Review on FACHTAGUNG ABBRUCH 2024

The industry get-together – with a new concept and core theme

On March 22, the FACHTAGUNG ABBRUCH 2024 took place in Berlin. 124 exhibitors and over 1,200 participants attended this year of the invitation of the German Demolition Association (DA) on Europe’s largest conference on demolition and dismantling. The entire industry event was under the central theme of “Sustainability in demolition”.

The FACHTAGUNG ABBRUCH took place for the fourth time in the former Postbahnhof at STATION-Berlin. On a net area of over 1,180 square meters, 124 exhibitors and over 1,200 representatives from the demolition industry and related companies had the opportunity to find out about products and services relating to demolition, pollutant remediation and recycling. For the first time, Europe’s largest demolition industry meeting had a thematic focus: the topic of “Sustainability in demolition” was at the forefront of all program items. A new feature was a panel discussion in the morning with renowned experts, entrepreneurs and scientists, followed by an audience discussion.

„Sustainability is a welcome opportunity for the demolition industry!“

The conference visitors had access to STATION-Berlin at 8 a.m. As soon as they arrived, they had the opportunity to visit the exhibition area to network and exchange ideas with exhibitors and other visitors.

DA Managing Director Andreas Pocha opened the event with the words “The topic of sustainability is a welcome opportunity for the demolition industry! It is of central importance for a functioning and coherent circular economy in construction.”

He added: “Without our secondary materials from demolition, a genuine circular economy will not be possible.” This was the starting signal for the panel discussion and a series of other presentations.

Demolition industry remains at a very high level in terms of innovation, sustainability and recycling

In his opening lecture “Sustainability in demolition – Status quo and Visions”, Dipl.-Ing. Johannes Harzheim gave a review of 20 years of common recycling practice in the demolition industry, an insight into the legal framework and an outlook for the future.

The demolition industry is still at a very high level in terms of innovation, sustainability and recycling, but the external image must be further improved with regard to sustainability, CO2 balance, urban mining and labor recruitment.

Conserving resources as top priority

Sustainability experts Prof. Dr. Christian Berg, Thomas Hagedorn, Sybille Mai and Johannes Schlenter then discussed the topics raised in the introductory lecture in the newly created panel discussion. Moderator Kristina zur Mühlen led the discussion and then guided the audience through the entire lecture program. Together with the participants, she addressed, among other things, the thesis put forward by Prof. Dr. Berg that all other options should first be carefully considered before demolishing a building. The primary goal for the entire economy is to conserve resources, which, according to Thomas Hagedorn, no other industry does better than the demolition sector in view of the over 90% recycling rate of mineral building materials. However, it would be important to replace the word “waste”, for example, and to use a more positive term in order to raise the public profile of recycled materials and the demolition industry.

Although acceptance has increased somewhat since the Substitute Building Materials Ordinance came into force, the public sector must play an even greater role and fulfill its exemplary function. It should therefore also be mandatory to include recycled materials in tenders and not just primary building materials. Overall, Prof. Dr. Christian Berg believes that more needs to be done to raise awareness of the issue of used materials. Sybille Mai advocates including the construction products industry in the cycles. She sees future collaborations with manufacturers and recycling companies as an opportunity for the industry, with the aim of bringing many high-quality materials into the cycle. Whether reusing or recycling – according to Johannes Schlenter, both should be equally valued, because the main thing is that the materials remain in the cycle.

New approaches to R-concrete, digitalization and the EU Taxonomy Regulation

This was followed by six further presentations with subsequent questions from the audience, including from Lena Näßl and Michael Appel from PST Spezialtiefbau Süd GmbH, who presented a test series with concrete with 100% recycled aggregate in their presentation “Urban Mining in perfection” in order to make the production of concrete more sustainable.

Katrin Bahlo explained the advantages of digitization for the demolition industry and presented the functions of the Madaster platform, which can provide information on the amount of secondary material, material recycling and the dismantling of existing buildings, for example.

Buildings are key to climate protection, which is why Dr. Christine Lemaitre from DGNB GmbH believes that sustainability doesn’t just start with new construction, but also with demolition. This is why the DGNB now has a new certificate for the end of life of buildings in the initial application phase. The aim of the certificate is to close material flows in current demolition projects and promote existing building fabric. The aim is to create incentives for reuse, recycling and the networking of demolition and new construction.

Demolition material can store CO2. Valentin Gutknecht from neustark AG spoke about the opportunities this also presents for the demolition industry. Environmental Adviser Katrin Mees from DA e.V. explained what opportunities the EU Taxonomy Regulation offers for the demolition industry.

Finally, members of the Professional Committee Blasting Technology in the DA presented best practices of controlled blasting of buildings and highlighted the challenges that the individual contracts pose for blasting technology. The topics of resident and species protection and resource conservation played just as much a role as the technical aspects of blasting.

The Dialogue Evening, which also took place at STATION-Berlin after the actual conference, offered trade visitors and exhibitors further networking opportunities. The exhibition remained open throughout the evening.

Outlook for 2025

Interested parties can already make a note of the date for the FACHTAGUNG ABBRUCH 2025, which will once again take place at STATION-Berlin on March 14, 2025.

The DA provides information on the FACHTAGUNG ABBRUCH on the website https://www.fachtagung-abbruch.de/en. All other topics relating to the industry and the association can be found at https://www.deutscher-abbruchverband.de/en