About us
History
Business segments
Introduction
We are an innovative engineering firm specialising in the design of radiation protection facilities for medical, research and technological applications. We design radiation protection facilities for linear accelerators along with the associated patient and utility rooms, enclosures for experimental particle physics setups and shielding for high-energy x-ray sources in non-destructive testing of materials. Be it an x-ray cabin for industrial applications or a proton therapy centre: We are your competent partner. See for yourself in our list of references.
Our extensive experience in civil engineering enables us to analyze your problem from all angles. This means that we do not only consider the actual radiation protection during the planning phase but also any plant-specific built-in components, the desired workflow of the plant as well as possible conversions or dismantling of the plant. We can be the competent partner at your side all the way to commissioning.
Upon request, we can even offer you turnkey solutions in cooperation with our business partners. We will live up to any challenge you present us with.
The values of then with the technology of today
Apart from planning radiation protection facilities, we also offer solutions in the fields of specialised underground engineering and room systems.
Under Services and References you will find extensive information. Did we spark your interest? Do not hesitate to contact us. We will gladly assist you personally!
The future needs a past
Being an innovative company, we strive to offer the most advanced solutions to our customers. Any of these solutions has a solid foundation due to our extensive experience in the field of civil engineering.
The PTZ MedAustron in Vienna is the largest Forster Sandwich Construction yet. By using sandwich technology, 25000 m3 of concrete could be replaced by using gravel from the site itself as mineral bulk filling.
Apart from installations for radiotherapy, construction of the largest radiation protection facility for non-destructive material testing commenced in 2010.
The radiation protection standards committee used the results from the test series so that the sandwich construction method became the new ‘state of the art’.
As ever more powerful systems are used for clinical irradiation of cancer patients, the characteristics of the new filling materials were to be tested in the range up to 600 MeV (protons) and 430 MeV (carbon particles). Using an experimental setup of 240 tons, new insights for the design of such buildings could be gained.
In order to further improve the design of radiation protection facilities as well as to test new materials for suitability, numerous radiographic tests were conducted on conventional concrete components and mineral bulk fillings.
Awarded on December 14, 2004 by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour in Berlin. The German Award for Material Efficiency was awarded by the Ministry for the first time in 2004. Jan and Renate Forster received the award for their best practice example for cost-effective improvement of material efficiency in the company or at customer locations for their ‘Radiation protection facility with dry mineral bulk filling using the sandwich construction method’.
Awarded on September 24, 200 by the Steinbeis Foundation and its partners, the Professor Adalbert Seifritz Award acknowledges the successful cooperation between trade and university. The award appreciates successful knowledge transfer between university and companies.
The Bavarian state government acknowledges the capabilities and competitiveness of the trade with the Bavarian State Award. Out-of-the-box technical solutions, quality of implementation, degree of innovation, application benefits and sustainability are important criteria for this award.
Due to the great response to the Forster Sandwich Construction®, a specialization takes place towards structural radiation protection
The first radiation protection facility using the new Forster Sandwich Construction was built for the radiotherapy practice Mühleninsel in Mühldorf am Inn, Germany. This facility is a self-supporting radiation protection room with a plaster filling that houses a linear accelerator for cancer treatment.
Initiated by a request for a mobile radiation protection room, we left the well-trodden paths to set an entirely new direction leading to a patent application. As opposed to the conventional construction method, the supporting structure and the radiation protection are separated. This enables a significant reduction in the amount of concrete required as a loose mineral bulk filling is used for radiation protection. This new construction method quickly became the most important product of the company.
In the 1970s we specialised in bridge and reinforced concrete construction Numerous structures from this period still stand witness to the projects of those years.
A modern cemetery chapel from reinforced concrete was built for the newly established southern cemetery. The complex formwork construction for the parabolic outer wall design is particularly noteworthy.
The increasing volume of traffic in Ingolstadt required an additional bridge over the Danube river. In collaboration with another local construction company, the structure along with the associated traffic installations was built in 1963/64. The structure proved its endurance during an extreme flood in 1965.
However, construction of bridges was not neglected. In the Ingolstadt area, 12 bridges were constructed for the highway A9. Crash tests were conducted in Desching near Ingolstadt in order to examine the behaviour of reinforced concrete pillars in case of a truck crash.
Due to the fast advancement of the industry in Ingolstadt (particularly the former Auto Union), requirement for workers and hence housing increased. As a result, new residential areas were built around the Auto Union grounds.
Apart from building bridges, roads and buildings, reconstruction of industrial installations became an important cornerstone of the company. Various production halls of Auto Union and DESPAG are examples for work from this period.
Reconstruction of the company started soon after the end of the war. The company was engaged in reconstruction of the wooden Danube river bridge and, in the following years, in reconstruction of public buildings such as the St. Anton church.
In 1935, the company built a storage facility for EDEKA followed by various residential and office buildings. In 1939, work on a grain elevator started. However, construction was stopped due to war-related cost-cutting measures.
Under new management, the production program is updated with reinforced concrete construction. This construction method is commonly used today but it was a revolution in construction back then. As opposed to the common brick and compressed concrete construction method used earlier, this method enabled faster construction as well as significant savings in material and labor costs.
Michael Forster becomes an entrepreneur following many years of service in the construction business of the builder Beikler. Initially, most contracts are for private residential constructions and conversions.
The Mercystraße (Mercy Road) is constructed with buildings inspired by the French Art Nouveau according to designs by builder Beikler. Great care was taken to give each building its own characteristics. The road is named after Franz Freiherr von Mercy, a German general in the Thirty Years’ War, due to the military tradition of Ingolstadt.
Planning of radiation protection buildings using patented Forster Sandwich Construction®
- Design
- Conception
- Construction-ready planning
- Construction monitoring all the way to commissioning
Licensing of construction systems
- Forster Sandwich-Construction®
- Forster System-Gebäude
- Forster System-Verbau