Anyone turning off the A9 motorway at Großkugel near Leipzig in Germany and heading east on the B6 will see an elongated multi-storey car park on the left. Its front is set off in waves, as if the wind is rippling hanging fabrics. But it's not textiles, it's solar panels.
Stay up to date, sign up for our newsletter
The solar facade is more than a hundred metres long and consists of thin-film modules from Avancis. They conceal a functional multi-storey car park which, without the facade, looks like an unadorned storage facility for cars. ‘The car park is part of the new DHL campus,’ explains Hannes Koefer, CTO of Leipziger Stadtbau AG. ‘Various DHL divisions are located on the campus, as the neighbouring Leipzig-Halle Airport is an important hub for the logistics company.’
Accommodation for hundreds of employees
The airport in the trade fair city of Leipzig is an important hub in the global route network served by DHL's aircraft. Leipziger Stadtbau AG, on the other hand, bought the farmland and developed it into a modern company site for DHL.
See also: BIPV for building designed by Daniel Libeskind
In other words, it planned, built and took over the operation of the buildings. ‘We acquired the site in the immediate vicinity of the hub and developed it into a campus together with DHL and its subsidiary Real Estate as partners,’ explains Hannes Koefer. ‘Today, it is home to various DHL divisions and the airline Aerologic, which will operate more than 20 aircraft by the end of the year.’
Central hub for Europe
Aerologic is a subsidiary of DHL and Lufthansa. More than 600 pilots are travelling worldwide for DHL air transports. The European centre is located at Leipzig Airport, which adjoins the municipality of Schkeuditz to the west.
The pilots park their cars at the new campus on the B6 motorway before taking over their flight routes. Customs formalities are completed here. There are multi-purpose buildings for conferences and catering for the approximately 1,100 employees, as well as a dedicated sports field. ‘DHL wanted to offer its employees the best conditions,’ explains Koefer. ‘This is important in order to have an advantage when recruiting. The buildings are all high-tech.’
Service charges well below two euros
Leipziger Stadtbau AG specialises in listed refurbishments. It also acts as a project developer for commercial sites such as the one in Schkeuditz. ‘Our aim is always to keep ancillary costs as low as possible,’ says Hannes Koefer. ‘Despite the energy crisis, we manage to stay well below two euros per square metre. To achieve this, we try to do everything technically possible.’
Also interesting: New office building with solar facade becomes a green powerhouse
While Koefer is responsible for the technical side of the projects at Leipziger Stadtbau AG, Sebastian Jagiella, as COO, is primarily in charge of the operational business. ‘The DHL Campus was to be utilised as efficiently as possible in terms of energy,’ he explains. ‘Initially, the car park was built as a KfW 40 building by Goldbeck on our behalf. At that time, we had not yet decided which areas on the site would be utilised by photovoltaics.’
