„Outstanding pioneering work“

Osnabrück. 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 Allgäu 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’s German Environmental Award from the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU – Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt). The 500,000-euro award is one of Europe’s 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 Lübeck from German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Energy-efficient, environmentally friendly construction

‘Fritz-Kramer carries out outstanding pioneering work with her company,’ says DBU Secretary General Alexander Bonde. ‘She 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.’ 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. ‘Wood 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’s almost like building a second forest consisting of houses. This is just the strategy that’s needed to make the building sector climate neutral and to achieve international climate goals,’ says Bonde. Baufritz’ managing director Fritz-Kramer says the upcoming award is ‘valuable with regard to an important issue’. She adds, ‘the changes shaping the construction sector pose significant challenges, but also present a lot of opportunities for greater climate protection’.

Building sector responsible for almost 40 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Germany

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 – 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 – before there were any heat insulation regulations in place for the insulation of roofs, ceilings and walls. ‘We have to get things moving when it comes to renovation,’ 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) that cannot be captured elsewhere. Bonde: ‘Of 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.’ 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.

Great-grandfather Sylvester Fritz started out with a traditional rural carpentry workshop

Bau-Fritz GmbH & Co.KG has wanted to continue in this tradition now in its fourth generation. It all began in 1896 with Dagmar’s great-grandfather Sylvester Fritz who started his own business. ‘We 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,’ 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 – 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.

A superb idea: insulation made from chips, soda and whey

Johann and Hubert, grandfather and father respectively of Dagmar, laid the foundation for the company’s development. Johann came up with the revolutionary idea at the time of prefabricating (wooden) components in external factory floors – 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 – wholly in the spirit of sustainability, the circular economy and building biology – 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 – 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’ trademarks – along with a special timber plug-in system and the new idea of an ‘energy wall module’. According to Dagmar Fritz-Kramer, this is ‘the technical heart of a building, everything in a single room’ – from the control cabinet and power stores to the ventilation system, drinking water supply and heat sources.

‘Sand is so scarce that we have to extract it from the sea’

Fritz-Kramer is convinced that ‘the building and heating transition will be successful over the next ten years’, but she also believes there is a responsibility on the part of industry to achieve this. ‘The construction industry still accounts for almost two-thirds of rubbish in waste dumps in Germany. We have to work on this,’ Fritz-Kramer says. In addition to renovation, recycling and resource conservation are also vital factors. ‘Sand has now become so scarce that we need to extract it from the sea,’ says Fritz-Kramer. In cooperation with sawmills and planing mills in an 120-kilometre radius, Baufritz processes mainly ‘domestic spruce wood from the local area’ – 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: ‘On average, each Baufritz building means CO₂ savings of around 50 tonnes. This corresponds to roughly 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.’

Photos according to IPTC standard for free publication are available from www.dbu.de

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