Our Work:

Base Conversion

BICC has carried out research on base conversion for 15 years.

The end of the Cold War resulted in a reduction of armed forces, a withdrawal of allied troops and the closure of military bases, barracks and depots - also in Germany. Since its foundation in 1994, BICC has extensively supported communities in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in particular in the management of this conversion process of former military sites. It has also provided consultancy services to the governments of the Land NRW and Brandenburg with regard to questions of a civilian re-use of such sites.

BICC's experience in base conversion is sought after on an international scale.

After the evaluation of national conversion concepts, such as in South Africa, and its consultancy activities with regard to the establishment of structures of a national conversion management, such as in the Ukraine, BICC has also been involved in the conversion process in the Balkans.
For a long time, first steps have been taken in the Balkans for a comprehensive reform of their defense sector, including base conversion, which i.a. resulted in the foundation of RACVIAC (Regional Arms Control Verification and Implementation Assistance Centre). BICC not only offers advice and support to the Centre on demobilization issues but also in the area of base conversion.

• brief 34: Tobias Pietz
  Defense Reform and Conversion in Albania, Macedonia and Croatia, July 2006
• paper 49: Stefan Wieschollek
  Konversion: Ein totgeborenes Kind in Wünsdorf- Waldstadt? Probleme der Umnutzung des ehemaligen Hauptquartiers der Westgruppe der Truppen zur zivilen Kleinstadt, April 2006
• paper 30: Henri Myrttinen
  Base Conversion in Central and Eastern Europe 1989-2003, June 2003
• paper 22: Dimitar Dimitrov
  The Restructuring and Conversion of the Bulgarian Defense Industry during the Transition Period, July 2002
• brief 25: Dimitar Dimitrov, Lech Giermakowski, Andreas Heinemann-Grüder, Tadeusz Keson, Frank Möller, Gustav Urbani, Gundars Zalkalns
  The Military in Transition: Restructuring and Downsizing the Armed Forces of Eastern Europe, September 2002
• brief 19: Ksenia Gonchar and Thilo Roetger
  Assisting Conversion and Company Restructuring in Moldova: A Tacis-funded Project, October 2001
• Konversionsbericht Band IV: Zehn Jahre Truppenabzug und Konversion in Nordrhein-Westfalen - Bilanz und Perspektiven, herausgegeben vom Ministerium für Wirtschaft und Mittelstand, Energie und Verkehr des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Erarbeitung: Ulrich Schirowski, Internationales Konversionszentrum Bonn
• Reusing Former Military Lands
  Study executed on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Energy
• Nachnutzung vormals militärisch genutzter Liegenschaften
  Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit
• Ulrike Lindemann, Ulrich Schirowski. 1996. "Truppenabbau und Konversion in Nordrhein-Westfalen", Handbuch für Kommunen