Following the completed move into its newest plant, Lower Rhine, located on Harbor Pier 1 in Neuss, auto-industry supplier Pierburg has meanwhile been awarded the certification aspired to for its new building complex. The German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) awarded the Pierburg location its certificate in gold. This means that the Lower Rhine plant is very likely to be the first industrial facility with a foundry to have received this coveted award in recent times.
Right from the start of this €50 million construction project, the Company had attached great importance to sustainability. As a specialist in emission and fuel-consumption reduction in cars and commercial vehicles, Pierburg sees itself committed to strict sustainability criteria at its production plants, too. Employee amenities also play a role, such as having available a sufficient number of bicycle racks or providing parking spaces reserved for women.
It all started with the fact of the new facility itself and the associated land recultivation, given that the Company was able to build its new plant on disused industrial wasteland that is also very conveniently situated and, with its easy accessibility by public transport or bicycle, again scores ecologically.
Another important aspect at this early stage was flexibility in the reutilization and expansion of the site, eased by a number of factors such as the largely column-free shop floors as well as statically and technically, by office areas allowing potential extensions and variable layout.
Added to this was the exclusive use of eco-friendly materials approved by construction ecologists.
Given the integrated foundry, high priority was assigned to improved air pollution control as shown in the extensive clean air and immission protection measures. In fact, Pierburg's relevant measurements are even lower than the limits specified in the German Technical Guidelines on Clean Air (TA Luft).
The building in its entirety scores more than 25 percent better than the energy-conservation benchmarks for new buildings. Besides the countless additional measures, efficient heat recovery in the pneumatic air system and in the waste heat from the foundry's smelting furnaces plays a major role in achieving the commendable bottom-line results.
Besides the building's basic architecture, noise-abatement measures adopted by Pierburg included extra building-envelope insulation and the use of much quieter equipment and systems, for example, the pneumatic air. Rounding off the package are solid waste processing and wastewater avoidance procedures.
Right from the start of this €50 million construction project, the Company had attached great importance to sustainability. As a specialist in emission and fuel-consumption reduction in cars and commercial vehicles, Pierburg sees itself committed to strict sustainability criteria at its production plants, too. Employee amenities also play a role, such as having available a sufficient number of bicycle racks or providing parking spaces reserved for women.
It all started with the fact of the new facility itself and the associated land recultivation, given that the Company was able to build its new plant on disused industrial wasteland that is also very conveniently situated and, with its easy accessibility by public transport or bicycle, again scores ecologically.
Another important aspect at this early stage was flexibility in the reutilization and expansion of the site, eased by a number of factors such as the largely column-free shop floors as well as statically and technically, by office areas allowing potential extensions and variable layout.
Added to this was the exclusive use of eco-friendly materials approved by construction ecologists.
Given the integrated foundry, high priority was assigned to improved air pollution control as shown in the extensive clean air and immission protection measures. In fact, Pierburg's relevant measurements are even lower than the limits specified in the German Technical Guidelines on Clean Air (TA Luft).
The building in its entirety scores more than 25 percent better than the energy-conservation benchmarks for new buildings. Besides the countless additional measures, efficient heat recovery in the pneumatic air system and in the waste heat from the foundry's smelting furnaces plays a major role in achieving the commendable bottom-line results.
Besides the building's basic architecture, noise-abatement measures adopted by Pierburg included extra building-envelope insulation and the use of much quieter equipment and systems, for example, the pneumatic air. Rounding off the package are solid waste processing and wastewater avoidance procedures.
