Sustainability in building construction
HUGO BOSS regularly reviews potential for increasing the energy efficiency of its buildings. During renovation works and planning as well as construction of new buildings, the company always ensures that energy consumption and the corresponding emissions are reduced from the start, through internal energy supply systems and energy-efficient technologies.
HUGO BOSS operates business locations around the world – probably the most well-known is its Metzingen headquarters, which has continued to expand in recent years. As part of these efforts, a new, modern administration building was opened in 2013, which is characterized through its particularly sustainable construction. In recognition, the German Sustainable Building Council awarded us platinum certification – the organization’s highest – for sustainable construction and operation. We made sure that the building operation would meet the highest sustainability standards as early as the planning phase:
- The building is heated with waste heat from the cogeneration unit in a neighboring building.
- The photovoltaic installation on the roof generates electricity: around 358,000 kWh since its installation in 2013 (staus as of 2018).
- Environmentally friendly and healthy building materials were used specifically.
- Regular inspections and maintenance ensure that resources are used efficiently, optimizing operating costs.
Energy for 100 households
Another example of sustainable building construction and operation is our Filderstadt distribution center, currently one of the largest shuttle warehouses and most modern logistics centers worldwide – and also awarded platinum certification by the German Sustainable Building Council.
This building also has a photovoltaic installation on its roof: nearly 2,000 modules on the 14,000 m2 roof area generate enough energy to supply 100 four-person households with electricity for a while year. Over the next 25 years, the installation will generate 13,000 MWh of electricity. The photovoltaic installation and cogeneration plant produce enough electricity to cover a majority of our needs.
Sustainability is also a focus in the inner of the buildings. The new flat goods warehouse in Filderstadt was built with a fully automated shuttle warehouse. This area comprises nearly 10,000 m² and is unheated and unlit, saving huge amounts of energy and space. A comparable conventional warehouse would require five times as much space and incur significant energy costs.
In addition, all lighting in the warehouse was replaced by some 1,200 LED lamps in 2017 in the course of regular business. The new LED lighting only consumes half as much energy and also has a significantly longer useful life, at some 70,000 operating hours – or more than 10 years in current logistics operations. Further advantages include an improvement in lighting quality and a reduction of the heat load in the building.
Employees also benefit
Operating under high pressure – around 40 trucks are loaded in Filderstadt every day; in total, 35 million products are shipped from here to locations around the world. HUGO BOSS employs a variety of measures to reduce employees’ workload:
- Regular mandatory breaks are scheduled during daily operations.
- Ergonomic workplaces, massages, and back training classes help improve health at the workplace.
- Employees regularly rotate departments and activities, to prevent stress due to repetitive movements.
- A current test involves touchscreen applications and different arrangements of work materials.
The new administration building in Metzingen and the flat goods warehouse in Filderstadt show what can be achieved through sustainable building construction. But our commitment doesn’t stop there: the distribution center in Wendlingen has also been renovated, with the installation of energy-efficient, resource-conserving technologies.
A key driver here: the high environmental targets that HUGO BOSS has defined: all of our new company buildings are to be certified with recognized sustainability certificates.
