| Construction table | |
|---|---|
| Project | Weleda Logistics Campus, Schwäbisch Gmünd |
| Client | Weleda Immobilien GmbH, Schwäbisch Gmünd |
Planning and execution | Michelgroup GmbH, Ulm (architecture for all phases of the project) |
| Timber construction | Holzbau Amann, Weilheim-Bannholz (load-bearing timber structure and timber-framed walls as well as facades for the functional building, administration building and connecting bridge to the high-bay warehouse) |
| Wood fibre insulation | Gutex Pyroresist wall, 60 mm |
| Photos | Michelgroup/Gutex |
Weleda's new logistics campus has been awarded pre-certification by the German Society for Sustainable Building (DGNB) at the highest assessment level, platinum, as well as first place in the polis Award 2024 in the Ecological Reality category. Photo: Michelgroup
Weleda's largest site is located in Schwäbisch Gmünd, to the east of Stuttgart, in the natural landscape of the Swabian Alb. On a site of around 72,000 square metres, the Swiss manufacturer of natural cosmetics has added a complex of buildings housing administrative offices, logistics areas and a high-bay warehouse. Only 20% of the site was sealed off for the new buildings and traffic areas, while the remaining areas are being converted from agricultural monoculture to species diversity and biodiversity through orchards, hedges and perennials.
The Michelgroup planning team in Ulm therefore sees the new Weleda campus as a "flagship project for sustainability from an economic, ecological and social point of view".
Buildings of varying heights fan out across the site. The two-storey administration building is linked to the functional building behind it by an intermediate building integrated into the site. The surrounding green spaces rise seamlessly up to the green roof of the intermediate building.
From the four-storey functional building, a glazed wooden walkway with a pallet conveyor leads to the high-bay warehouse. Here, eight-metre-high outer walls made of rammed earth, for which excavated material was used, rise above a reinforced concrete base. A load-bearing wooden structure is added, with the high-bay shelving, also made of wood, playing a load-bearing role. The three buildings are characterised by wooden structures and facades above the solid plinths. The spruce and white fir used come from the Black Forest or Austria.
Solar panels, which also provide shade, complete the look of the functional building's façade. Together with the flat roofs of the three buildings, this means that almost 10,000 square metres of photovoltaic surface area are available for electricity generation. Heat and cooling are supplied by a geothermal system with a reversible heat pump. The energy, which comes 100% from renewable sources, allows the building to operate CO₂-neutrally, which is another pioneering element in the overall concept.
All tasks, from goods-in to goods-out, are carried out in the centrally-located building. Holzbau Amann was responsible for the production and assembly of the timber elements for the load-bearing structure, frame walls and facade. With a height of 24 metres above ground level, the building is in building class 5, which means that it has special fire protection requirements that have been met in consultation with the expert and the manufacturers of the construction elements used.
This includes an external insulation layer made of 60 mm thick Gutex Pyroresist wall wood fibre boards. This innovative product from the Black Forest company is flame retardant to DIN EN 13501-1 (building material class C) and non-combustible to DIN EN 16733. The wood fibre insulation board can therefore be used up to and including building class 4/5, and provides fire protection without any significant release of smoke or flaming droplets.
The flagship project is already shining ahead of completion: the complex has been awarded pre-certification by the German Society for Sustainable Building (DGNB) at the highest assessment level, platinum, as well as first place in the polis Award 2024 in the Ecological Reality category.
