The Construction Forum lecture series has now earned a name for itself among students of the Construction Department as well as companies and partners in the region. Three times a semester, experts and professionals from the construction industry give lectures under the leadership of Prof. Jochen Lüer.
The range of topics covered in the winter semester was diverse. For the inaugural event on November 15, Dr. Ing. Johannes Schwarz from the company CEMEX lectured. In front of a full lecture hall, he spoke on the topic of Decarbonizing concrete and cement – challenges and opportunities. The background to the presentation is the fact that climate neutrality poses major challenges to the cement manufacturing process and the handling of process-related CO2 emissions. The main focus of the presentation was on the development and supply of new, climate-efficient cements.
For the second presentation, we were pleased to welcome Thomas “Tommy” Thielen, owner of the UNIC-Minikran distribution center. Thomas Thielen spoke about Alternative lifting concepts on the construction sites of tomorrow and showed how versatile and variable mini cranes can be used. Normal-sized tower or AT mobile cranes cannot be used particularly in existing buildings, which often have a predefined geometry and cramped conditions, making alternatives necessary.
The guest speakers of the third and final event in the series this semester were Martin Münnig, head of the BIM and Digitalization Support Unit, and Florian Krambrich, planning engineer, both from DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH. Their presentation was entitled Searching for gold in the Frankfurt hub – making information available in Deutsche Bahn infrastructure projects. The speakers took the audience on a digital journey through the Frankfurt hub and used selected examples to show how a digital twin of Frankfurt Central Station has been growing bit by bit. The highlight of the event was the distribution of 3D glasses that enabled the audience to view Deutsche Bahn projects three-dimensionally using QR codes. Following the presentation of career opportunities at Deutsche Bahn, the social part of the evening commenced.
Over pretzels and cold beverages, there was plenty of time for conversation and follow-up questions after the lectures. Many thanks to the Student Council of the Construction Department, which provided organizational support and ensured refreshments were always available.
We will also extend an invitation to the Construction Forum in the upcoming summer semester of 2023.
Author: Frank Georg Reis
