Building Ministers’ Conference: Open letter on the building turnaround

Planners and academics from the Chamber of Architects, bda and Architects for Future are calling on politicians to take action in an open letter. They are calling for a sustainable turnaround in construction at the Construction Ministers’ Conference.

The Construction Ministers’ Conference 2022

This year’s Conference of Building Ministers took place in Stuttgart on September 22 and 23. Baden-Württemberg is holding the rotating presidency of the conference for 2022 and 2023. The federal state is therefore chairing the working group.

At the conference of construction ministers, it quickly became clear that the federal government, states and local authorities are facing major challenges. In particular, the issue of affordable housing was at the forefront. The focus was on the question of how housing can be designed not only affordably, but also with dignity and in harmony with nature.

The participants also discussed the ongoing consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. City centers in particular have been hit hard. The trend towards living and working in the countryside is growing. Therefore, one goal of the construction industry is now to create equal living conditions in the countryside and in the city.

The current rise in energy prices is also having a major impact on the housing construction industry, as are high material prices and interest rates. In response to this, the 2022 Conference of Construction Ministers called for a government framework to further promote housing construction. “As a result of the war and the energy crisis, we are also facing a crisis in construction and housing. This is another area where the times are changing,” said Nicole Razavi (CDU), head of Baden-Württemberg’s department and Chair of the Conference of Building Ministers.

400,000 new homes nationwide?

Even before the war in Ukraine, the target of 400,000 new homes per year was ambitious. The now exploding prices in the construction sector make the target even more difficult to achieve. However, it emerged at the conference of construction ministers that the federal and state governments want to stick to the target. 200,000 new homes are expected to be built in 2022. In 2021, the figure was just under 300,000 housing units. Federal Construction Minister Klara Geywitz said on the last day of the Construction Ministers’ Conference: “The target is the target. And the target is not a political invention, but derived from demand.”

At the end of the conference, participants adopted the Stuttgart Declaration. The document contains the following points:

• Calling for reliable and stimulating state framework conditions for housing construction
• Limiting the financial burden on tenants and landlords
• Welcoming the planned housing benefit reform and the heating cost subsidy
• Call for significantly simplified procedures for financial relief
• Reaffirmation of the target market of 400,000 apartments per year
• Criticism of the reform of funding for energy-efficient buildings and the KfW funding freeze in 2022

Open letter on the occasion of the Conference of Building Ministers

Deutsche Umwelthilfe and Architects for Future wrote an open letter on the occasion of the Conference of Building Ministers to call for a sustainable turnaround in construction. They call for conversion to become the standard and for the entire life cycle of buildings to be taken into account.

According to the two authors, the production, construction, use and disposal of buildings cause around 40 percent of Germany’s total CO2 emissions. They are therefore calling for a model building code that focuses on climate protection and sustainable construction and renovation. It should prioritize the refurbishment and conversion of existing buildings over replacement or new construction. In addition, Umwelthilfe and Architects for Future have called for a reduction in energy requirements over the entire life cycle of buildings.

These measures serve as concrete immediate aid for a sustainable building turnaround. The required amendment to the Model Building Code is intended to help achieve climate targets, promote resource conservation and introduce a circular economy in the construction sector. Back in July 2021, Architects for Future sent proposals for a conversion code to the Conference of Building Ministers. This was supported by a broad alliance from the construction and real estate industry.

DUH Federal Managing Director Barbara Metz said: “Only with climate-friendly and resource-saving construction and renovation can we achieve the statutory climate protection targets. At present, the building sector is still not on the right track and is missing its climate targets year after year.”

Energy demand as a central assessment parameter

Deutsche Umwelthilfe and Architects for Future also demanded that the energy requirement should remain a central assessment parameter for the climate-neutral building stock. This is important for the updating of the Building Energy Act (GEG). Harmful greenhouse gas emissions over the life cycle are also an important assessment parameter.

The authors of the open letter are critical of the fact that the Conference of Building Ministers sees greenhouse gas emissions as the key indicator. They call for energy requirements to be retained as an additional important assessment parameter when updating the GEG and federal funding for efficient buildings. This is because greenhouse gas emissions alone are not sufficient as an indicator to enable socially responsible climate protection. Although heating with renewable energies can reduce CO2 emissions, it does not help to reduce energy requirements. This means that neither the energy sector nor people’s bills are relieved.

In the open letter, Architects for Future called on the Conference of Building Ministers to adopt the model building code and adapt the regulations directly in the respective state building codes. This should make it possible to make climate-neutral and recyclable construction as well as building in existing buildings the standard.

The building turnaround

Buildings are not only responsible for greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption, but also for around half of raw material extraction and large amounts of waste. They therefore make a major contribution to global warming and resource consumption. The current way of building is therefore not sustainable.

Massive efforts are needed to achieve the global climate target of limiting global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees. There are important starting points, particularly in the operation and manufacture of buildings. Resource conservation is also part of the building turnaround. This includes the environmentally friendly extraction of materials as well as the reuse of demolition materials.

A circular construction model considers the end of the building’s life and the reuse of materials from the outset. By using as many recyclable materials as possible, high-quality recycling is possible. This brings ecological as well as social and economic benefits and savings.

Also interesting: IG Bau is calling for more expertise in refurbishments in order to achieve climate targets.