The activities of the construction laboratory in the area of R&D (research and development) are divided into:
The following projects are currently being carried out in the construction laboratory:
Interreg Project Crossborder Biodiversity Toolbox (BioBox)
Content: The Interreg project aims to improve biodiversity in urban areas. As on average more than 70% of urban green spaces are private, it is important to promote measures that can be replicated by garden owners to improve biodiversity. The Cross-border Biodiversity Toolbox (BioBox) project aims to promote measures to improve biodiversity in urban and rural areas in the programme region. The BioBox contains easy-to-implement and cost-effective measures to increase the diversity of pollinators, birds and bats as well as suggestions for low-threshold monitoring methods for private and public users. The feasibility of the BioBox will be tested at public pilot sites in Austria and Italy, and the effectiveness of the measures will be verified by specific monitoring methods. An awareness-raising campaign for the public, businesses and communities will explain the importance of biodiversity and promote the use of the BioBox. Overall, the project will make an important contribution to the understanding and protection of biodiversity in the programme region.
You can contact the project manager Martin Schneider directly.
Interreg Project Craft2Biodiversity
The Interreg project Craft2Biodiversity analyses the interfaces between craft, biodiversity and sustainable development. The aim is to identify practical approaches that support craft businesses in actively contributing to the conservation and promotion of biodiversity. To this end, craftsmanship knowledge, technical know-how and nature conservation expertise are combined. The focus is particularly on the connections between biodiversity and energy efficiency, infrastructure, product improvement, new business models and social sustainability in the skilled crafts sector. The first step involves taking stock and analysing trends in order to examine current craft practices in terms of their impact on biodiversity. This is followed by creativity workshops with pilot companies to develop and implement concrete measures. Pilot businesses then develop and test innovative measures to promote biodiversity in creativity workshops. The results of the project are incorporated into practice-orientated training modules and a guideline that supports craft businesses in anchoring biodiversity as an integral part of their sustainable business practices.
You can find more information here, or contact the project manager Almuth Schindler directly.
Interreg Project SITAR: Supporting the construction Industry in the Transition towards climate-friendly practices in the Alpine Region
Content: The Interreg project SITAR will contribute to accelerate the transition of the construction industry towards climate-friendly practices in the Alpine region. It will analyse the opportunities offered by modern technologies and advanced approaches to the design, construction, refurbishment and upgrading of buildings from an environmental perspective. The project will assess the existence of barriers (practical, economic, etc.) that prevent or slow down such a transition and will develop modern solutions to overcome them.
You can find more information here, download the project flyer or contact the project manager Edoardo Rossi directly.
Research Group CoNNa: Construction Needs Nature
Content: The research group focusses on the conflicting issues of nature conservation, space consumption and resource scarcity. The issues developed in this respect are the development of implementation practices to establish nature conservation on construction sites, as well as to transfer the topic of nature awareness via the concepts of strong sustainability, renewable raw materials, resource conservation and environmental protection into practicable application algorithms for the planning and execution of buildings. The resulting solutions will be disseminated at a strictly networked European level. The resulting goal is the creation of an expert centre for natural building and thus also its training.
You can find more information here, download the project flyer or contact the project manager Martin Schneider directly.
Research Group FuCoSo: Future Concrete Solutions
Content: The focus is on the further development of efficient, robust high-performance concretes for aesthetically sophisticated construction methods. The objectives include the technical feasibility in Austria and the consideration of an economically justifiable construction method for the sustainable design of the environment. Quality assurance measures and modern building monitoring technologies are intended to ensure the targeted performance over the life cycle of the buildings in the long term.
You can find more information here, download the project flyer or contact the project manager Norbert Randl directly.
Cleanstone (completed): Reduction of dusting during the extraction of rocks in quarries
Content: Cleanstone is intended to lead the stone industry into a new era in which its competitiveness is promoted and environmentally friendly manufacturing processes are introduced. It is an interdisciplinary project to establish new production chains and create an environmentally orientated awareness. To this end, five partner organisations – universities, research centres and associations – are working together with numerous local stone quarrying companies. As a first step, utilisation techniques are to be integrated into a single framework tailored to SMEs in the stone industry.
You can find more information here or contact the project manager Martin Schneider directly.
CON_FIT (completed): Performance-oriented use of fibre- and textile-reinforced high-strength concretes for structural strengthening of load-bearing structures
Content: The focus of the project is to investigate suitable reinforcement methods for existing structures based on performance-orientated combinations of high-strength and ultra-high-strength concretes with modern reinforcement technologies and to make them available to the Austrian construction industry. The evaluation is carried out under the aspects of load-bearing capacity, serviceability, durability and user-friendliness in the application, as well as the criteria of sustainable strengthening, including ecological aspects.
You can find more information here or contact the project manager Norbert Randl directly.