History of Institute for Technology and Management in Construction

The Institute of Technology and Management in Construction was founded in 1967 as the Institute of Construction Management and Machinery with Prof.Dr.-Ing. G. Kühn, as its first director. At the same time a new field of specialisation, "Construction Management", was established within the Department of Civil Engineering, Geo- and Environmental Sciences at the University of Karlsruhe.

After the retirement of Professor Kühn, Professor Dr. Fritz Gehbauer, M.S. became director of the TMB in 1988.

In the year 2001 the first professorship for Facility Management in Germany was founded at the TMB and Professor Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Wi.-Ing. Kunibert Lennerts became its first director. Within the scope of the Excellence Initiative and the creation of the KIT, the professorship Technology and Management for the Decommisioning of Nuclear Facilities with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sascha Gentes was erected. This professorship was set up until 2014 with financial support by sat. Kerntechnik GmbH and then transferred into a W3-Professorship paid by the KIT.

At the end of March 2011 Professor Gehbauer retired and according to the succession plan the chair of the institute „Technology and Management in Construction“ was filled by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Kfm. Shervin Haghsheno.

Due to reasons of content and in order to give a more precise external appearance the professorships by Professor Haghsheno and Professor Gentes were renamed into „Construction Management“ and „Deconstruction and Decommissioning of Conventional and Nuclear Buildings“.

Construction Management research and teaching activities comprise all areas of the construction process and a strong link to machinery and process engineering as well as project management in the planning and building phase. This also includes the special discipline Lean Construction.

Furthermore, it includes the demolition and decommissioning not just of Nuclear Buildings but also conventional buildings which is becoming more and more relevant.

Together with the third professorship „Facility Management“ by Professor Lennerts the whole lifecycle of buildings is covered in research and teaching activities by the TMB.

The Institute of Technology and Management is conducted collegially by the heads of each academic division.