Baden launches pilot project for reuse in the building park
Baden becomes the pilot city for a new research project on the potential of reusing building components. The aim is to reduce future CO2 emissions already during the construction of buildings.
The city of Baden is the focus of a new research project on the reuse of building components at city level, according to a media release. The research programme Buildings and Cities of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy(SFOE) has been implemented with the participation of the Zurich-based company intep (Integrale Planung GmbH) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich(ETH) with Baden as a case study since January.
The project will run for about two years and is largely financed by the SFOE. The city of Baden is contributing about a quarter of the project costs and the Federal Office for the Environment(FOEN) is also participating. “The city of Baden will benefit from tailor-made findings, especially for the city’s own construction projects and the ongoing revision of the land-use planning,” Markus Schneider, the city mayor, is quoted as saying.
In the research project “Re-Use on the way to the net-zero target for buildings”, the focus is not on recycling building components, but on direct reuse in other buildings. For the project, component flows are being modelled, the environmental impact is being determined and the necessary framework conditions and measures for broad application are being systematically recorded, according to a statement from intep.
“The CO2 emissions of a building over its entire service life – i.e. not only during operation but also during construction – are an important and still underestimated potential for the necessary reduction of CO2 emissions to net zero,” Nadja Lavanga, project manager at intep, is quoted as saying.
Christian Vogler, energy coordinator of the city of Baden, names as reduction potentials “the preservation of existing buildings instead of new ones, circular and resource-saving construction methods, the reuse of building components and recycling”.