Tailormade to be green: the next generation of carbon-neutral warehouses
Long term relationships are often long term for good reason. As a future focused developer and long term logistics real estate owner, we take particular care to nurture the relationships we have with our different customers. Aside from providing space for them to run their operations efficiently, in the markets that matter most, we work alongside our customers to offer value-add initiatives that support their growth and environmental goals alike.
A new generation of logistics real estate
We’ve just delivered a very special facility for our pan-European customer L’Oreal, at Muggensturm, in Germany. At a whopping 101,000 square metres (their largest distribution centre worldwide) it’s not its size that makes it impressive. Rather, it has been carefully designed to ensure permanent, carbon-neutral operation.
Covering 18 hectares, this new hub-facility serves L’Oreal’s markets in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. From design to operation, sustainability has been the central focus throughout this development. Its functionality has been completely customized to meet today’s logistics standards and those of tomorrow. Sustainable energy is used to operate the facility. Rainwater irrigates green areas, cleans the halls and flushes the toilets. It is especially well insulated, equipped with energy-saving LED lighting and features a rooftop, solar array with a maximum peak capacity of 2.0 megawatts.
During development we also paid careful attention to the natural landscape and location characteristics. We worked with the municipality to define and implement species protection measures. Specifically for the skylark, a bird native to the local countryside. In addition, we’ve created 30,000 square meters of conservation habitat, right on top of the facility’s roof.
The value of customer relationships
When it comes to customer and environmental initiatives, our track record is well documented. Part of the reason for this carbon-neutral project partnership to be successful was that our sustainability strategy neatly fit with L’Oreal’s own high environmental standards. An equally important factor is our long standing relationship we have with them across Europe. Satisfied that we connect them to their largest markets and provide flexible, durable and sustainable solutions for their logistics needs, the choice for Prologis to deliver their new distribution centre was easily made.
The cosmetics giant has steadily increased its European footprint with us, from as far back as 2006, first doubling and now quadrupling it’s total area to more than 140,000 square metres. We have facilitated our customer at each step, enabling them to build suitable logistics gateways in southern and eastern Europe at Vemars and in Prague, and now in Northern Europe at Muggensturm too. This state-of-the-art development sets a whole new standard for future projects and leads the way in keeping our customers ahead of what’s next.
