{"id":54042,"date":"2023-09-11T06:57:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T04:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/news\/motor-fuer-branche-und-bauwende\/"},"modified":"2023-09-11T07:22:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T05:22:11","slug":"motor-fuer-branche-und-bauwende","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/news\/motor-fuer-branche-und-bauwende\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201eOutstanding pioneering work\u201c"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dipl.-Ing. Dagmar Fritz-Kramer
\u00a9 Jongebloed | DBU<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Osnabr\u00fcck. A driving force of the building industry, an eco-pioneer, a forerunner in the changes shaping the construction sector: the medium-sized family company Bau-Fritz GmbH & Co. KG from Erkheim in the Allg\u00e4u region, or Baufritz for short, has, for decades, been demonstrating how prefabricated timber construction in houses, apartments and renovation projects can serve to protect the climate and environment. In recognition of this outstanding work, Dagmar Fritz-Kramer (52), managing director of Baufritz, is the recipient of this year\u2019s German Environmental Award from the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU \u2013 Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt). The 500,000-euro award is one of Europe\u2019s most highly renumerated environmental awards. Fritz-Kramer will share the prize with climate scientist Professor Friederike Otto. The two award winners will receive the award on 29 October in L\u00fcbeck from German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy-efficient, environmentally friendly construction<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Fritz-Kramer carries out outstanding pioneering work with her company,\u2019 says DBU Secretary General Alexander Bonde. \u2018She and her team are a true driving force of industry and the changes shaping the construction sector. The DBU has decided to honour her with the German Environmental Award in recognition of this contribution to energy-efficient, environmentally friendly construction.\u2019 Wood is a central building material resource for the company, both for new construction and for the renovation and addition of new storeys to existing buildings. \u2018Wood is an excellent means of climate protection, as it stores large amounts of carbon and thus prevents the formation of climate-damaging carbon dioxide. It\u2019s almost like building a second forest consisting of houses. This is just the strategy that\u2019s needed to make the building sector climate neutral and to achieve international climate goals,\u2019 says Bonde. Baufritz\u2019 managing director Fritz-Kramer says the upcoming award is \u2018valuable with regard to an important issue\u2019. She adds, \u2018the changes shaping the construction sector pose significant challenges, but also present a lot of opportunities for greater climate protection\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building sector responsible for almost 40 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Germany<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the 2023 Building Report by the German Energy Agency on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, there are currently around 21.4 million buildings in Germany, including approximately two million non-residential buildings. Taken as a whole, these properties cause around 40 per cent of the total emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases (GHG) in Germany \u2013 which in 2022 were a total of 746 million tonnes of GHG, according to the Federal Environment Agency. The main reason for the high level of emissions from the building sector is the vast quantity of old buildings present in Germany. Almost two-thirds of the buildings were constructed prior to 1977 \u2013 before there were any heat insulation regulations in place for the insulation of roofs, ceilings and walls. \u2018We have to get things moving when it comes to renovation,\u2019 says Bonde. The challenge: the European Union is striving for climate neutrality by 2050, and Germany even earlier by 2045. This means no emissions of climate-damaging GHG such as carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>) that cannot be captured elsewhere. Bonde: \u2018Of course, this includes the building sector. However, this also means that this sector can play a huge role in ensuring the success of the energy transition. A key factor in this is wood construction.\u2019 According to a study by Ruhr University Bochum, opportunities will be seen by 2030 if wood is used consistently as a building material: 42 million tonnes of GHG could be saved in Germany alone within the next seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great-grandfather Sylvester Fritz started out with a traditional rural carpentry workshop<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bau-Fritz GmbH & Co.KG has wanted to continue in this tradition now in its fourth generation. It all began in 1896 with Dagmar\u2019s great-grandfather Sylvester Fritz who started his own business. \u2018We can trace our roots back to a traditional rural carpentry workshop. Some of the roof trusses from back then are still there in Erkheim today,\u2019 says Dagmar Fritz-Kramer. She first completed an apprenticeship as a display designer, then caught up on her secondary school qualifications, and finally graduated in interior design and industrial engineering. The mother of two has been a managing partner in the family business since 2004. Around 500 employees work across 15 departments, including a research and development department \u2013 quite remarkable for a medium-sized company. The strategy has certainly paid off: the company now has more than 40 patents and property rights to its name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A superb idea: insulation made from chips, soda and whey<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johann and Hubert, grandfather and father respectively of Dagmar, laid the foundation for the company\u2019s development. Johann came up with the revolutionary idea at the time of prefabricating (wooden) components in external factory floors \u2013 instead of directly on the construction site, as was previously the norm. The family business has perfected this process over the decades. Hubert then had the superb idea \u2013 wholly in the spirit of sustainability, the circular economy and building biology \u2013 of creating energy-efficient, healthy insulation with wood chips that were already being produced at sawmills and planing mills. He persevered, experimented and tinkered for years \u2013 and finally came up with a combination with soda and whey that would meet new specifications for vermin control and fire protection. A patent swiftly followed, and the method became one of Baufritz\u2019 trademarks \u2013 along with a special timber plug-in system and the new idea of an \u2018energy wall module\u2019. According to Dagmar Fritz-Kramer, this is \u2018the technical heart of a building, everything in a single room\u2019 \u2013 from the control cabinet and power stores to the ventilation system, drinking water supply and heat sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Sand is so scarce that we have to extract it from the sea\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fritz-Kramer is convinced that \u2018the building and heating transition will be successful over the next ten years\u2019, but she also believes there is a responsibility on the part of industry to achieve this. \u2018The construction industry still accounts for almost two-thirds of rubbish in waste dumps in Germany. We have to work on this,\u2019 Fritz-Kramer says. In addition to renovation, recycling and resource conservation are also vital factors. \u2018Sand has now become so scarce that we need to extract it from the sea,\u2019 says Fritz-Kramer. In cooperation with sawmills and planing mills in an 120-kilometre radius, Baufritz processes mainly \u2018domestic spruce wood from the local area\u2019 \u2013 out of almost 11,900 cubic metres, around 143,000 square metres of space are created each year, from walls to roofs and ceilings. Fritz-Kramer: \u2018On average, each Baufritz building means CO2<\/sub> savings of around 50 tonnes. This corresponds to roughly 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos according to IPTC standard for free publication are available from <\/strong>www.dbu.de<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Media & Informations<\/h3>\n\n\n
<\/i><\/div>
Pressemitteilung<\/div><\/div><\/a>
<\/i><\/div>
Press release: \u2018Outstanding pioneering work\u2019<\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Deutscher Umweltpreis 2023: Zusammenfassung<\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Pressemitteilung<\/div>
\u201eDas Bauen neu denken\u201c<\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Lebenslauf Dipl.-Ing. Dagmar Fritz-Kramer<\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Frage 1 an Dagmar Fritz-Kramer: Sie setzen auf den Baustoff Holz. Was macht Ihre Bauweise so nachhaltig?<\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Frage 2 an Dagmar Fritz-Kramer: Aber warum gilt Holz als besonders nachhaltig? Immerhin m\u00fcssen daf\u00fcr ja B\u00e4ume gef\u00e4llt werden\u2026<\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Frage 3 an Dagmar Fritz-Kramer: Mehr als 40 Patente laufen auf Ihre Firma, die alle im Zusammenhang mit Nachhaltigkeit im Hausbau stehen. Was treibt Sie an?<\/div><\/div><\/a>
<\/i><\/div>
Skript O-T\u00f6ne Dipl.-Ing. Dagmar Fritz-Kramer<\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

German Environmental Award for Dagmar Fritz-Kramer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53886,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2481],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54042","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dbu-en"],"meta_box":{"dbu_headerimage_cover":"","dbu_submenu":"","dbu_submenu_position":"","dbu_submenu_entry":[],"dbu_news_mail":"1","dbu_news_mail_status":"Mails wurden versandt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/54042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/54042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54044,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/54042\/revisions\/54044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}