A sustainable expansion in Austria - the new production building in Kreckelmoos

When you see the building from the outside, you might think it is a new hotel at first glance. A beautifully designed wooden facade, large windows reflecting the surrounding mountain landscape, and lots of greenery around it. But what at first appears to be a wellness resort has a different function: it is a production facility for CERATIZIT. Under the wooden ceiling that stretches across the room, machines stand and employees hurry about. The facility in Kreckelmoos is the Plansee Group’s newest production facility and the most innovative in its construction. Sustainability, energy efficiency, and environmental compatibility were the focus of the planning.

The construction of energy-efficient production buildings like the one in Kreckelmoos supports the Plansee Group’s path to reduce the company’s carbon footprint (CCF) sustainably. This in turn also reduces the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) of Plansee and CERATIZIT products. The PCF indicates the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the production of a product or per kilogram of product. CERATIZIT was the first company in the industry to present a model for calculating and classifying the PCF of its carbide products. The model for the calculation was developed for both companies together. CERATIZIT wants to encourage customers, partners, and other companies to adopt the newly developed standard – for more transparency within the industry. For CERATIZIT and Plansee, the calculation of the PCF includes all processes from the extraction of the raw materials, the production of the semi-finished products/blanks and the finished product, and the transport of the raw materials and intermediate products up to the point where the product leaves the company (cradle-to-gate). In this way, Plansee continues to strengthen its position as an innovation and development partner for its customers in this area, and CERATIZIT moves closer to its goal of being an industry leader in sustainability.

The story of the new building began a good six years ago under the premise of growing further at the location in Reutte. But where? After an intensive search, a suitable building site was found on the B179 on a former landfill site. The Breitenwang neighbourhood of Kreckelmoos is only one kilometre away from the main site in Reutte and is connected to it by a byroad. The planning and concept phase was followed by the tendering process and finally the start of construction in 2019, when the first diggers rolled in. ATP architekten ingenieure realised the production facility in Kreckelmoos with primarily regional partners from Tyrol. The moving-in process began in January 2023 and is expected to continue until the second half of 2024.

CERATIZIT produces carbide tools at the Kreckelmoos plant. Plansee produces coating materials for displays, electrodes for glass melting, and components for the semiconductor industry and medical technology. State-of-the-art automation solutions complement the machinery.

Cooling for the building is provided by the open, canalised Breitenwang watercourse “Ritsche,” underground slope water in pipelines, and primarily by two heat pumps in the basement, which were installed in a specially designed machine room. To prevent an artificial backwater of groundwater and slope water and to collect and drain the accumulating water, drainage pipes were installed under the foundation during the construction of Kreckelmoos. The water is taken from the two water sources for thermal use and then discharged back into the Ritsche. The remaining drainage water is discharged into a nearby biotope, thus revitalising it. From spring to late summer, the building is largely cooled directly through the thermal use of the two water sources. In the winter months, the required machine cooling is generated via the heat pumps, and at the same time the waste heat is used for heating.

Heat pumps draw energy from the air, the ground, or water and make the heat gained from it usable for heating. The principle is like that of a refrigerator. It extracts heat from its interior and conducts it outside to cool the interior. The heat pump reverses this principle. Like the refrigerator, however, a heat pump can also function as an air conditioner. In Kreckelmoos, the Plansee Group uses both functions.

The three-storey building, which is about the size of two football fields, is heated by heat pumps, the use of waste heat from the air compressors, and heat recovery when cooling the cooling lubricants.

In the latter process, the cooling lubricant is cooled, and the waste heat generated in the process is raised to a higher temperature level by the heat pumps and used for heating. Any excess waste heat is dissipated back into the ambient air. The heat pumps are supplied with electricity via a photovoltaic system on the roof. If the power supply from the photovoltaic system is insufficient, the heat pumps are operated via the electricity grid. This means that the new building generates 100 percent self-sufficient heating and cooling energy under optimal conditions. Hence, the heating and cooling are practically possible without fossil fuels. In the production halls, ventilation, recirculation units on the ceiling, and freely suspended induction diffusers ensure the optimal indoor climate.

In addition to the exterior greening with hardy native plants, the roof of the production facility was also the focus of revitalisation measures. It is greened over an area of 15,000 square metres. The advantage: the greenery on the roof helps to improve the microclimate because it lowers the ambient temperature and thus prevents the formation of heat islands. This ensures an ideal indoor climate inside so that less energy is needed for air conditioning. Secondly, the greened roof serves as a natural protection against precipitation, which leads to a longer service life of the roof sealing and thus to a reduction in maintenance and repair costs. In addition, the vegetation is a natural retention filter in case of precipitation: In case of heavy rainfall, the water is retained by the plants and the special roof structure and is discharged to the roof drainage system with a delay. This relieves the public rainwater drainage system and prevents flooding.

This article first appeared in the October 2023 Living Metals, "How we strengthen our strengths together" and has been slightly adapted.