Ground-breaking ceremony for one of the largest timber logistics halls in Europe

News 22/07/2024

Straubing/Hamburg, 22 July 2024 – The official ground-breaking ceremony has now marked the project start for the building of one of the largest logistics properties in pure timber at the port of Straubing-Sand. The new building, which aims to set new standards in sustainable construction, is being developed by Garbe Industrial Real Estate GmbH and its joint venture partner Logicenters, Nrep’s development and management platform for logistics real estate. The completion of the 27,000-square-metre logistics hall is scheduled for the third quarter of 2025. The investment volume amounts to around 31 million euros.

The timber logistics hall will be built on a 47,000-square-metre leasehold site ready for construction, which the joint venture partners secured in the spring as one of the last large areas in the port of Straubing-Sand. The modern logistics property is planned to have around 24,500 square metres of hall space, 1,500 square metres of warehouse space and around 1,100 square metres of office and social space. To ensure the smooth entry and exit of goods, it is to be equipped with 24 dock levelers and nine covered sectional doors. Parking spaces for 70 cars and twelve trucks as well as 30 parking spaces for bicycles will be created on the outdoor area.

“The new hall is a flagship project for us,” emphasises Adrian Zellner, Member of the Executive Board of Garbe Industrial Real Estate. “It is our first logistics building that we are constructing entirely in timber.” In addition to the entire supporting structure and the mezzanine levels, the entire façade will also be made of wood. Spruce is currently being planned for the structure and Douglas fir for the façade. The total of around 4,400 cubic metres of wood required is sourced from the region and comes from sustainable forestry in Bavaria and Austria.

“As a leading German project developer for warehouse and logistics properties, we are already building all of our properties in accordance with sustainable ESG criteria,” says Adrian Zellner, 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 percent* compared to a development using conventional reinforced concrete construction.”

This is entirely in the interests of the joint venture partner. “Our goal is to build a sustainable and strongly ESG-oriented logistics portfolio in Germany together with Garbe,” says Martin Ohly, General Manager Logicenters Germany, a company of Nrep, the largest real estate investment manager in the Nordic countries. “Straubing, our first joint project, fits perfectly into this strategy.”

Significant support for the construction of the timber logistics hall also came from the Zweckverband Straubinger Hafen (ZVH, Straubing Port Association), the groundlease owner of the property. “Garbe showed us very convincingly that they want to set a benchmark for a sustainable logistics property in Straubing. The clear commitment to timber construction was decisive for us when awarding our trimodal premium site in competition with other applicants,” says Andreas Löffert, Managing Director of the Straubing-Sand Port Association.

The planting concept exceeds the requirements of the development plan and the specifications of the special-purpose association by a good ten percent. In addition, there is a natural transition between an adjacent biotope and the outdoor area of the property – without parking spaces or other sealed surfaces, but with benches in the green area. The lighting concept is also designed to be as fauna-friendly as possible. Mayor Markus Pannermayr, Chairman of the ZVH Association, is impressed by the ambition of the project: “I am particularly pleased that Garbe wants to implement the requirements of the Bavarian Flowering Pact and thus promote biodiversity in our harbour environment in an exemplary manner. With this partnership between Garbe and Nrep’s Logicenters, our region is setting new standards for the industry.”

Around 2,000 square metres of the roof area of the property itself are to be greened. A further 16,500 square metres are earmarked for a photovoltaic system with a peak output of around two megawatts to generate renewable energy. Inside, the hall will be equipped with LED lighting and a climate-friendly air-to-air heat pump so that fossil fuels can be completely dispensed with for heating. According to the general contractor Köster Bau, another important aspect is the preservation of the value of raw materials in terms of circular construction. To this end, removable structures and selective dismantling concepts were already taken into account during the planning phase. This means that the logistics hall can be dismantled at any time during its life cycle and rebuilt at a different location. The building materials used there can also be reused at the end of the utilisation phase.

For the project development, Garbe Industrial Real Estate is aiming for certification in accordance with the Gold Standard of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). The most recent 2023 version is decisive in this respect, as it places even higher demands on circularity and is increasingly focused on issues such as climate protection, climate change adaptation and the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems.

The timber logistics hall in the port of Straubing is not only impressive because of its sustainability but also because of its excellent location with quick access to the road network and direct rail connection. It is conveniently located for the B 20 and B 8 federal roads as well as the A 3 and A 92 motorways. There is also a bus stop just 200 metres away, providing access to the public transport network and the new Straubing-Hafen train station.

The prime location was also a key reason behind Garbe’s decision to build the hall without fixed rental commitments. Adrian Zellner: “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.” As an option for automotive logistics, the entire rear of the hall will have ground-level doors with a canopy.

*The values were already determined during the planning phase. They are considered provisional, are based on data from Ökobaudat and initially only take into account the comparison of the building material wood intended for the supporting structure and façade in the planning with the building material concrete.