As an experienced architect and professor of building construction, Annette Hillebrandt co-founded IRBau (Initiative for Resource-Conserving Building) and the Urban Mining Student Award in 2016 and established www.urban-mining-design.de in 2017.

The Recycling Manual is a comprehensive and detailed guide to environmentally sustainable construction with intelligent use of decommissioned materials. It provides quantified comparison between conventional and urban mining design construction methods, as well as successful project examples. One of the highlights in the book lies in the detachable connections and constructions, which make high-quality recycling of materials possible.