About TGA Fachplaner

TGA Fachplaner

TGA Fachplaner, since September 2022 published as TGA+E Fachplaner, is a German specialist magazine for technical building equipment, published twelve times a year by the Alfons W. Gentner Verlag in Stuttgart under the motto "by planners for planners." Appearing twelve times a year under the motto "Von Planern für Planer" (by planners for planners), it is the only specialist magazine focusing on both technical and electrotechnical building equipment, a unique position in the German building technology press. Its editorial team operates its own TGA planning office, a concept successful since 2002 that carries the "by planners for planners" idea to this day, and the magazine is the official organ of the Bundesverband Energie Umwelt Feuerungen e.V. (BVOG). The print run is 11,000 copies with distribution strictly focused on TGA and electrical planners, and the editor-in-chief is Jochen Vorländer.

Overview

TGA Fachplaner serves the planners of technical building equipment: the engineers and technicians in TGA and electrical planning offices, the SHK companies with their own planning departments, the planning craftsmen in heating, sanitary, and climate technology, the housing industry, energy consultants, and the decision-makers in the TGA and electrical products industry, a readership strictly focused on those who plan building technology. The magazine reports on heating, climate, ventilation, and measurement and control technology, and serves as a guide on energy economics and renewable energies, addressing the planners who design the technical heart of modern buildings.

Since September 2022, the "+E" has supported TGA planners and the newly developed target group of electrical planners in the transformation driven by digitalization, electrification, decentralized energy generation and storage, energy management, building-adjacent charging infrastructure, smart buildings, and BIM. All relevant specialist topics are reported in regularly alternating focuses.

The 2022 volume comprised twelve issues with 808 pages, of which nearly 79 percent was editorial content. The website tgafachplaner.de recorded 195,268 visits in the first half of 2022, with 216,094 page impressions per month in June 2024 per IVW online usage data, and the weekly newsletter reaches 5,702 recipients. The magazine's online offering includes daily news, extensive topic dossiers, the print and newsletter archive with full-text search and extended search functions, and service offerings such as the job market and seminar database.

History

TGA Fachplaner was developed by the Alfons W. Gentner Verlag of Stuttgart, the specialist publisher for the SHK and building technology trades, as the planners' magazine for technical building equipment, with the May 2020 issue marking its 19th year. The May 2020 issue was the 19th year, placing the founding around 2001. From the start, the magazine's editorial team operated its own TGA planning office, giving the "von Planern für Planer" concept its credibility: the editors know the readers' information needs from their own planning practice, a unique setup among Germany's building technology magazines.

In September 2022, the magazine was expanded to TGA+E Fachplaner, adding the electrotechnical building equipment and the electrical planners to its scope. The expansion responded to the transformation that requires the synergetic cooperation of TGA and electrical planners in planning building technology: digitalization, electrification, decentralized energy generation and storage, energy management, charging infrastructure, smart buildings, and BIM, the forces reshaping the planner's profession.

The magazine became the official organ of the Bundesverband Energie Umwelt Feuerungen e.V. (BVOG), anchoring it in the energy and heating industry's association landscape and giving the association's members their specialist voice. Its digital metrics grew with the expansion: the website's monthly page impressions reached 216,094 in June 2024, and the weekly newsletter's 5,702 recipients keep the title in the planners' inboxes.

Coverage and Content

TGA Fachplaner's editorial program covers the technical building equipment's full spectrum. Heating technology coverage addresses gas heating replacement, corrosion prevention, and combined heat and power, as in the report on the senior care home's new CHP unit refinanced within three years through its compact, weight-optimized, and quiet design. Sanitary coverage examines hygiene risks in decentralized drinking water heating, and the corrosion protection coverage addresses the small and medium heating systems. Climate and ventilation coverage follows the air technology, and the measurement and control technology coverage addresses the building automation that makes the smart building work.

Energy economics and renewable energies form the guide section: the magazine advises on energy management, decentralized generation and storage, and the economic efficiency of investments, giving planners the business case for the technical solutions. The digitalization coverage follows BIM, smart buildings, and the building-adjacent charging infrastructure for electric mobility, the technologies that are transforming how building equipment is planned.

The regularly alternating focuses structure the year: each issue emphasizes different specialist topics across heating, ventilation, sanitary, electrical, and energy themes, ensuring the full spectrum is covered over the twelve issues. The website's topic dossiers deepen the print coverage, and the newsletter archive with full-text search makes the accumulated planning knowledge accessible to the profession.

The Gentner Verlag

The Alfons W. Gentner Verlag behind the magazine is a Stuttgart family publishing house with nearly a century of history. Founded in 1927 by the bookbinder Alfons Gentner senior, it received its publishing license from the Allies in 1946 under Alfons W. Gentner, brought out the Schwäbische Illustrierte the same year, and has concentrated on trade journals since 1959. Its portfolio spans SBZ Sanitär Heizung Klima, DIE KÄLTE + Klimatechnik, GLASWELT, Photovoltaik, Baumetall, and the medical titles ASU Arbeitsmedizin and MedSach — the building-technology and energy titles that place the TGA Fachplaner in a wider specialist-media house serving the SHK, refrigeration, facade, and energy trades.

Organization and Ownership

TGA Fachplaner is published by the Alfons W. Gentner Verlag GmbH and Co. KG of Stuttgart, at Forststrasse 131 in the 70193 district, reachable at 0711 63672-0, the specialist publisher for the SHK and building technology trades. The publisher, the Alfons W. Gentner Verlag GmbH and Co. KG, is also the magazine's editor, a structure typical of the German specialist press. The editor-in-chief is Jochen Vorländer, reachable at 05331 907226 and through the Gentner Verlag's Stuttgart offices.

The magazine is the official organ of the Bundesverband Energie Umwelt Feuerungen e.V. (BVOG). Advertising is managed by Frank Maier, and the publisher's address is Forststrasse 131, 70193 Stuttgart, with the postal box 10 17 42, 70015 Stuttgart. The print run is 11,000 copies, with the print circulation's distribution strictly focused on TGA and electrical planners. Financial details of the magazine's operations beyond the circulation and reach figures are not publicly confirmed; what is documented is the 11,000-copy print run and the growing digital metrics.

Digital Presence

Tgafachplaner.de is the magazine's digital home, with daily news, extensive topic dossiers, the print and newsletter archive including full-text search and extended search functions, and service offerings such as the job market and seminar database, all cross-linked with the further TGA+E media. All website contents are cross-linked and connected with further TGA+E media, giving users easy access to deepening information and further research possibilities. The IVW online usage data recorded 111,388 visits and 216,094 page impressions per month in June 2024.

The weekly newsletter reaches 5,702 recipients, and the TGA.Wissen knowledge platform has 1,247 subscribers, extending the magazine's reach beyond the 11,000 print copies. The magazine's Facebook presence counted 1,540 followers in September 2022, and the e-paper brings the printed issue to the tablet for the mobile planners. The e-paper brings the printed issue to the tablet. Social media channels beyond Facebook and podcasts for the TGA Fachplaner brand are not detailed in the sources reviewed; the brand's digital presence rests on its website, its weekly newsletter, its TGA.Wissen knowledge platform, and its e-paper that brings the printed issue to the tablet.