Antonia was going absolutely crazy. “Look Armin, it's snowing! And the snow's actually sticking!” whooped the ant of my heart. I was not quite so surprised because as a building pro I am naturally also something of a hobby meteorologist. I nearly always have my eye on the sky over Berlin . You see, the worst thing that can happen on a construction site is that winter arrives suddenly and unexpectedly. Then the snow falls on bare brickwork and damp creeps into the walls. The thawing and freezing of the moisture can cause cracks. That's a worst-case scenario, but naturally, we are all well prepared on our BBI construction site.

We have taken care to protect our unfinished buildings against the winter and have stored our building materials well out of harm's way. No rain or snow in the world can bother us. That's why I had nothing to worry about at the weekend and was able to go on a lovely long winter's walk with Antonia.

Once upon a time, winter automatically meant that everything on a construction site ground to a halt. Today – especially on such a high-tech site as the BBI – work naturally continues. Things are a bit more complicated, certainly, but we keep going. With a building site heater, for example, it's possible to complete a structure even during the winter months.

And that's a good thing because we're all really looking forward to the grand opening in October 2011.

How do my men do the job in these temperatures, you ask? Well, they are all really tough nuts, of course, and our consumption of hot tea and coffee goes up drastically in the winter months, too.

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