During periods of high water levels, the River Aare repeatedly overflows its banks, causing significant damage. Structural measures are now being implemented to provide improved flood protection along a stretch of around 6 km of riverbank. At the same time, this popular local recreation area is being ecologically enhanced. Aline Wicki and Isabel Blatter, geographers based in Bern, are contributing to one of the city’s most significant urban development projects – in a place they know very well and personally enjoy using. TBF is supporting the project in the roles of client support and overall site management.

How do you get a 40 MW hot water boiler from the Netherlands to Thun? And what does it take until it can be commissioned?

The expansion of the district heating network in Thun is leading to a significantly higher heat demand. Hot water boilers produce district heat quickly and reliably – they're indispensable for energy supply, particularly during peak load times or when the municipal waste incineration plant isn't operating. The new K5 boiler at AVAG Umwelt AG, with an impressive capacity of 40 MW, replaces the previous, considerably smaller K3 boiler.

“We all benefit when sustainability is embedded integrally in the way we think and act.” Rosemarie Weigt and Simone Burkard are convinced of this. Our society is facing ever new challenges: climate risks, extreme weather events, population growth, increasing demand for space, and rising requirements driven by net-zero targets and sustainability strategies. Awareness of sustainability is there – yet comprehensive implementation still partly lags behind.

“In infrastructure construction, it is not yet standard practice to consider sustainability comprehensively and from the outset,” Simone explains. Why is that? And what does “sustainable planning and implementation” actually look like? These are the questions our sustainability experts address in their work. Through three projects, they illustrate just how complex this undertaking is.

Just a few years ago, Maurice lived in a very different world: as a professional football player, he was in the highest national league, playing for FC Zürich. In this interview, he tells us what it takes, what parallels he sees to his current day-to-day work and how he still keeps up his enthusiasm.

"When one door closes, another opens." Our network Project Development and Project Management (PP) attempts to live by this motto: recognising new opportunities amidst change. But what does this have to do with the annual network outing? In Biel, we experienced how important fresh impulses and encounters are for our collaboration.

As we know, a watched pot never boils. When you work with clay, its nature makes that clear. Clay has a memory and it doesn’t work fast. So it’s a good idea to switch off your thoughts.

In this profile, Marina tells us what can turn something ‘quite yucky’ into a gem. She buys old upholstered chairs, strips them down to their bones and gives them a beautiful new life inside, then out, so she can comfortably sit on them again.