One of Europe’s top logistics developers is ditching reinforced concrete for timber, breaking ground on one of the world’s largest all-timber logistics warehouses in Southern Germany. It comes as German developer Garbe (which has $10b in assets) is now partnering with Logicenters (a subsidiary of Nrep, which has $16b in assets) to develop a 27,000-square-metre building that will be a fully circular facility at the port of Staubing-Sand.
Wood Central understands that the new facility dubbed the “timber logistics hall,” will be built over a 47,000-square-metre leasehold in one of Southern Germany’s busiest trading areas. In addition, the new facility has attracted interest from various blue-chip customers – with the port close to a major BMW manufacturing facility.
Part of a push to “green up” logistics and transport infrastructure, the asset uses timber to fully capitalise on upfront carbon emissions – with developers already eying the German Sustainable Building Council’s Gold Standard:
“The new hall is a flagship project for us,” said Adrian Zellner, Member of the Executive Board of Garbe Industrial Real Estate. “It is our first logistics building, which we construct entirely from timber.”
Wood Central understands that the structure, mezzanine levels, and façade will be made entirely of wood. The structure will use spruce, and Douglas fir will be on the façade. In total, 4,400 cubic metres of wood required is sourced from the region and comes from PEFC-certified forests in German Bavaria and Austria.
“As a leading German project developer for warehouse and logistics properties, we are already building all of our properties by sustainable ESG criteria,” Mr Zellner said, underlining the company’s ambition to set new standards for more sustainable construction.
“As wood is a renewable raw material, we can further improve the eco-balance of our new buildings. According to initial calculations, for example, we expect a CO2 reduction of up to 66% compared to a development using conventional reinforced concrete construction.”
Adrian Zellner, Member of the Executive Board of Garbe Industrial Real Estate
According to Martin Ohly, General Manager of Logicenters Germany, the decision to take the ‘timber leap’ is part of a strategy for its parent company, Nrep, to “build a sustainable and strongly ESG-oriented logistics hub” across Europe.
“Straubing is our first joint project, which fits perfectly into this strategy,” said Mr Ohly. Nrep, the largest real estate investor in the Nordic countries, is already looking beyond the port of Staubing-Sand.
Wood Central understands that Zweckverband Straubinger Hafen (or the Straubing-Sand Port Association) has been instrumental in bringing the project to port: “Garbe showed us that they want to set a benchmark for a sustainable logistics property in Straubing,” said Andreas Löffert, Managing Director of the Straubing-Sand Port Association.
“The clear commitment to timber construction was decisive for us in awarding the site over other applicants.”
Andreas Löffert, Managing Director of the Straubing-Sand Port Association
In addition to timber, 2,000 square metres of the property’s roof area will also be greened—with a further 16,500 square metres earmarked for a photovoltaic system with a peak output of around two megawatts to generate renewable energy. The hall will be equipped with LED lighting and a climate-friendly air-to-air heat pump so fossil fuels can be wholly dispensed with for heating.
“For several weeks now, we have been talking to the first interested parties from the automotive supplier industry, who would like to use the site as a storage and handling area to serve the nearby BMW plant from there,” Mr Zellner said, adding that the entire rear of the hall will have ground-level doors with a canopy.
