By Hubertus von Dressler

Environmental construction supervision (UBB) has now grown out of its infancy. Increasing order volumes, their more frequent inclusion in approvals and the growing number of work aids and performance templates for environmental construction supervision make this clear.

In the past, an increasing number of environmentally relevant provisions in approvals, which must be observed and implemented in the various trades on a construction site, or the legal consequences of their non-implementation, have given rise to a new field of tasks that had to be integrated into the usual interaction between those involved in construction. The clear description and delimitation of the services of environmental construction supervision, its position in the construction process, authority to issue instructions, communication channels, etc. were initially unclear or had to be tested.

Project sponsors also increasingly recognized the benefits.

With the introduction of the Environmental Damage Act, there was a growing call from both the associations and the specialist authorities for an EBB to be included in planning approvals and permits. Project developers also increasingly recognized the benefits of an independent third party to support project management in conflict-prone construction projects, helping to prevent environmental damage and avoid construction delays and cost increases.

Training course "Special expertise in environmental construction supervision"

Forward-thinking representatives of the bdla recognized the potential of the new emerging field of work for landscape architects and the need for a high-quality further training course at an early stage and pushed for its introduction. Together with Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, a further training course entitled "Special expertise in environmental construction supervision" was developed to meet the steadily increasing demand for well-trained environmental construction supervisors. Over the years, this course has been consistently developed on the basis of the increasing experience of participants and lecturers.

With the broad understanding of environmental construction supervision, a cross-media, integrated approach is pursued. Damage caused by one-sided optimization due to the consideration of individual objects of protection during construction monitoring for individual objects of protection should thus be avoided. The search for suitable construction periods to guarantee the various protection requirements alone makes the challenges of this claim clear and requires close coordination of the various technical requirements with each other, in conjunction with the complex construction process.

The aim of environmental construction supervision is to ensure that all environmentally relevant measures from the permit are implemented on the construction site in compliance with the permit. The fact that this applies not only to the actual construction phase, but in particular to the preparatory construction phase, which sets the course for successful environmental construction supervision, is a further important clarification on the way to adult environmental construction supervision. This includes the early commissioning of the UBB directly after approval has been granted.

Need for further training still exists

Increasing certainty with regard to the scope of services of the UBB, e.g. the differentiation from landscape conservation implementation planning services as part of the HOAI outdoor facilities scope of services, monitoring tasks or the elimination of deficits from the planning phase, can be observed among many participants. Nevertheless, awareness of the clear allocation of services to the corresponding service phases is not yet fully present, including in approval and specialist authorities. Awareness-raising work is still required here and there is a need for further training.

Assistance is now provided by further developed work aids and service descriptions.

Increasing assistance is now being provided by further developed working aids and service descriptions, such as the Federal Railway Authority's environmental guidelines, the HVA-F StB environmental construction supervision service profile or the revised AHO environmental construction supervision booklet no. 27. In addition, the first practical guidelines are now available, such as the practical handbook on environmental construction supervision from the highest Bavarian building authority or the publication "Tierische Begegnungen auf der Baustelle" ("Animal encounters on the construction site") from Deutsche Bahn, which also support communication within the framework of UBB.

Awareness of the efficiency and acceptance of the instrument of environmental construction supervision has increased significantly among project developers and authorities thanks to many positive examples of successfully implemented environmental construction supervision and will contribute to the further consolidation of environmental construction supervision supporting the construction process.

Prospects: Even in young adulthood, there are still enough tasks to be accomplished.

In contrast to the primary goal of implementing the environmentally relevant conditions from the approval in compliance with the approval with the help of the EIR, various performance specifications provide for the goal of implementing the construction project in compliance with environmental law with the help of the EIR. As understandable as the objective is from the perspective of the project sponsor, the associated possible inspection and notification obligations for the contractor of an EIR are also vague and incalculable. A clear understanding of the task of UBB and the resulting clearly defined service profiles for clients, contractors and other stakeholders is a key prerequisite for the positive further development of the UBB task area.

This must be expressed both in the sharpening of the content of UBB requirements in approval notices and in corresponding management profiles. While the training courses at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences and the bdla were primarily aimed at current and future environmental construction supervisors as contractors, a corresponding need for further training is also seen on the part of the approval authorities and project sponsors in order to arrive at a clearly defined understanding of their tasks. This development will also be supported by the further development of project-related working aids for UBB, e.g. as part of the newly founded FGSV UBB working group. Last but not least, appropriate remuneration is an important basis for qualified environmental construction supervision, which is intended to protect the client from construction interruptions and stoppages as well as expensive remediation work.

In terms of effective environmental precautions, the increasing commissioning of sectoral, uncoordinated specialist environmental construction supervision must be viewed negatively. There is an urgent need for coordination between nature conservation, soil protection, immission control and water authorities.

The professional perspectives include the further exchange of experience on effective measures to prevent damage during the construction process, on the scope and depth of inspection and notification obligations and on the safe handling of cases of damage.

References

• Federal Railway Authority (ed.), Environmental guidelines for planning approval and planning permission under railroad law, Part VII: Environmental construction supervision, status: July 2015
• Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (ed.), Manual for the award and execution of professional services in road and bridge construction HVA F-StB, edition: January 2018
• AHO Ausschuss der Verbände und Kammern der Ingenieure und Architekten für die Honorarordnung e.V. (ed.), Umweltbaubegleitung - Leistungsbild und Honorierung, Issue 27, May 2018

Author: Hubertus von Dressler is Professor of Landscape Planning at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences and a member of the bdla Landscape Planning Working Group. Together with Claudia Schliemer (Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences), Kerstin Berg (bdla specialist spokesperson for landscape planning) and Mario Kahl (bdla), he has been developing the further training course "Special expertise in environmental construction supervision" since 2011.

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