The number of social housing decreases, the need is increasing: That is why associations require billions in investments and at the same time make suggestions to reduce costs.
Construction is built in Berlin-Lichtenberg: Within a few years, a completely new quarters with a majority of social housing is being built. The housing association Gewobag has 1,500 apartments pulled up in modular construction. The advantage: it works much faster than conventional construction – and it is much cheaper.
The Lichtenberg construction site is reminiscent of Lego. The rooms are delivered completely fully. Baths, for example, arrive on the construction site including the sink, radiator and towel holder and are composed of apartments with the other rooms.
“Twice as fast as one conventional Building”
“The time on the construction site, assembling together, is twice as fast as a conventional building where you build stone on stone,” explains Dietmar Rekow, branch manager of Goldbeck GmbH. The Goldbeck company is modular nationwide and produces the parts itself.
A complete bathroom will be installed within 20 minutes because it only has to be connected and grouted. The times when tilers, painters and plumber had to combine their work steps together are over.
Square meter price less than half as high
The Goldbeck company also builds for Gewobag, and in Berlin-Friedrichshain there are several six-storey houses with 30 apartments each. “We are building a building ready for 2,000 euros per square meter of living space,” says Rekow. This is less than half of the regular construction price.
But the modular construction is not a panacea. This only works for the IG Bau union if you create new construction projects, almost build on the green meadow. Densification is not so easy, according to the union leader Robert Feiger.
Building gap of 550,000 apartments
The fact is: Germany has too few apartments overall and is also building too little. The study by the Pestel Institute on Social Housing said that 550,000 apartments were currently missing, especially affordable. Institute Manager Matthias Günther will expect a further increasing demand in the next few years. Until 2035, many baby boomers went home with a “rather small pension”.
The alliance of social living requires further increase in housing development. The new federal government appeals to hold on to the goal of the failed traffic light government and to promote 100,000 new social building apartments per year. Most recently, the traffic light made just 23,000. For this, the federal and state governments would have to invest eleven billion euros.
Save cuts in the equipment
To do this, there must also be talk about the reduction of the specific necessary funding per apartment, says Günther. This means that the construction costs urgently need to be reduced. This is possible if one stopped building “luxury social apartments”, according to the study presentation.
“Germany has to start gluing the label 'good and cheap' on its newly built social buildings,” says Michael Hölker from the Federal Association of German Building Office Trade (BDB). The walls could become thinner, triple glazing is not necessary everywhere, and you could also do without underground parking spaces or large balconies. He sees a savings potential of up to 30 percent.
The result: the construction costs per square meter would drop, the necessary funding amount too – and with the money saved in this way, you could build more apartments. It is already being built cheaper in Schleswig-Holstein. This is possible because the standard standards have been lowered. The noise protection requirements have been reduced, the walls can be thinner.
