Use the rubble from the air base in Erding sensibly: "Every building is a material bank"

Created: 12/16/2022, 08:00

By: Friedbert Holz

They explained how recycling can work in construction (from left): Professor Mikala Holme Samsoe, Building Director Kathrin Fändrich, moderator Mathieu Wellner and student Thomas Rojas Sonderegger.

© Peter Bauersachs

What to do with the 1.55 million tons of rubble that accumulate during the demolition of the air base building in Erding?

Expert suggestion: recycle and reuse.

Erding – “We need real daring.

Building in the future will have to involve a completely new way of dealing with materials, a circular economy, so to speak.” That was the core message of the evening of lectures as part of the “Flying Air Base Tour” series, to which around 50 guests came to the Museum Erding on Wednesday were.

Three experts from the construction and recycling sector explained how something new could be created from old – also in Erding.

"There are several ways to proceed when building the future," says Mikala Holme Samsoe, a Danish professor of architecture who now teaches at the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences.

In addition to higher efficiency, i.e. cheaper or better materials, the other consistency is an alternative, for example concrete made from recycled materials.

After all, sustainability also plays an important role, i.e. the economical use of materials and energy.

"The construction industry has to reinvent itself, and in future cultural and social concerns will also have to be taken into account." Holme Samsoe explained how demolition material can be reused using the old city library in Augsburg.

“Inside the dilapidated building, we used a folding rule to measure everything that could still be needed,” explained the professor.

This included not only windows or doors, but also all tiles, sinks - even the urinals in the toilets.

"Then we photographed everything and put it on the Concular platform, creating a kind of eBay for building materials," says Holme Samsoe.

This effort should pay off: 80 percent of all advertised parts quickly found new owners.

Kathrin Fändrich, director of the Augsburg State Building Authority, was also involved in this project.

"Primarily private house builders took part in Europe's largest building component exchange, but also municipal construction companies and architects' offices who bought for their customers," she explained.

For example, a steel external escape staircase, which would have cost 7,000 euros to dispose of, went to a client in the Upper Palatinate.

"The height corresponded exactly to his house, and he also transported it away immediately," said Fändrich.

Lamps, radiators and door leaves turned out to be the favourites.

And: "A company on Lake Constance bought basement grating from us to build a ramp for their mountain bike park." Of course, dangerous building materials were sorted out and disposed of.

The rest was an "exchange with ideal value".

Not only was a lot of material preserved during this sales campaign, costs were also saved.

"But it requires good nerves and has also cost us a lot of fighting with offices." Because there is often still a Reich doubter mentality, "spiked with traditional bogus arguments as to why something could not work.

That's why I give them the advice in Erding: just do it," said the head of the building authority.

Student Thomas Rojas Sonderegger used concrete numbers to show how this could look like, using the example of the conversion of the air base area.

He studies at the Technical University of Munich and deals intensively with the topic of building material recycling.

"The aim here is to develop processing steps for existing building materials for reuse in structural and civil engineering, so-called upcycling," he explained.

In the air base in particular, there are existing buildings whose construction material can be partially reused.

According to Sonderegger's calculations, the demolition work will result in 1.55 million tons of rubble.

An unimaginably large mountain of material, "with which Erding's entire old town could be covered with a four-meter-high layer." Of this amount, 600,000 tons are likely to be disposed of because they are contaminated with pesticides or asbestos.

However, 950,000 tons could be reused in later new buildings.

Sonderegger's idea: "The site is so large that, for example, a material dump could be created near the existing aircraft shelters - with short distances, because Erding would save around 70,000 truck trips to other dumps."

In the new year, Sonderegger will present his calculations to the Erding city council.

During the discussion, there were specific questions about buildings in the air base, whether existing halls there could be converted or what had to be demolished at all.

Finally, the speakers recommended starting smaller trials in the city before the large-scale project, “because every building is a material bank.

In the future we will have to learn again how to build faster and easier, and maybe also reduce the effort a bit,” she concludes.

also read

Blitzeis: Rush to the emergency room

READ

Suddenly new refugee accommodation: the mayor and neighbors didn't know

READ

Taxler saves pensioner couple from ruin

READ

Lots of plastic and even more cigarette butts

READ

Langgeisling: Not everyone likes densification

READ

Fancy a journey of discovery?

My space

Air base sightseeing flight: The next event in the series will take place on Wednesday, January 18, at 7 p.m. in the museum.

Then the topic is: "Inexpensive living is possible - the Vienna model".