Construction industry

The architecture project "Hive Home - Living in the City of the Future" at Koblenz University of Applied Sciences has received funding of 156,000 euros from the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy and Mobility. The project focuses on the realization of an ecological living concept that enables comfortable living in a small space. The Tinyhouse was designed by students...

CBRE-empirica's vacancy index recorded a historic decline in vacant apartments in Germany at the end of 2022. The vacancy rate fell by around 53,000 units compared to 2021 to 554,000, which corresponds to 2.5% of the total stock. This decline is the largest in the 22-year history of the index. In 2022, immigration from Ukraine had a strong influence on the...

The Berufsgenossenschaft der Bauwirtschaft (BG BAU) is introducing new regulations and services in 2024. These include the 4th hazard tariff, which reorganizes the calculation of contributions by assigning hazard classes to the tariff points. This change affects companies in the prefabricated house construction and prefabricated part manufacturing sectors, which are assigned to other branches of industry. A new reporting portal will also be introduced...

The GdW Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies points out that a current legal opinion by Prof. Stefan Leupertz sheds light on the possibility of using simpler standards in construction contract law to build more cheaply without compromising the quality of living. According to the GdW, the current strict DIN standards often lead to unnecessarily high construction costs. The report recommends...

Information on construction contract law is provided by the Association of Private Building Owners (VPB) in a free PDF document. Construction contract law in Germany has undergone a significant reform, which has been effective since 2018. This change represents a significant step in consumer protection, especially for those who invest in the construction or purchase of a property as a layperson. According to VPB, choose...

Interested parties can find information on topics such as building, buying, renovating and financing on the "Wohnen und Finanzieren" blog. The blog is aimed at builders and buyers with real estate projects. They are kept up to date with regularly updated articles, advice and case studies. The main aim of the blog is to provide builders and buyers with clear guidance in the...

The German Bundestag has passed important amendments to the Federal Building Code (BauGB) that will make a significant contribution to legal clarity when drawing up development plans in outdoor areas. The focus is on the introduction of Section 215a of the Building Code (BauGB), a "repair provision" that replaces the previous Section 13b BauGB. This step follows a ruling by the...

In September 2023, residential construction in Germany reached a new low: according to the German Construction Industry Association, the number of building permits fell by 29.7 percent to 19,300 apartments - the lowest rate since 2013. Chief Executive Tim-Oliver Müller expressed his concern about this continuing decline. He emphasized that neither political summits nor previous...

Which floor covering is the right one for your apartment or house? It depends not only on the room in which it is laid, but also on personal requirements and appearance. In a series of pictures, the portal "schoener-wohnen.de" shows various floor coverings and also breaks down the advantages and disadvantages of the different variants. Parquet flooring, for example, is considered...

The Bauherren-Schutzbund (BSB) warns of a significant decline in interest in property modernization among private owners. A recent BSB survey shows that only a third of owners of older properties are planning energy modernization measures. Worryingly, 61 percent of those surveyed had no plans whatsoever to modernize their...