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Small and mid-sized skilled trades businesses are facing growing challenges; repurposing and renovating existing buildings is becoming increasingly complex, time pressure is mounting, and there is a growing shortage of skilled workers. Digital tools and robotics are promising relief. But how can new technologies be used in a way that they actually help craftspeople in their everyday life? This is the question being asked by the interdisciplinary research team at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in the »Handwerk der Zukunft« project. The team will be receiving nearly one million euros in funding from the European Social Fund from 2026 to 2028.

With its application-oriented, cutting-edge research into resource-saving building materials and forward-looking construction methods, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar was represented at the international »Ideen – Erfindungen – Neuheiten« (iENA) trade fair in November 2025: Four patent applications have now been awarded two gold and two silver medals. At the award ceremony on 11 December 2025 at the Technischen Universität Ilmenau, the scientists were presented with their medals and certificates in a festive ceremony.

Mit dem an der Fakultät Architektur und Urbanistik neu etablierten Lehrgebiet »Praktiken der Nachhaltigkeit« soll an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar das Archiv der Nachhaltigkeit entstehen: ein digitales, offenes Wissensarchiv, das Antworten auf zentrale Zukunftsfragen sichtbar macht. Wie können wir in Zeiten von Ressourcenknappheit, Klimakrise und Biodiversitätsverlust handlungsfähig bleiben? Dies soll ein Archiv leisten, das Wissen, Erkenntnisse, Perspektiven und Praktiken bündelt und zugänglich macht. Es schafft einen öffentlichen Zugang zu Forschung, Methoden und Projekten und fördert gemeinsames Lernen.

With over 60 employees and millions of euros in third-party funding, the F.A. Finger Institute for Building Materials Engineering (or FIB) is currently the most important research facility at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Founded in 1995, the Institute’s roots go back to the 1940s, when Friedrich August Finger, the man after whom it was named, established this innovative field of research and teaching. Together with the »Institut für angewandte Bauforschung« (IAB) and the Materials Research and Testing Laboratory (MFPA), Weimar’s innovative location is going to expand to become a Federal Construction Research Centre. These and other milestones of the FIB will be honoured at a ceremony marking its 30th anniversary.

This decision represents a major move towards a sustainable future for the construction industry. Today, Monday, 24 November 2025, representatives from the Bundesministeriums für Wohnen, Stadtentwicklung und Bauwesen (BMWSB) and the three federal states of Thuringia, Saxony, and Baden-Württemberg signed a key issues paper confirming the establishment of a »Bundesforschungszentrums für klimaneutrales und ressourceneffizientes Bauen (BFZ)« (Federal Research Centre for Climate-Neutral and Resource-Efficient Construction). The federal government will invest a total of 52.5 million euros in this project over the next few years.