Green and Digital: Drees & Sommer Constructs Model Building for its own Use

1 / 3

From left to right: Steffen Szeidl (Drees & Sommer board member), Thomas Besemer (Managing Director Gottlob Rommel Bauunternehmung), Thomas Berner (Associate Partner Drees & Sommer) at the start of construction work on the new company building OWP 12.

Drees & Sommer is constructing an administrative building at the company's headquarters in Stuttgart’s district of Vaihingen which is hitherto unique in that it meets all modern requirements for environmental performance and smart building infrastructure. Today's groundbreaking ceremony signals the start of construction work on the office building, which is due for completion in the fall of 2021 and will offer space for about 200 staff members.

The total investment cost for the four story building will run to approximately EUR 22 million. The new building will be 20 meters high and 70 meters long, offering around 7,000 square meters of gross floor area and featuring a large conference area, a terrace, a cafeteria and a staff restaurant for up to 1,000 employees. The company states that the ‘energy-plus building’ is designed to generate more energy during operation than it consumes. A newly developed high insulation façade structure, photovoltaic installations on the roof and the south façade, geothermal energy from geothermal bore holes and a vegetated northern façade are the main features which ensure a demonstrably positive energy footprint for the building, which also aims to be a model demonstration object for potential construction clients. The architecture was designed by SCD Architekten Ingenieure GmbH from Stuttgart.

To ensure a sustainable use of resources and minimize the amount of waste as far as possible, the Drees & Sommer experts will apply the Cradle to Cradle method for large parts of the building. Detailed information about the materials used in new constructions and their chemical properties is provided by a materials certificate which is issued before construction work begins.

Digital technology makes construction easier and relieves the strain on employees

Planning and construction is carried out with digital methods such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Lean Construction Management (LCM) for Lean Building Processes. As far as possible, industrially prefabricated modular components are used. The various parties to the building process enter the details for their trades into a digital BIM model before their work on the building site begins.