Startup portfolio covers all phases of real-estate life cycle /Artificial Intelligence Ideathon 

• ESG Toolbox 
• First Ideathon / Publication of "Zukunftsthesen" (Hypotheses for the Future)

• Incubator, Accelerator, Hackathon 
• DS Innovation Hub at Obere Waldplätze 22, Stuttgart
  The Innovation Hub provides space over three floors for a focus on innovation and a wide range of uses. Visitors can expect an impressive mix of industrial character, sustainable conversion, future-oriented working environments and innovative building technology. 

• Introduction of Building Material Scout (BMS)
  Use of building materials that promote well-being, carry no health risks, and can be recycled easily after use, constitutes a key step in progress towards a circular economy. To achieve these goals, Drees & Sommer is working with other partners on the digital platform www.Building-Material-Scout.com. Experts are collecting and organizing information about building materials, and making them available to other members of the industry. 
• lcmd
  lcmd is an intuitive software solution for effective management and planning of construction projects. The tool offers clear visualization of all project phases and helps to minimize delays, extra costs and overruns. Find out more: lcmd - simplify projects

Real Estate Usability (UX) 

In the future, buildings will be perfectly adaptive to their users. As human requirements of buildings change, there is a need for this kind of flexibility, and digitalization can make it possible. Drees & Sommer is addressing tomorrow's challenges with perfectly functional buildings that combine the requirements for workspace design, architecture, sustainability and cost-effectiveness, among other things. Find out more here.

• Technology, Media, Telecom (TMT)
  With our special technology, media and telecommunications consultancy services, we're able to support customers through their digital transformation, and ensure that this is undertaken with a solid economic foundation in place. Drees & Sommer experts have extensive knowledge and experience in strategic consultancy approaches and are highly skilled at designing and supporting projects situated in the intersection between digitalization, IT and construction. We provide impetus and ideas, and we synchronize current developments with the needs of IT and construction projects. Find out more here. 
• SmartSite project: The construction site is becoming intelligent  
  Germany's roads are in a permanent state of disrepair. This costs more than two million euros every year, as a result of a history of poor quality road construction that now requires constant maintenance. As consortium leader for the SmartSite research project, Drees & Sommer is making road construction fit for the digital future. The project is concerned with autonomous cloud-based control of road-building machinery. This results in better project progress, with improved quality and efficiency, and reduction in consumption of resources and energy. Find out more here about the SmartSite research project, successfully completed in 2016. 
• Blue City – Integrated Urban Solutions
  Worldwide, more and more people are living in cities. As a result of so many developments, each of which has often intensified the adverse effects of the others, cities are now facing numerous challenges. The tasks arising from this situation call for cooperation between many different disciplines. Among other things, this requires consideration of the economic, ecological, functional, social and aesthetic aspects of urban spaces. Energy, climate, resources, mobility, infrastructure, digitalization, finance and society – all these elements have an impact on cities and affect urban life.
   
  In the spirit of the blue way, we provide networked solutions in the consultancy field of Urban and Infrastructure Solutions and combine individual components to create holistic approaches and concepts, each specifically tailored to the challenges faced by our customers individually.
   
  As an example, these include mobility concepts for local authorities and companies. The latter, in particular, are increasingly finding that the quality of their infrastructure environment can give them an advantage as they compete to recruit the brightest candidates. 

Digital Blue

The list of requirements on buildings is always growing - they should be networked, energy self-sufficient, emission-neutral, healthy, integrated and flexible. However, there's still one element missing from this list. To be a Blue Building, a building has to also be economically efficient. With Digital Blue, we're integrating digitalization. This is how better buildings can be created under economic conditions, in full alignment with the blue way. 

We can achieve this, among other things, by using digital planning in combination with Building Information Modeling (BIM), modularized construction and Lean Construction Management. Cradle to Cradle also benefits from digitalization. The Material Passport contains all the environmentally relevant information about the materials and construction methods used. 

Digital Blue 

Die Anforderungen an Gebäude wachsen: Vernetzt, energieautark, emissionsneutral, gesund, integriert und flexibel sollen sie sein. Damit diese Gebäude zu echten Blue Buildings werden, fehlt noch eine Komponente: die Wirtschaftlichkeit. Mit Digital Blue binden wir die Digitalisierung ein. So entstehen bessere Gebäude zu wirtschaftlichen Konditionen – ganz im Sinne des blue way.

Das gelingt uns unter anderem durch eine digitale Planung mit Building Information Modeling (BIM), durch modularisiertes Bauen und Lean Construction Management. Auch Cradle to Cradle profitiert von der Digitalisierung. Der Material Passport enthält alle bauökologisch relevanten Informationen zu den eingesetzten Materialien und Konstruktionen.

"The blue way" for the energy transition

In 2012, Germany's total electricity consumption was about 600 million megawatt hours. About 44% of this figure came from industry, trade and commerce, whilst transport and household use accounted for 28% each. Around 80% of the base load is generated using conventional energy sources, i.e. from nuclear power, coal, gas and oil. 

To achieve a situation where half of Germany's electricity comes from renewable energy by 2030 (and 80% by 2050), a holistic process will be needed.. The key steps will be reducing energy consumption, developing new approaches and technologies for generating power, exploring innovative processes for storage too, and improving efficiency and intelligence in energy distribution. 

"The blue way“ in this context involves integration of the necessary actions into an overarching process. Politicians must define this process and ensure that funding is secured for any necessary grid upgrades and expansions. Industry must ensure that renewable energies can compete effectively with conventional sources. This development calls for a complete shift in funding policies and in the Renewable Energy Act (EEG). 

Optimizing existing stock

Many existing buildings have one major issue: Their costs are too high. The energy consumption figures drastically reduce the economic viability of using these properties. Over time, tenants move out. There's no way of avoiding the need for performance improvement measures. But how can the necessary planning and implementation be achieved, in terms of the economic aspects? A typical task for holistic solutions aligned with the blue way - because it is crucial, in any complex renovation project, to keep an eye on the overall strategy of those who own and manage the buildings concerned. We use a phased analysis to achieve this, combining possible variants with a holistic approach. We then provide recommendations for action, tailored specifically to the individual situation, and then implement the measures. To align with the blue way, it is mandatory for the revitalization processes to result in the building being more economical than it was before.

Green Building Campaign

In so many of our discussions about sustainability and green building, with property owners, real-estate managers and politicians, we've heard the same statement over and over again: "I'm really interested in the subject, but I just don't know enough to be able to form my own opinion and have a say in this." 

We launched a campaign to fill in these gaps in public knowledge, offering the missing information in a simple and understandable way. It started with Expo Real 2008. This was followed up by many lectures, customer events, press releases and publication of the specialist reference book "Green Building". Our campaign paid off - as a result, green building is now an integral part of the world of real-estate. Today, sustainable construction is accepted as a matter of course. 

Drees & Sommer is a founding member of the DGNB

The DGNB (German sustainable building council) was established 2007 in Stuttgart. Its aim was to promote sustainable building and establish a certification system for this purpose - the German sustainable building quality seal. The DGNB awards the certificate for buildings that are particularly environmentally friendly, economical in use of resources, economically efficient and optimized for user comfort. These are all typical requirements for the blue way. Hence Drees & Sommer's natural involvement in shaping the DGNB, as a founding member. 

Sophisticated project communication management (PKM)

This too is "the blue way“: seamless collaboration between all participants in a project makes a significant contribution to long-term project quality and a successful outcome. Efficient organizational systems for projects will save time and money for all those involved. Our PKM serves as a central platform ensuring that all data and documentation is stored in a single standardized database. This ensures that all parties involved have access to all project data, in particular the planning documents, and can process such information quickly. Architects, builders, planners and contractors store their planning documents and logs in the PKM and share them in this way, which saves a lot of time. 

Ahead of their time: Drees & Sommer in Stuttgart, Obere Waldplätze 11 

In 1999, the company took an iconic and significant step forward in energy conservation with the construction of its own new administrative building in Stuttgart. 

Reduced heating requirements, use of geothermal energy
A highly insulated facade with triple-glazed windows achieved a massive saving in heating requirements. Pipes for heating and cooling systems were laid in concrete ceilings (concrete core temperature control), effectively turning the ceilings into large-area radiators. With the use of geothermal energy, by means of boreholes about 80 meters deep, energy requirements were reduced to one fifth of standard consumption. CO2 emissions were halved. 

Obere Waldplätze 11 is a pioneering project: pleasant to use and environmentally exemplary, with substantial reduction in secondary costs, yet with no significant increase in overall expenditure for the project.

These features earned the building a gold DGNB certificate in 2009, in the new building category, ten years after it was built! In 2011, it was followed up by another gold DGNB, this time for existing buildings.

Eco-management at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin
In 1992, Daimler AG commissioned us to develop an eco-management system for the construction of Potsdamer Platz. It needed to be an integral part of project management. 

Reduced heating energy consumption
Optimum thermal insulation and use of passive solar energy worked to reduce heating energy consumption at Potsdamer Platz. Well-developed facade designs with natural ventilation were used in all the office construction work - including the high-rise buildings involved. Result: up to 50% less energy required than in conventional air-conditioning systems.

Reduced CO2 emissions  
The Eco team ensured that a combined heat and power plant was used to supply electricity throughout Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz. Waste heat was used to cover all heating and cooling needs. Result: 75% lower CO2 emissions, compared with the original energy supply plans that would have had individual building services management centers. 

Environmentally friendly building materials used
In an eco-manual, the Drees & Sommer team specified building materials for key trades that were environmentally friendly and safe for human health. Result: savings of more than 22 tonnes of HCFCs. In 2012, the blue way received a belated accolade, when Potsdamer Platz was the first existing district to be awarded a DGNB silver certificate. 

Introduction of building simulations

In response to the first oil crises in 1973 and 1979, we dedicated ourselves to the issue of energy consumption. We developed a mathematical model that could simulate a building's energy consumption, even as early as the project definition stage. This gave our customers a clear understanding, even before the planning stage, of how their building should be designed to minimize energy consumption.