Ecosoil - Recreate

January 11, 2023

ReCreate German Country Cluster leader Prof. Angelika Mettke was interviewed for an article in the regional daily newspaper Lausitzer Rundschau and for an online report of the ARD Tagesschau, in which she presented an already realized reuse project in Kolkwitz as well as the plans for the ReCreate research project. In addition to Prof. Mettke, the deconstruction company ECOSOIL (industrial partner in the German ReCreate Cluster) was also interviewed for the newspaper article. The title “Lausitz gives new life to old slabs” refers to the Lausitz region, where Cottbus is located and the BTU and ECOSOIL are based.

Both articles first present the sports clubhouse in Kolkwitz near Cottbus. In 2009, the building project was realized using used concrete elements. The used concrete elements were recovered from a prefabricated slab building from GDR times that was located in Cottbus. ECOSOIL was commissioned with both the deconstruction of the 8-story slab building and the construction of the new building. Prof. Mettke from BTU designed the construction project together with the future users and accompanied the implementation of the project scientifically with her team of employees. Based on the process recordings for the deconstruction and the reuse of the concrete elements, the savings in resources and greenhouse potential were calculated in comparison to a conventional design.

The (re)construction project serves the BTU and ECOSOIL as a reference for an implementation possibility and what is feasible, with concrete elements suitable for reuse. ECOSOIL has become the market leader in the careful element-oriented deconstruction of prefabricated buildings, while the BTU has become an initiator and consultation partner for (re-) construction projects.

In addition, Prof. Mettke and Axel Bretfeld (Managing Director of ECOSOIL) presented the ReCreate project and the European partnerships with the Finnish, Swedish and Dutch clusters. The goals and tasks of the project were outlined in the articles as well as an outlook on the planned German pilot project of a youth center in the city of Hohenmölsen.

by ReCreate project

September 21, 2022

At the end of the summer, members of the German ReCreate cluster met with members of the Dutch cluster for a transnational technical exchange at a deconstruction site in the small town of Weißenfels near Leipzig in Germany. In consultation with the BTU project manager Angelika Mettke and the German industry project partner Dietmar Gottschling of ECOSOIL, the meeting was prepared on-site to show how partial dismantling is carried out under practical conditions.

The dismantling process was observed by Viktoria Arnold (BTU), Thijs Lambrects, Hamidullah Attaullah (both TU/e) as well as an employee of the office of Patrick Teuffel (head of WP5) at the location site, Hardenbergstr. 39-42. The demonstration allowed them the ability to gain an insight into the dismantling process directly on site.

Considering the process, the partial deconstruction comprised the top two floors of the 5-story prefabricated building of the “P-Halle” type, which was constructed from the same range of prefab elements as the donor building for the ReCreate German pilot project at Otto-Nuschke-Str. 9-14 in Hohenmölsen. Accordingly, the same range of slabs and panels had to be dismantled and the same connections opened. That resulted in 30 dismantled floor slabs which required transport from Weißenfels to Hohenmölsen, where the temporary storage site is located.

The dismantled floor slabs are planned to be (re)used later on the same site in the planned pilot project, the construction of a youth center. Concerning the remaining dismantled concrete elements, they had to be handled with more caution because of potential causes of material composition. By that means, they first had to undergo the process of pre-shredding at the dismantling construction site and then sent to a recycling plant for material processing.

Check out the pictures of the site below of the dismantling process at the deconstruction site:

ReCreate

by ReCreate project

April 14, 2022

On the 7th of April, the ReCreate team of the AG Constructional Recycling of the BTU Cottbus met with the project partners at the location of the potential donor building Otto-Nuschke-Str. 9-14 (see photo 1) in Hohenmölsen for the 3rd German country cluster meeting, where Mr. Gottschling (Ecosoil GmbH) and the architect Mr. Dreetz were present as project partners.

ReCreate 1 — Photo 1 – the potential donor building Otto-Nuschke-Str. 9-14

Additionally, the mayor of the small-town Mr. Haugk and the chairman of WoBau Hohenmölsen GmbH (owner of the potential donor building) Mr. Luckanus also attended the meeting. After a discussion in the town hall on the possible realization of a (re)construction project with the used concrete elements and on the organization of the deconstruction itself, a possible building site (see photo 2) and the deconstruction object (donor building) in Otto-Nuschke-Str. were visited. On April 19, the gutting of the upper two floors of the residential building will begin and the scaffolding will be erected. From May 2 onwards, the partial deconstruction will be carried out by the company Ecosoil GmbH.

ReCreate 2 — Photo 2 – possible building site

The BTU research team has begun to examine the condition of selected concrete elements intended for reuse in the installed position. In addition to geometric construction surveys, concrete compressive strength measurements were carried out using rebound hammers (see photo 3). The purpose of this is to evaluate the structural condition of the concrete elements, which are about 40 years old, so they’ll be able to make a statement on their reuse within the scope of the suitability test. The technical measurement investigations will be continued in April along with the involvement of students and finally, the concrete elements suitable for reuse will be marked.

ReCreate 3 — Photo 3 – using rebound hammers for compressive strength measurements of concrete

Ecosoil - Recreate

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