In the proceedings of the dominating covid19 pandemic industrial, commercial and private buildings had to be shutdown to avoid the spread of the corona virus. The German Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI) warned not to neglect the health hazards coming from drinking water installations in terms of legionella growth if the facilities are out of operation for a longer period of time. We took a look at our own set of drinking water data all gathered in corona-times - with surprising results.
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On Friday, September 20th, 2019, the 125th anniversary of the institute for hygiene and public health (ihph) was celebrated in the university club Bonn. Honored was Prof. Dr. med Martin Exner who has presided the institute for more than 25 years for his outstanding achievements in the public health sector - not only in Germany but worldwide.
All speeches were held not only by excellent experts of medicine and hygiene but by extraordinary capacities in public health research and science. The specialists all agreed in one point: to meet future challenges it will not be enough to gather and apply expert know-how, it needs meta competence as a key factor for every expert to attain good results in the tasks the "global village" presents.
It was a great honor for our board of directors to participate in a very inspiring celebration of a remarkable anniversary. The ihph ist the third oldest hygiene institute in Germany. Chapeau!
The work group "Real Estate Management" is an institution of the European Education Centre (EBZ) in Bochum, where the housing industry has their vocational students trained and has employees developed in specific areas of ther profession.
The work group gives real estate companies the opportunity to show their construction projects and new residential buildings. "The tour through the housing stock" is a must for all participants. Since GAS- and WATERcontrol have their headquarters in Hanover it goes without saying that we host the first evening in the best and cosiest brew pub in Northern Germany, the Ernst August Brauhaus.
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Safety is a high good that we take for granted. But new technologies often produce new dangers no one thought of in the first place. Dense building envelopes, walls and windows prevent sufficient air exchange. In consequence, harmful gases (toxic or explosive) such as natural gas, carbon monoxide or LPG can gather in the rooms especially when the air conditioning is turned off or out of order.
On February 7th, 2019, the educational institute Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Immobilienwirtschaft (BBA) held a conference at the Grand Hotel Esplanade in Berlin on safety topics of operator's responsibilities such as fire protection, carbon monoxide detectors, checks of gas pipes and drinking water installations for potentially pathogenic germs.
The expert panel that concluded the conference circles aorund the question whether the price for safety is too high considering the declining number of accidents.
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On February 7th, 2018, the fourth revision of the German Drinking Water Directive was on the agenda of the technical committee of VdW Niedersachsen Bremen, the professional association of housing companies located in Lower Saxony and Bremen.
WATERcontrol presented the changes in the drinking water laws that are relevant for the real estate sector.
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Shortly before entry into force of the forth amendment of German Drinking Water laws our chief operating officer Marcus Pikarek gives a comprehensive summary in the real estate expert magazine Grundeigentum (issue 18 of 2018) outlining the development of the duty to test drinking water for legionella from its introduction in the year 2011 until today.
The article focuses an specific changes of the legal frame work that affect the housing industry considerably.
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The European Educational Centre (EBZ) will hold a conference on safety on (residential) premises in November 2017. Exactly 10 years ago, November 2007, the first meeting of experts on safety issues concerning residential buildings took place. In retrospect: Has the safety awareness changed significantly in the pastr decade? Where do we stand today, when it comes to safe living in our homes?
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In August 2016 the residential property company Stadtsiedlung Heilbronn gave us the job of legionella testing in their drinking water installations. The current issue of their resident's magazine AT HOME gives a short summary of the collaboration of our two firms to deal with the problem of potable water contaminated with legionella. The article includes a check list for house owners and tenants what they can do to minimize the risk of biofilm growth in the domestic piping system.
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Since June 2017 we have a new colleague in the sales and acquisitions department: Dr. Marco Kollecker. The doctor of chemistry has gained profound experience in key account management and sales affairs at the University of Hanover where he promoted the NanoTruck-project throughout the country for many years.
In his spare time he trains fire fighter volunteers at the Lower-Saxonian Academy of Emergency and Fire Protection.
We are glad that he joined our team of sales experts.
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Along with our first international business we completed the english translation of our website launching it on June 1st, 2017.
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Since May 2019 Sibel Can supports the executive board in commercial and strategic issues. She studied technical business administration and focuses on optimizing business processes in order to form the start-up WATERcontrol into a mature and professional enterprise.
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The figawa-work group water analytics mandates the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health of University of Bonn (ihph) with a followup study on the occurrence of legionellae in drinking water systems. The research project shall deliver more detailed information than the prior status analysis. First results will be exspected in the end of 2017.
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We have seen a recent tendency that professional facility managers turn to us for legionella testing in the buildings they operate for the property owner. In the beginning, we did not intend to develop that business besides the residential stock we come from. Lately, we hav change our mind. Usually, we sign contracts with big facility management firms with a great number of properties spread out over more than just one region.
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