Project Title FERTIGTEIL 2.0 – Real-Digital Process Chains for the Recovery and Reuse of Concrete Building Components as Prefabricated Elements
Acronym FERTIGTEIL 2.0
Project Description
The FERTIGTEIL 2.0 project focuses on the recovery of concrete components from buildings scheduled for demolition and their reuse as prefabricated elements in new constructions. Using an innovative real-digital process chain, existing buildings are digitally captured and modeled as digital twins in a BIM environment, allowing for the intelligent reassembly of recovered concrete elements into flexible new prefabricated structures.

Global climate change, increasing resource scarcity, and a rising demand for new buildings necessitate the establishment of true material and economic circular systems. The construction industry remains one of the largest global consumers of raw materials, largely operating through linear, non-reversible material flows. In particular, mineral resources and building components are rarely reused after their first application.

The need for circular construction has become increasingly evident—especially concerning concrete, a material long considered inexhaustible. As early as February 2019, the Central Association of the German Construction Industry warned that sand was becoming a scarce commodity. While guidelines exist for the use of recycled concrete at the material level, there is still no established approach for reuse at the component level. This leads to the loss of embodied energy and engineering effort embedded in existing structures. Yet, many existing buildings already consist of “prefabricated components” that could be reused.

With today’s technological capabilities, significant portions of construction waste can be revalorized as resources for new applications. The FERTIGTEIL 2.0 project aims to drive this necessary paradigm shift by developing innovative strategies and digital workflows for component reuse.

The project’s goal is to create a directly applicable real-digital process chain that intelligently integrates existing technologies such as digital surveying, algorithmic planning, fabrication, data management, life cycle analysis, and logistics. This enables the realization of a closed-loop value chain for “Fertigteile 2.0”, modeled and managed through a digital platform.

A demonstrator built from reused “Fertigteile 2.0” showcases the entire process chain in practice.
Coordination Prof. Dr.-Ing. Oliver Tessmann, Digital Design Unit (DDU), TU Darmstadt
Project Partners
Institute for Structural Design (ITE), TU Braunschweig

Department of Design and Sustainable Building (ENB), TU Darmstadt

THING TECHNOLOGIES GmbH

FARO Europe GmbH

Digital Design Unit (DDU), TU Darmstadt
Project Duration March 1, 2021 – February 28, 2023
Funding Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Funding Program: “Resource-Efficient Circular Economy – Construction and Mineral Material Cycles (ReMin)”
Further Information Digital Design Unit (DDU) – Prof. Dr.-Ing. Oliver Tessmann
Projektseite