Even investors with a strong awareness of the issue of #sustainability still too often decide against a more climate-friendly design variant for their building projects. There are several reasons for this.

First and foremost, they stick to conventional, but more climate-damaging construction methods for cost reasons. Secondly, they avoid risks that are suspected in the use of new building products, but are mostly rather unfounded.

In order to bring about a rethink here, the legislator is called upon to amend the Building Energy Act (GEG, Gebäudeenergiegesetz) from 2020 so that emissions from the building support structure are limited. In addition, financial incentives must be created for investors in the form of rewards or disadvantages, since up to now no polluter-related damage repair has applied, but the general public has paid for it.

As already mentioned, the potential savings are enormous. Experiences in model projects show that greenhouse gas emissions from the production of the supporting structure can be reduced to up to 70% without changing the marginal criteria (for example, the deformation and settlement criteria or criteria for structural fatigue). Studies according to Wrede/Wong show that the greatest savings potential lies in the foundation structures (approx. 64%) and ceiling structures (approx. 20%). The latter supporting structures are, for example, emission-reducing in the ribbed variant, but more labour-intensive.

However, it is not only the investors who are challenged in the implementation, but also the planners and the construction industry in particular. The planning teams often seem limited in their options. Standards and guidelines often force them into a tight corset of strict requirements. In the meantime, however, many planners have set out to take new innovative paths here and thus also stand out from the competition. The building industry must also make more attractive offers in terms of price with alternative building materials. Modular building and the establishment of cement substitutes are essential "building blocks" on the way to emission-free building.

In the future, it should and must be worthwhile to implement projects in a more sustainable way so that the climate goals can be achieved. In the first step, politics is called upon to create trend-setting incentives. But also planners and the construction industry must also set out to provide know-how and appropriate materials in the future.

What do you think about the topic? How important is sustainability in your construction projects and in the awarding of construction contracts?