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| Fraunhofer and Hochtief to Modernize Property Business Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe's leading organization for applied research, and the largest German construction services provider Hochtief signed a cooperation agreement for a large-scale "innovative buildings" project. The research team named "inHaus2" will be constructed on a 5,500 square-meter site in Duisburg, close to "inHaus1", which already serves as a laboratory for innovative residential properties. "The real estate sector has an enormous amount of catching-up to do in the field of innovations", says Dr. Dirk-Meints Polter, Fraunhofer Executive Board member for Human Resources and Legal. "Compared, for instance, with all the developments in the automotive industry in recent years regarding safety, comfort, user-friendliness, reliability and also entertainment, the property business is still back in the early 1970s." The "inHaus2" project is aimed at changing this. By mid-2008, it will evolve into a high-flexibility building capable of adaptation to the wishes and requirements of a variety of occupants. In the research wing, rooms geared specifically to such applications as hotels, hospitals or retirement homes will be designed and purpose-tested. The researchers will also investigate how to enable office premises to adapt flexibly to different forms of utilization or types of user. For this, rooms with the requisite electronic and IT infrastructure and all the necessary fittings, furnishings and equipment will be installed on the planned three floors of the building. Research and development work will then continue to the end of 2010. "Hochtief will organize the erecting of 'inHaus2' as an 'intelligent building site'‚" says Dr. Friedel Abel, CEO of Hochtief Construction AG. "For instance, building materials will be fitted out with chips. On completion, these will be able to provide information on the degree of heat insulation." The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is contributing about EUR 3.6 million to project financing from its own resources, while Hochtief will invest a total of EUR 4.3 million. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |