Cutting-edge distribution centre in Czechia is finished. Accolade and Panattoni develop the first multi-storey facility for Amazon near Kojetín in the Přerov region
Industrial warehouse constructor Panattoni handed over a unique logistics centre to e-commerce giant Amazon financed by the Accolade Group and its fund. This building is the first true multi-storey distribution centre in the Czech Republic. Thanks to its modern and eco-friendly facilities, as well as high energy self-sufficiency, this state-of-the-art centre unequivocally becomes the country’s number one logistics facility. The building is valued at more than 5 billion CZK.
The Kojetín distribution centre is unique not only in its size but also in being substantially space efficient. While the facility’s total area amounts to 187,000 m2, the built-up area takes up only 51,000 m2. Where stairwells are located, the building stands at over 27 m high.
“I am really proud that today we are handing over a truly state-of-the-art building to Amazon, where modern technology meets environmental sustainability. In this respect, our Dobrovíz project was already unique but with the Kojetín distribution centre we have progressed a few more generations down the line. I believe that this cutting-edge logistics compound will help Amazon in its further expansion in the e-commerce industry, which has been skyrocketing in the last few years. I also hope this project will benefit the whole region through the number of jobs created,” said Pavel Sovička, Panattoni Managing Director for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
“I am looking forward to the new robotics centre being a modern workplace where Amazon workers will be assisted by specialised robotic units. When the building is fully operational, we will employ over 2,000 permanent staff,” said Michal Šmíd, Amazon General Manager for the Czech Republic.
A former sugar refinery turned into an online shopping centre
The new distribution centre was built where the settling tanks of a sugar refinery once stood. After the refinery was demolished, reinforced concrete rubble was disposed of in nearby waste ponds. Therefore, the whole brownfield area had to be remediated and any pollution removed before construction started.
"Investing in the revitalisation of dilapidated or decaying buildings is our speciality. I am proud that we have once again succeeded in jointly creating an industrial zone on land with low environmental value, which will rank at the very top in terms of sustainable and technological construction. Building on local industrial traditions, Kojetín will become one of the hubs of European online shopping and I believe that we will once again contribute to further increases in living standards in the region," added Milan Kratina, Accolade investment group CEO.
Thousands of lorries replaced with eco-friendly trains
The construction of the four-storey facility was, in many ways, unusual and difficult with regard to coordinating building work and contractors on site. At any one moment, about a 1000 people were working on the construction site. By comparison, there are around 150 people on site during the construction of a single-storey building. This turnkey project was handled by Goldbeck Bau in cooperation with about 60, mostly Czech, subcontractors.
The facility meets strict environmental requirements, and aspires to receive the ‘Excellent’ level of the BREEAM New Construction certificate, an exceptionally high rating of eco-friendliness. This has been one of the main goals since the construction project started.
Goldbeck Bau makes prefabricated concrete elements in a factory around 12 km from Kojetín. Using a nearby railway, about 6,800 pieces of prefabricated concrete, weighing over 80,000 tonnes in total were transported to the construction site on environmentally friendly trains. These trains replaced over 2,200 lorries that would have to be used otherwise. The distance travelled by materials is one of many criteria assessed by BREEAM.
The focus on the environment and sustainability is evident in other aspects, too. The new industrial compound will include a habitat for lizards as well as beehives. As a matter of course, 500 trees will be planted – 300 in the compound itself and the rest in Kojetín. The whole distribution centre will be heated using a heat pump system instead of gas.
“Since we wanted an environmentally friendly operation, we had a modern rooftop solar power system installed with a capacity of 4 MW. That is roughly a thousand times more than on a typical residential installation,” said Michal Šmíd from Amazon.
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