Sportisimo—a leading Czech retailer focused on sports equipment, clothing and footwear—moved into its new 33,700 square meter build-to-suit facility at Prologis Park Prague-Rudna in 2017. The build-to-suit is an expansion to its existing leased space of 23,900 square meters in the park, which is 20 minutes from Prague’s city center. The environmentally advanced building was the first logistics facility in the Czech Republic to receive BREEAM’s highest accreditation of “Outstanding” and only the second such building in all of Central and Eastern Europe to receive this rating.
The new facility, which comprises two rectangular halls attached to an existing building, was built with a sustainable approach that included strict requirements to use building materials chosen based on life-cycle cost analysis, avoid pollution or health and safety threats, and minimize construction waste through reuse and recycling.
The brownfield development involved removing old sheds. During the construction process, Metrostav, the general contractor, met demanding standards governing the protection of natural resources and the surrounding area—from noise levels to pollution caused by potential hazardous substances (both liquid and dust). The health and safety of the workers and others in the immediate vicinity was also taken into account. With a focus on recycling and reusing materials, 80 percent of mixed construction waste was diverted from landfill disposal.
The building’s final BREEAM score of 88.1 percent reflects a design that not only incorporates environmentally friendly materials, but one that also provides significant operational savings. All energy in the building is accurately measured on a secondary basis, providing an immediate overview of consumption and potential equipment failure, as well as the ability for tenants to track their energy consumption. These measures encourage reduced energy use, which has led to primary energy savings of 18.4 percent. To conserve water, Prologis focuses on reducing demand at all of its projects by using state-of-the-art leak detection systems and fixtures. Daily water consumption at the facility has been cut by 56 percent since new systems and fixtures were installed.
LED lights are a Prologis standard, and Sportisimo’s logistics center features maximum natural daylight in the office areas, as well as separately controlled zones to minimize energy consumption when workers are not present.
The large storage hall is heated with gas-fired infrared panels, providing radiant energy for comfort, while electrical heaters warm the smaller office spaces.
Cooling the storage space is done via overnight free cooling that takes advantage of the high ceiling and natural air flow patterns. Only a small section of the offices require air conditioning.