Tony Paarhammer and Andrew McBride were part of the 190,000 visitors at the BAU Expo in Munich end of April, gaining insights into all the newest products on show. The 2260 exhibitors from 49 countries included the following topics, which might also become significant for the Australian building industry:
- Facade insulation and secondary facade insulation
- Prefabrication and materials to streamline the building processes
- Lifting equipment like small tower cranes to make work easier on the building site
- Solutions to reduce or eliminate thermal bridging in building envelopes
- Low and zero level thresholds with drainage and thermal breaks
- Screws, bolts, connectors for the timber construction industry
- Low VOC water-based timber finishes, paints, lasurs
- Software apps to manage onsite work and service personnel
The new NCC regulations require better building insulation as well as level entry points to buildings, all of which have already been done in Europe. Items that reduce thermal bridging can include tapes, foams or solutions for window installations. With the growth of solid timber construction (SIPS, CLT, etc.) connectors become an important part, and in particular screws, and of course low VOC timber finishes. Siegware has these items in stock in Australia and also ships to New Zealand.
It is more and more recognised in the European building industry that OH&S issues and time savings can be had with off-site prefabrication and with on-site lifting equipment rather than hiring a crane several times during construction whenever heavy items need to be installed or moved.
A new software app for window installers and service people has every information required in the one spot. It includes contact details, time management, invoicing, images and much more, and it is very easy to use.
"With the key themes of digital transformation, the future of living, resources and recycling, as well as modular building, the biggest challenges and trends of the moment have been perfectly mapped out. This year, BAU once again offered a great platform for creating future perspectives," says Felix Pakleppa, General Manager of the Central Association of the German Building Trade.
Visitors once again gave BAU 2023 top marks with 98 per cent of those surveyed rating BAU as excellent to good.
Tony and Andrew also visited a number of our suppliers for further training while in Europe.
