Finally an industry get-together again – with a new visitor record

On March 3rd the FACHTAGUNG ABBRUCH took place again in Berlin. 117 exhibitors and over 1200 participants attended this year of the invitation of the Deutscher Abbruchverband e.V.(German Demolition Association) on Europe’s largest conference on demolition and dismantling. Once again, the industry event, which for the third time took place in the former Postbahnhof of the Station Berlin, reached a new visitor record.

The industry has been waiting for this: for two years, the FACHTAGUNG ABBRUCH was cancelled due to Corona, now finally more than 1200 representatives of the demolition industry and industry-related companies came together again in the event halls of Station Berlin. As a result, there were more visitors than ever before. They informed themselves about current developments, technological innovations and interesting projects and took the opportunity for intensive exchange and networking.

Sustainability central topic at the conference

The topic of sustainability and building material recycling was of particular concern to the industry this year. DA Managing Director Andreas Pocha emphasized in his welcoming speech that the demolition industry has been working for environmental protection for a long time: after all, in Germany over 90% of all mineral construction waste is already recycled, in the case of construction rubble it is even 94%.The EU demands a recycling rate of just 70% for mineral construction waste: “Recyclers and demolition contractors are the real environmentalists,” says Pocha.

Using the great crises of our time as an opportunity for something new

This year’s keynote speech was held by journalist and publicist Dr. Hajo Schumacher. The former Spiegel journalist drew a line from the dilapidated bridges in Germany to the major crises of this time: he sees German society at a crossroads in the time of the Ukraine war and climate crisis. He pleads for politicians to show more understanding.

Politics cannot be better than the people who elect them – and voters, the majority of whom currently belong to the elderly, do not necessarily want to solve urgent problems such as the climate crisis or digitization first. But: Crises would open up possibilities, and he very much hoped that the current government would use the opportunities that arise from the crises to lead Germany into a good future. Finally, he pleaded for taking good care of our democracy – and not losing sight of the advantages. Because, according to Schumacher: “Democracies can correct mistakes – dictatorships cannot”.

“Ersatzbaustoffverordnng” under criticism

Several of the following lectures dealt with the challenge of the change towards more sustainability for the demolition industry. Sarah Sinnwell and Michael Wagner from BST Becker Sanierungstechnik GmbH in Bottrop described the complex paths that must be taken if a building demolition is to be certified by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), the lawyer Dr. Peter Kersandt from the law firm AVR Berlin described the challenges facing the industry as a result of the “Ersatzbaustoffverordnung”, which comes into force on 1.8.2023. One of the problems: there is still a lack of a legally secure regulation on the subject of waste end of substitute building materials.

Recycled building materials are good because they are tested

Thomas Fischer from QUBA GmbH pointed out which paths must be taken for the certification of secondary building materials before they can be used in technical buildings or in construction products: the certification by QUBA is currently the only one that is valid nationwide.

Corinna Lee Schmitz and Gianna Kung from Bau- und Liegenschaftsbetrieb NRW showed how urgently these building materials are needed: the entire NRW state administration wants to be climate-neutral as early as 2030. The construction sector is to play its part through recycled building materials, the recycling of components and the use of recycled and environmentally friendly concrete.

The industry masters demanding large-scale projects

The challenges that major projects entail were shown, among other things, by the lectures by Robert Oettinger from Oettinger GmbH on the dismantling of the KSC stadium: this had to take place during ongoing match operations, and by Stefan Scholz and Kurt Bicker from Max Wild GmbH about the demolition of the Neckar viaduct near Heilbronn: for this purpose, shipping traffic was allowed to be stopped for just 48 hours.

Finally, the members of the demolition committee of the DA impressively demonstrated using the example of the “White Giant” residential complex in Duisburg that blasting is also possible in close proximity to other houses and has a great time advantage over conventional demolition.

The opportunity for exchange!

The participants also use the day from 8 a.m. until well after midnight for intensive exchange and networking – in the evening they also relaxed while eating and drinking together at the so-called dialogue evening, which was musically accompanied by the Berlin DJ Twizzstar.

Outlook for 2024

Interested parties can already save the date for the FACHTAGUNG ABBRUCH 2024, which will take place on 22 March 2024 again at STATION-Berlin.

Information on the FACHTAGUNG ABBRUCH is provided by the DA on the https://www.fachtagung-abbruch.de/ website. All other topics relating to the industry and the association can be found on https://www.deutscher-abbruchverband.de/