References

In creating the greenest factory in Europe, Unipro has put its vision of sustainability into practice in the ultimate way. The specialist in flooring systems from Haaksbergen worked intensively together with Winkels Techniek for their expertise in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and IT. As well as an enthusiastic customer, this lead to exceptional results in terms of sustainability, becoming the leader of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands and a royal opening.

Maurice Beijk

GPR score of 8.66

Business premises that are unprecedented in terms of sustainability. That was the mission of Maurice Beijk, a specialist in sustainable building at Unipro. “We wanted to be the greenest factory in Europe and we succeeded! We now work CO2 neutrally in all our business premises and have received an exceptionally high GPR (municipal practice guideline for sustainable construction) rating of no less than 8.66.”

Trust played a key role in our collaboration.

Complete supplier of technology

Unipro selected its partners from the construction team based on knowledge, experience and trust. Winkels Techniek was chosen as the complete supplier of all technologies for the business premises due to their advisory role, the completeness of their offer, stability and internal industrial knowledge.

Co-creation

Maurice Beijk explained: “Trust played a key role in our collaboration because this construction was ‘unlike any other’. You have to dare to share your knowledge and be open to playing the game together and achieve the best results. Winkels Techniek had all the technical knowledge needed to turn our innovative ideas and ambitions into reality in a process of co-creation.

Winkels Techniek had the knowledge to turn our ideas and ambitions into reality.

Sustainable innovations

Project manager Maikel Pietersen from Winkels stated that all the stop were pulled out in terms of sustainable building installations and process technologies: “Geothermal technology is used to heat and cool the building; this involves using geothermal heat and coldness.”

“We also set up balanced ventilation and a heat pump with a heat recovery unit in the building. The office and the factory are now completely CO2 neutral, partly because there is no gas connection,” continued Pietersen.

There are also intelligent daylight control systems and motion-dependent circuits in the property, as well as water-saving measures for all taps and showers. The toilets are equipped with waterless urinals.

The office and factory are now completely CO2-neutral.

The green technology has also permeated into production where components are mixed at a temperature of 100°C. Pellet stoves are used to generate the required heat in a highly efficient, sustainable and cost-effective manner.

Handling everything

Pietersen: “We have tried to handle as much as possibly for Unipro throughout the whole process: From consulting and coordination to the final implementation and from the very first draft to follow-up support. There was close and intensive consultation with the customer and builder within the construction team. In addition to sustainability, constant attention was also paid to the quality and cost aspects.”

I am proud of the collaboration with Winkels.

Shoulder to shoulder

Maurice Beijk looks back with a good feeling: “I am proud of the collaboration with Winkels. The engineers were able to respond quickly to my unorthodox ideas and this meant we stood shoulder-to-shoulder quickly too. Winkels also played an essential role as a sparring partner played and managed to restrain us when we got carried away. It is partly due to their quality that we are now the greenest factory in Europe.”

Strong growth

The pursuit of sustainability has done Unipro no harm. The building was opened by none other than Queen Máxima. Unipro has become the leader of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands. And equally important is that the company saw its sales rise sharply in a shrinking market at a time of economic crisis.

Winkels played an essential role as a sparring partner.

“All products from Unipro receive an EPD (Environmental Product Declaration). Our products prevail when an architect with ambitions in terms of sustainability. And that's the power of what we achieved,” concluded Maurice Beijk.