From Cradle to Cradle – C2C – Circle Use of materials in structural design Erasmus Project

Project Title

From Cradle to Cradle – C2C – Circle Use of materials in structural design

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Energy and resources

Project Summary

The aim of the multilateral project submitted is to make trainees and students of different countries aware of the future challenge of environmental and climate protection.

Both, the German and the European building industry as well as the subordinate building companies contribute to a huge percentage of the total energy consumption in Germany and the EU respectively. Consequently it is essential for our industrial sector and our economic behaviour to deeply reflect on environmental and climate protection.

Sustainability is a core issue for the building industry. We aim to show participating trainees and students strategies, techniques and methods implemented all over Europe that enable them to bear their future social responsibility in the building industry. Public educational and vocational training institutions must provide support as they are responsible to make sustainability a core topic in their curriculum and in their lessons.

Our project aims at making the participating trainees and teachers aware of how important the conservation of resources, the saving of energy and CO2 neutrality is for our lives and our future in general. In order to be able to reach these goals both trainees and teachers need skills and expertise to act flexibly and actively in an ever faster changing and globalising world.

Therefore, it is important to be able to communicate in different languages and work in an intercultural work environment. The participants of this project will be working in multilateral teams. They will realise that creative and critical thinking is the key to problem solving. They will understand that the willingness to lifelong learning is vital to make true progress when it comes to sustainability in building.

In line with the project submitted the participating trainees and students will have the opportunity to realise that environment and climate protection is not only a national but also and mainly a European matter. First, we will strive for national solution strategies to achieve sustainability in the building industry and then compare these solutions with those of other countries. We will learn about European solutions (legal requirements for sustainability, resources conservation, recycling and upcycling in the building industry) and understand how the topic is dealt with in EU countries. In that way we will experience common EU values but also see that there are different ways and strategies in problem solving due to cultural and historical differences.

First year trainees only will participate in the project submitted. Each educational institution in Belgium, Sweden, Spain and Germany will be able to send about ten trainees and students respectively to our multilateral meetings. With the help of mutual visits, the participating trainees and students will learn that important impulses to achieve sustainable solutions in building are only possible by international exchange of ideas, methods and techniques. This process will result in a stronger European identity of the participating trainees and students. We also hope for the creation of a European network by working in multilateral teams.

Apart from these general objectives, we will work towards a sustainable consideration of all topics connected to building. We will have a look into the life cycle of material used in building and learn about existing recycling concepts. We will compare national and EU legal requirements and investigate the reasons for different laws. In connection with recycling, we will show different types of material life cycles to the trainees. The trainees and students will learn about the meaning and options of upcycling of alleged waste material and compare these to today’s common ways of down-cycling. Moreover, the trainees and students will experience the meaning of production processes of material used in building. Important technical terms relating to the topic of sustainability will be: heating value of waste material, primary energy demand, greenhouse potential and global warming potential in production processes of material used in building.

As the participants will be from different fields of job activities in building, we will have a wide range of example material and products. To sum up, the project submitted will enable each participant to see the bigger picture when it comes to the importance of sustainability in the building industry.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 0 Eur

Project Coordinator

Berufliches Schulzentrum Leonberg & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Vrij Technisch Instituut Brugge
• Norrköpings Lärlingsgymnasium
• Centro Integrado Público de Formación Profesional Ciutat de l’Aprenent