By Markus Illgas

"After the game is before the game!" This football saying by Sepp Herberger can easily be applied to the bdla Construction Manager Talks. For an admittedly pleasingly large number of participants, the annual event is a welcome opportunity to find out about innovations and current topics at the beginning of the year and to exchange experiences.

Commitment leads to practical regulations

In addition to the conception of the event, however, this is preceded by the much more important voluntary commitment of colleagues in the development of new regulations. With their expert knowledge, they contribute to the respective working committees over months and sometimes even years, so that in the end a set of rules is created that is as practical and application-oriented as possible.

Regardless of whether our profession deems it necessary, the number of sets of rules will continue to increase.

Markus Illgas

It must be assumed that regardless of whether our profession deems it necessary, the number of regulations will continue to increase. This can be seen in the development of new European standards such as DIN EN 17210 "Accessibility and usability of the built environment - Functional requirements" or in international projects such as the development of an ISO 23234 "Buildings and civil engineering works - Security - Planning of security measures in the built environment", which is also intended to describe the tasks of landscape architecture for crime prevention and hazard prevention.

These are not necessarily purely technical aspects of building, but rather planning standards that can have an influence on the design of outdoor facilities and open spaces that should not be underestimated. The reasons for this are manifold. For example, the lower density of regulations in the area of planning and building at the international level compared to Germany certainly plays a role, but also the realization that a considerable influence can be exerted on market developments through regulations.

Winning new colleagues for cooperation

In order for the bdla, as a relatively small player, to maintain an overview and to be able to react in time to the flood of regulations, it is important for our profession to win new colleagues for the work on regulations. Here, it is not only the office owners who are in demand; it is often the employees who can be actively involved in the association's work, as they have a sound specialist knowledge of the respective topics. In addition, we need to win other associations as partners in order to achieve a greater weighting in our concerns.

A good opportunity to show the quality and competence of our association to the outside world is the GaLaBau trade fair in Nuremberg, where the bdla has been presenting itself as THE association for landscape architecture for several years now. The bdla events have established themselves as a fixed part of the trade fair programme and are an important reason for many to visit the trade fair.

Without further support, a specialist spokesperson alone cannot, of course, cover the wide range of activities. I would therefore like to express my particular thanks to the working group on construction technology and standards for the pleasant cooperation over the past three years. A whole range of new topics, objections to various sets of rules or speaker suggestions have emerged, of which you can be surprised on 7 and 8 February 2020 at the 24th bdla Construction Manager Talks. We are already looking forward to a reunion and professional exchange in Bochum. Good luck!