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By Carlotta Böttcher
Scheibenberg. Ralf Kretschmar's wood workshop looks like a movie set. Wooden planks are now stacked up on the stage of the former ballroom in Scheibenberg. Large sawing machines now stand on the old floorboards where people used to dance. The ceiling is decorated with stucco, supported by historic pillars, thin cracks in the wall. Next to them are silver pipes in which sawdust is extracted. A strong smell of wood hangs in between.
Kretschmar has been working in the listed building for 18 years. The trained master carpenter runs a Craft business with seven employees. They renovate and reconstruct listed buildings and build houses from solid wood. The special thing about it is that Kretschmar mainly works with wood from forests right on the doorstep. In November last year, he was awarded the German Sustainability Award in the building trade category.
The 44-year-old invites us into his office, a bouquet of yellow tulips on the table, a plate of colorful fruit skewers next to it. The woodworker is a quiet, thoughtful guy. He speaks quietly but firmly. His aim is to re-establish the timber industry in the region.
He takes a pragmatic view of the award: "It's not difficult for us to be sustainable. We just have to go into the forest here in the Ore Mountains and get the wood out. It's easier for us than the industry."
What it means in practice to build with wood from the Ore Mountains
But it's not quite that easy. Kretschmar builds with the Environmental label "Wood from here" and promises its customers to source wood from the region. In practice, this means one thing above all: more work and costs than for conventional timber builders.
The work begins with a conversation with the forester: "I tell him roughly what lengths, thicknesses and grades I need," says Kretschmar. He usually inspects the area again with his own eyes afterwards: "If it's on a slope, for example, there are other tensions in the wood." The trees are only felled in winter when they are dry. "In spring, the tree draws sap. Then we need a lot more energy to dry the wood," explains Kretschmar. This is also a competitive disadvantage compared to the conventional timber industry, which logs all year round.
Sawing is also regional. There are only two large sawmills left in the Scheibenberg area. Kretschmar says: "They no longer stand a chance against the world market. They would have to process much larger quantities to be able to compete with the prices." After the sawmill, he has to dry the wood and store it for two to three years. Only then can the building work begin.
Conventional timber builders save themselves all these steps. They buy wood on the world market and then start building. Ralf Kretschmar can understand this: "The price is the deciding factor. And we have to plan ahead. We go into the forest three to four years in advance, select timber, then need storage areas, which tie up financial resources." And yet: in times like two years ago, when there is no more wood, this stockpile helps immensely. "It's always a double-edged sword," says Kretschmar.
St. John's Church is a two-minute walk from his office. Kretschmar renovated the church tower more than ten years ago. Most recently, he renovated the roof truss of the small miner's chapel in front of the church: with spruce wood from the neighboring Crottendorf district, cut in the sawmill of the Neu-Amerika timber yard. According to Kretschmar, this adds up to a transport distance of eight kilometers - and thus an immense saving in CO2.
"What's closer: walking 20 meters across the road into the forest or driving halfway around the globe?" asks Kretschmar. However, the reason for his efforts is not only due to ecological ambitions. He says: "It also makes sense from a business perspective to use regional wood, because the added value stays here. And therefore also the taxes."
The jury of the German Sustainability Award honored him because "the company has made particularly effective, exemplary contributions to transformation, thus setting an example and sending the right signals in its industry and beyond". So Kretschmar is not only doing good work in his practice, he is also getting involved politically and wants to make a difference. The award has opened up new opportunities for this. Politicians from the state, federal and European parliaments congratulated him, whereupon Kretschmar thanked them and invited them to Scheibenberg for a workshop discussion. Saxony's Environment Minister Wolfram Günther (Greens) and Economics Minister Martin Dulig (SPD) have already visited, and MEP Anna Cavazzini (Greens) and Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) have also announced their attendance.
Think globally and act regionally
Ralf Kretschmar's visits are not about shaking hands and taking a nice souvenir photo. He wants to talk about the issue. For example, about the Public Procurement Act, as he did last month with Economics Minister Dulig. In concrete terms, the problem is the renovation of the Bergmeisterkapelle. When he started three years ago, the price of regional timber was between 650 and 750 euros per cubic meter. On the global market, a cubic meter cost between 1,200 and 1,300 euros due to the energy crisis. "Our price was right, we were allowed to do the renovation," says Kretschmar.
The trend has since reversed. The regional timber price remains at the same level, while the global market price has fallen to 350 euros. "The local authorities usually accept the cheapest offer. This is neither sustainable nor does it promote companies in the region," says Kretschmar. "We have to think globally and act regionally. The two are not mutually exclusive."
Kretschmar doesn't come across as someone who wants to make a name for himself. He says: "It's about the cause and not about me." His family and friends would shake their heads if he took on another new project. He sat on the city council for 15 years, on the church council for 16 years and used to be a school spokesman. Why does he do all this? "At the moment, there's a lot of complaining and doing is taking a back seat. It's not getting any better. You just have to do it."
