Germany's national railway company unveils sustainable wooden station building

Germany's state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) has opened a second sustainable station made of locally sourced and processed wood. In operation one year after construction started, the building in the Haar district of Munich is fitted with LED lighting, a climate-friendly heat pump, which provides both cooling and heating, and natural ventilation. In the coming months, the station will also be kitted out with solar panels. 

The station is "built to be recyclable" and "corresponds exactly to the goals of circular construction that we have set ourselves for future structural development in Haar," said the district's mayor Andreas Bukowski in a statement. The 1.6 million euro construction also uses standardised modules meaning many different buildings of various sizes, designs and floor plans can be erected quickly and sustainably on the same basis in the coming decades, according to Deutsche Bahn. The first DB wooden railway station was inaugurated in December 2023 in Zorneding in the state of Bavaria

Building construction and renovation have a massive carbon footprint, consume huge amounts of resources, and generate a lot of waste. The use of more sustainable materials and greener building practices is on the rise but makes up a small share of the industry. Experts say governments must start thinking about the sustainability of buildings from manufacture to demolition to meet climate goals. The German environment ministry recently presented a draft circular economy strategy as "a crucial element to reach climate targets" and aiming to halve raw materials use by 2045.