Solutions for building with climate-neutral concrete

The team of the Berlin-based company ecoLocked is highly international: A total of eight different nationalities work here. They are multi-disciplinary experts aiming at reconciling economic value with climate compatibility. Using special admix materials, they develop optimised climate-neutral concrete that they market themselves – with a product range covering paving stones, park benches and other concrete elements for gardening and landscaping.

Stefanie Gerhart is part of the three-person management team of ecoLocked. Together with Mario Schmitt and Micheil Gordon she is responsible for the strategic focus of the startup. The 32-year-old woman grew up close to Bamberg. She has had an interesting career path and can apply her practical experience to her role.

“After graduating from high school, I did a bachelor’s degree at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University in Ravensburg, north of Lake Constance,” Stefanie Gerhart remembers. “The degree was names Marketing and Communication Industries.” She then worked at a publishing house for two years before moving to London to complete a yearlong master’s degree at the Imperial College, focusing on Economics.

“Before I came to ecoLocked, I worked for the American consulting company Boston Consulting Group for six years,” Stefanie Gerhart adds. “I spent two of those years in the Munich office and four in San Francisco.” During this time, she also encountered industrial companies that produce building materials. “I was especially interested in their relevance to the climate and in sustainability.”

ecoLocked was founded in late 2021. “I am very happy to now be on the more practical side of things,” she says. “We develop biochar-based concrete admix materials that help reduce the carbon footprint of concrete and turn buildings and other concrete elements into carbon sinks.”

ecoLocked’s materials stem from locally obtained and reprocessed recycling materials that can be seamlessly implemented into different concrete production processes and are optimised for their performance needs. Landscape gardeners are a very interesting target group for the company, which is why Stefanie Gerhart is looking forward to presenting the company at the exhibition in Nuremberg: “If we can convince landscapers of the value of our admix materials, we will be able to jointly convince local concrete factories to produce the products based on demand. Or we can refer the landscape gardeners to existing partners that already produce concrete with ecoLocked materials.”

ecoLocked is one of the exhibitors at the joint stand Young Innovators. This area is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and can be found in Hall 3C. NürnbergMesse offers companies in the International StartUp Area special conditions for participating in GaLaBau, the leading International Trade Fair for Urban Green and Open Spaces (www.galabau-messe.com/en). The fair takes places from 11 – 14 September 2024.