NordArt 2026 successfully opened its doors to visitors on June 6, 2026. Every summer, the historic Carlshütte iron foundry in Schleswig-Holstein becomes the stage for one of the largest exhibitions of contemporary art in Europe. From June 6 to October 4, 2026, more than 100,000 visitors experience art from around the world in an impressive industrial setting.

This year, the World Cup will take place once again. Matches will be held in numerous cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In impressive stadiums, 48 teams from around the world will compete against each other. ACO will also be represented on site: our products will be used in selected stadiums.

Focus on sustainable stormwater management - Büdelsdorf, June 1, 2026 – The ACO Group welcomed Tobias Goldschmidt, Minister for Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature of the State of Schleswig-Holstein, together with representatives of his ministry, to its headquarters in Büdelsdorf last Monday.

The ACO Group is expanding with the addition of ENREGIS Climate Group as of May 31, 2026.
With this acquisition, we are strategically strengthening our expertise in the field of Green Cities and expanding our portfolio in integrated stormwater management.

In the coming weeks (June 6–12, 2026), the waters of Carnac will provide the stage for the exciting 15th Musto Skiff World Championships, proudly sponsored by ACO for over a decade.

The ACO Musto Skiff World Championship has been a long-standing tradition within the company. For over a decade, ACO has been the title sponsor of this unique boat class. The Musto Skiff is one of the fastest single-handed sailing boats in the world and, under optimal conditions, can reach speeds of up to 20 knots in spectacular races.

Trees are far more than a design element in our cities. They cool urban spaces, improve air quality, store water and CO₂, and create places where people want to spend time. Yet especially in densely built environments, trees are under increasing pressure: sealed surfaces, compacted soils, heat, drought and contaminated water make it harder for them to survive.

Rethinking future proof infrastructure and urban planning.

Visit us at IFAT in Munich and experience ACO solutions for public spaces in transition.

04. – 07. May 2026, Messe München, hall B3, booth B3.239

On 14 January 2026, the gala ceremony for the 18th Handelsblatt Hall of Fame of Family Businesses took place in Munich. Since 2009, it has been jointly awarded by Handelsblatt, KPMG and the Family Business Foundation. This year, Hans-Julius, Johanna and Iver Ahlmann (pictured with laudator Stefan Heidbreder) were inducted into the Hall of Fame as new members – in recognition of their joint entrepreneurial commitment to the development of the ACO Group.

As a network partner of the Interreg project RECOVER, we actively contribute to achieving the project goals by contributing our expertise, sharing resources and jointly developing solutions for a sustainable future. How can the Baltic Sea be effectively protected and its ecological status improved? This question lies at the heart of the new German-Danish Interreg project, RECOVER, which is developing a digital twin of the south-western Baltic Sea.

Cities are growing rapidly, and with them the challenges: heat waves, heavy rainfall, sealed surfaces and resource scarcity – all of which affect us all.

Why is this important? Because more than half of the world's population already lives in cities – and this number continues to rise.

In our new Instagram series, we show how cities can become greener, more resilient and more liveable.

The World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, initiated by UNESCO and the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO), will be celebrated on 4 March 2025.

The ACO WaterDome makes sustainable water management tangible – interactive, visual, and future-focused.
Since 1946, ACO has been developing solutions that protect and improve water quality – with the ambition to create sustainable systems that relieve our environment in the long term.
To bring this idea to life and share it with others, the ACO WaterDome was created.

ACO managing director Richard Hill is to become the spokesman for the building materials supply industry in the United Kingdom as the new chairman of the Builders Merchants Federation, and and will therefore represent our sector well beyond the boundaries of ACO itself.

From the 14 - 20 July 2024, the scenic waters of Weymouth and Portland set the stage for the 13th ACO Musto Skiff World Championships, proudly sponsored by ACO for over a decade. The event showcased impressive sailing skills, strategy, and sportsmanship, bringing together top sailors from around the world who competed under changing weather conditions.

Large window fronts and lots of space characterize the new cruise terminal in Kiel. The owners of the new building rely on ACO facade drainage.

Hundreds of thousands of people are joining forces for the worldwide project Folding@Home, making the computing power of both private PCs and company computers available. The goal is to research diseases like Covid-19. Everybody can participate, of course ACO is involved.

Our Voronoi cast iron grating has won three awards for its extraordinary design. Discover the all-natural structures behind this special pattern.

This World Nature Conservation Day, let’s commit to protecting wildlife and their habitats. Every day, animals face danger crossing roads that divide their homes. At ACO, we create solutions like our ACO Tunnels, offering safe passage for animals and connecting their habitats.

On June 17, 2024, we celebrate the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought under the theme "United for Land: Our Legacy. Our Future."

ACO's founder Severin Ahlmann would have been 100 years old today. In honor of this anniversary, all employees worldwide are celebrating these days. Severin Ahlmann founded ACO in Büdelsdorf in 1946 and gradually expanded it internationally.

With roots planted in over 50 different countries, ACO celebrates the beauty and wonder of our planet on Earth Day 2024.

With a research project on its own premises in Büdelsdorf, ACO is testing innovative solutions to help trees grow into efficient natural climate systems with the help of smart irrigation technology, even under the harshest conditions.

The largest separator manufacturer in the Netherlands - Aquafix Milieu - is joining the ACO Group. The company was founded 27 years ago by Michel Pieke and is now the largest manufacturer of concrete and plastic oil and grease separators on the Dutch market.

At the largest sanitary trade fair in Austria, ACO Austria's building services division presented its new innovations. In addition to hygienic floor drainage, in-line shower channels, lifting systems and pipe systems, ACO showed for the first time the trendy shower channel ACO ShowerDrain S+ in black.

At the expert forum of the leading international trade fair GaLaBau in Nuremberg, the drainage system ACO Drain®Box was awarded the Innovation Medal by the Bundesverband Garten-, Landschafts- und Sportplatzbau e. V. (BGL). The award ceremony was one of the highlights of the trade fair.

Alexander Airich will take over as Managing Director of the German ACO Tiefbau Vertrieb GmbH on 1 September, succeeding Francesco Vitale. Alexander Airich began his career with the ACO Group in 2008. After holding positions in sales and international product management, he has been Managing Director of the ACO Competence Centre for Rainwater Management and Wastewater Technology in Bürstadt for three years and part of the ACO Tiefbau management team.

ACO. we care for water. As a system provider for gardening and landscaping, we will be showcasing products from the competence areas of line, point and facade drainage, rainwater management, manhole covers, tree protection and individual system solutions at GaLaBau from September 14 - 17, 2022 in Nuremberg in Hall 4-309. Sustainable. Diverse. Innovative.

Municipalities and urban planners are faced with the task of implementing climate adaptation measures and providing cool oases in the city. Shady parks, green facades and roofs and, above all, watercourses and water surfaces help to combat heat and create places full of quality of life. ACO provides intelligent and individual solutions to integrate cooling water into the city and protect natural water bodies and green spaces.

ACO Passavant Detego, as a specialist and market leader for manhole covers in special formats, is supplying five large floor gates for the emergency exits in the new underground station of the Stuttgart 21 project. The gates are special designs and are manufactured at the ACO site in Mülheim-Kärlich.

In the coming weeks, visitors to Büdelsdorf can once again experience a musical journey through different countries and centuries. The international SHMF Festival Orchestra will rehearse in public at the ACO Thormannhalle and the Carlshütte artwork will also become a concert hall.

In the "Cross Innovation Class" competition organized by Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft, ACO won the jury prize together with a team of students. The six-member team developed an intelligent solution for the city of the future: a digitally controlled rainwater storage tank with a water dispenser that can be used by the public.

Kick-off of the concert tour on Saturday, July 2 at the ACO Thormannhalle in Rendsburg-Büdelsdorf. The young musical talents of the Federal Youth Orchestra travel as cultural ambassadors of Germany to all parts of the world and inspire their audiences. Now the 14 to 19 year-old musicians are on tour in their own country as ambassadors for peace. Together with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, they will play three benefit concerts in July under the motto "United for the future" to support young musicians from Ukraine who have fled.

The sailing competitions at Kiel Week promise excitement and spectacular maneuvers. The Musto Skiff World Championship, which will be held for the first time this year from June 22 to 26 as part of Kieler Woche in Kiel-Schilksee, will be particularly fast-paced. Iver Ahlmann, managing partner of ACO, has been an enthusiastic Musto Skiff sailor himself for 15 years and will be taking part in the World Championship. ACO is also appearing as a sponsor of Kiel Week for the first time this year. ACO has been the main sponsor of the Musto Skiff World Championship for ten years.

The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) awarded the Managing Partner of the ACO Group, Hans Julius Ahlmann, with the World Economy Award on Sunday, June 19, 2022. "I am very pleased to receive this award. It is my first ever business award, and even more so from the top academic institution in my home state," said Hans-Julius Ahlmann. "For me as a native of Schleswig-Holstein, this is a great honor."

National and international visitors came to ACO's 400 square meter stand to find out about new products in the areas of heavy-duty surfaces, traffic routes and engineering structures, cities and municipalities, stormwater management and water pollution control, as well as in gardening and landscaping. Under the motto "ACO. we care for water", ACO showed the whole variety of innovative and efficient environmental technology with the new solutions.

A state-of-the-art ACO system chain for drainage and globally unique smart technologies are hidden under the asphalt of the new logistics area on the ACO site in Büdelsdorf. The complete construction phase of the 8,100 square meter area took only 12 weeks. You can see in the video which intelligent technology is hidden under the asphalt.

The world comes to Büdelsdorf - successful start for NordArt 2022. The international art exhibition on the grounds of the historic iron foundry Carlshütte will be open from June 4 to October 9, 2022. NordArt brings together works by 200 artists from around the world in one of the largest annual exhibitions of contemporary art in Europe. The host and main sponsor at Kunstwerk Carlshütte is the entrepreneurial couple Hans-Julius and Johanna Ahlmann.

The German Federal Cartel Offices (Bundeskartellamt) announced their decision not to approve the planned merger between BIRCO GmbH and the ACO Group. In July last year, BIRCO GmbH signed an agreement with the ACO Group to sell 100% of its shares. The merger was planned because both companies wanted to bundle their competences, and jointly offer an even broader product portfolio, and more individual system solutions from a single source.

The 75th anniversary of ACO, marks the ceremonial signing of the change of company name: ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG becomes
ACO Ahlmann SE & Co. KG. SE stands for Societas Europaea (European Company), a standardized legal form throughout the EU.

With the "Holstenfleet", a new attractive inner-city space has been created in Kiel. Spacious areas for recreation and relaxation as well as water basins that reflect the maritime flair invite visitors to linger. In addition, a clever drainage concept has been developed that integrates unobtrusively into the open spaces.

At the world's leading trade fair for the airport industry, inter airport Europe from 9 to 12 November 2021, everything in Munich will revolve around airport technology and services. The focus of the trade fair, at which ACO will also be represented, will be on new technologies and innovations for the modern airport of the future.

After a year's "forced break" due to Corona, art lovers can visit the NordArt in Büdelsdorf again this year. A comprehensive hygiene concept and the new online ticket system make it possible for the art exhibition to take place despite the pandemic.