", the focus is on adaptation to climate change and strategies for reducing the use of resources. Building projects that take particular account of aspects of biodiversity and thus make a substantial contribution to the protection and implementation of "urban nature" are also to be honoured. The third field "Building envelope & building product" is intended for novel solutions with innovative materials and building constructions.
Conditions of participationDue to the thematic breadth, all players in the construction sector are invited to apply: from clients and property developers to architecture, building services, urban and landscape planning offices, manufacturers and research institutions. The competition is aimed at buildings or neighbourhoods completed in Germany that are at an advanced stage of planning; multiple applications in different categories are possible.
What awaits the winnersThe award winners can look forward to public recognition on several levels. The award ceremony will take place on 29 September at a congress on sustainable building at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in Berlin, where the award-winning projects will be presented to experts and the media. The award-winning projects and their plus points will also be presented on the websites of the UBA and the Federal Ministry for the Environment - including in the form of videos: This is because the UBA is having films made about the award-winning sustainability examples, which the winners can then use for their own public relations work. In addition, all award-winning projects will be documented in a book.
Interested parties can find more information on the conditions of participation in the Federal Environment & Building Award and the selection procedure on the UBA website: www.umweltbundesamt.de/bundespreis-umwelt-bauen-start
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