Sustainable and resource-efficient: New DPD depot in Holzgünz near Memmingen goes into operation
Just over a year ago, DPD Germany and Alois Müller Holding GmbH & Co. KG celebrated the symbolic start of construction of a “green” depot in Holzgünz near Memmingen in Unterallgäu. The construction work went exactly according to schedule: Last Saturday, the new site officially went into operation. At the beginning, around 28,000 packages will pass over the sorting belts every day; in the final stage, this figure will rise to 50,000 packages. One particular focus of the Holzgünz site is sustainability: as a result of the close cooperation with the local Alois Müller Holding GmbH & Co. KG, it was possible to build a depot that can be operated in a particularly cost- and energy-efficient manner.
An unloading hall, two loading halls and an office building with a total floor space of just under 10,000 square meters were built on the approximately 54,000 square meter site in Holzgünz. The energy center of the “green” DPD depot in Holzgünz already went into operation at the end of December. The developer was the regional Alois Müller Holding GmbH & Co. KG, which is also the landlord of the premises. During construction, the parties took special care to find resource-saving and energy-efficient solutions. The operational implementation of the construction project was carried out by LIST Bau Nordhorn, a long-standing partner of DPD.
The new DPD depot will be almost self-sufficient in energy. With the help of a photovoltaic system covering around 7,000 square meters with a total output of 750 kW, the depot will produce its own electricity for the halls and the office building and use it as needed via intelligent energy storage systems. In addition, the buildings will be heated and cooled by resource-saving concrete core activation. Heating and cooling are provided from the nearby energy center, where regenerative heat is generated from biomass and CO2-neutral cooling from a well system. This has a positive effect on energy costs and CO2 emissions. “For many years, our company has stood for future-oriented thinking, the use of regenerative energies and, above all, sustainable action. With the ecological new construction project of the DPD depot, we are setting another example,” points out Andreas Müller, CEO of Alois Müller GmbH. The flexible and expandable local heating network can also be used beyond the supply of the DPD depot: Other companies that settle in the A 96 industrial and commercial park can be connected at any time.
With regard to the building materials, those responsible also took care to plan as sustainably as possible. The roof structure, for example, was built from wood. Each cubic meter of glulam binds about one ton of CO2 and thus has a significantly better CO2 balance than the alternatives. In addition, wood provides a warm building atmosphere and ensures a more pleasant indoor climate thanks to moisture-balancing properties. “Sustainable package shipping is particularly important to DPD Germany. We make a clear promise to our customers and package recipients to deliver every package in a climate-neutral manner. Accordingly, we are investing in a sustainable infrastructure throughout Germany. With its particularly energy-efficient construction, the depot in Holzgünz is a prime example of our commitment,” says Thomas Ohnhaus, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of DPD Germany.
Inside the depot is a modern and extremely powerful package sorting system. This is capable of sorting up to 10,000 packages per hour. In the initial phase, around 28,000 packages will be sorted every day. In the future, the Holzgünz site will be able to process up to 50,000 packages a day.
The new depot in Holzgünz replaces the previous location in Kempten. DPD had reached the limit of its capacity there. An expansion was no longer possible. This runs counter to developments within the region: This part of southern Germany offers great potential in terms of business customers thanks to a high density of economically strong companies. The above-average per capita income also ensures strong growth in e-commerce packages. Just because of the increased sorting volume, DPD can ensure that it is also equipped to meet the future demands of the parcel market. “We see an exciting economic structure with prospering companies locally and now, as DPD, we have launched this new depot at exactly the right time,” says Thomas Ohnhaus. “The growing shipment numbers during the Corona pandemic accelerated our development by about four years. This makes the location in Holzgünz all the more important for the region around Memmingen with its high purchasing power.”
In the future, more than 130 people will be employed at the Holzgünz package sorting center. Many employees from the Kempten depot will move to the new site as part of the relocation. However, a large proportion of the workforce at the new site will be newly recruited.
“When we celebrated the symbolic start of construction of the depot with a groundbreaking ceremony over a year ago, it was not yet possible to foresee how the parcel market would develop in 2020. On the one hand, the Corona pandemic places high demands on reliable package delivery, and on the other, it has given a further boost to booming e-commerce. In the 2020 Christmas season, we delivered over 2.5 million packages per day on particularly high-volume days. That’ why I am particularly pleased that we can now put another state-of-the-art, high-performance package sorting center into operation in Holzgünz. Such investments are important to maintain our market position. The location not far from the Swiss and Austrian borders is also strategically extremely favorable,” adds Thomas Ohnhaus.
An impressive video of the new depot in Holzgünz is available on Youtube at the following link https://youtu.be/WmIQ68c3Gjg