A retired engineer in Germany has come up with a solution to the shortage of appropriate housing for asylum-seekers as winter draws near: pre-fabricated concrete houses that can be manufactured and erected in just a few days.
Germany has seen an unprecedented 938,000 people fleeing war, poverty and persecution arrive this year. Authorities have tried to solve the problem by purchasing specially fitted shipping containers, but demand for those has far outstripped the supply.
Peter Goergen, a long-time expert on refugees for Germany’s disaster relief organisation THW, said: “Concrete can preserve heat,” he said. “The other advantage of concrete is that it can absorb a lot of humidity, so the breathing air of the people in this container will be absorbed and released again during daytime, when the windows are opened.”
Each container is about 15 m2 – enough space for six people, or even eight. A trial site with 54 concrete shelters is currently being erected in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, just south of Bonn.
Authorities across Germany have already ordered more than 2,000 concrete shelters, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.
Goergen said the design could also be modified for other climates.
