Production and logistics building for Hilti
The enlargement of the Hilti plant in Thüringen, a
production facility for components for high quality
drilling and fixing equipment was completed in sum-
mer 2009. With around 18,000 square metres of floor
space, the new building contains production and
logistics areas and a fully automated palette and con-
tainer store as well as peripherally organised support
areas and offices.
Right at the start of design work Hilti made clear its
requirement that the building had to be built in line
with the requirements for sustainable buildings as
set out in the company's internal guidelines for new
and refurbished buildings. Together with Hilti
a catalogue of requirements was drawn up‚
explained ATP project leader and architect Matthias
Wehrle. We wanted to limit our impact on both
the environment and our neighbours. Hence we
chose only building materials which could clearly
demonstrate their recyclability.
In addition to this, the use of fossil and electrical
energy was minimised and the replacement of these
with renewable energy promoted. The key was to
minimise reliance on any form of additional energy
for heating and cooling. A basic principle of the de-
sign is the secondary use of energy already required
for the production process‚ explained Wehrle. In
winter, heat is generated from both extract air from
the production process and an airborne/geothermal
heat exchanger and in summer groundwater is used
for cooling. The result is an annual reduction in CO
2
emissions of around 213,000 kg and annual energy
savings in the region of 350,000 kWh. As a result
of the extreme suitability of concrete as a thermally
active building element conventional energy genera-
ting systems are simply not required in the assembly
and production areas. The social sustainability of the
project is seen in the creation of both internal and
external communal spaces. Light surfaces, optimum
daylight and an extremely comfortable internal envi-
ronment create a very pleasant working environment.
