Volkswagen Slovakia has received a new building in Park Bratislava North II as a tenant
Volkswagen Slovakia, one of the largest European manufacturing companies under the Volkswagen brand, has officially received a new rental building within the Park Bratislava North II project. The new 20,000 sqm building will be used primarily for component storage. In addition to the white sustainable façade, the new building also features an innovative logistics solution in the form of side loading, which enables efficient side loading of parts. Panattoni is the developer of the project and Accolade Group is the investor.
The entire Park Bratislava North II complex is located near the village of Zohor on a built-up area of 45,000 square meters and consists of three buildings. The tenant will use a 20,000 sqm area in one of the buildings, which the developer designed with an emphasis on storage efficiency and optimization of logistics processes. The new building strengthens the logistics capacity of the automotive industry while bringing economic benefits to the region, including the creation of new jobs and the development of transport infrastructure. Key technological solutions include, for example, side loading, which enables more flexible material handling.
"The lease of the new logistics space located in Park Bratislava North II was necessitated by the complexity and technical demands of our models. This will provide us with additional logistics space within a reasonable distance from the Bratislava plant, which will be used to store parts for current and future projects and will complement the logistics infrastructure of the plant," said Juraj Mráz, Head of Logistics at Volkswagen Slovakia.
Panattoni has long emphasized environmental responsibility, as demonstrated by its modern architecture that takes into account microclimate and energy efficiency. In designing the project, the company used the results of research which confirmed that the light color of the façade contributes significantly to improvement of the microclimate. Thanks to this innovation, the building in Zohor has a completely white façade, which reduces the temperature inside the building by up to 7°C during the summer months. The combination of light-colored surfaces reduces the apparent temperature by up to 20% compared to the original undeveloped area, and heat accumulation is reduced by up to two-thirds compared to conventional, darker façades. What is also worth mentioning is the significant energy efficiency that leads to less cooling during hot days, which also improves the working environment.
"Entering the Bratislava market is an important step for us not only in our development in Slovakia, but also in the entire Central European region. We appreciate even more the fact that our tenant is Volkswagen - a global leader in the automotive industry, which has long operated one of its most modern and technologically advanced manufacturing plants in Bratislava. We are delighted to be able to provide this prestigious company with a first-class sustainable facility that meets its high demands for efficiency and environmental performance of its operations. We also wish the company to overcome all the challenges it faces in its industry as successfully as possible," said Jiří Stránský, Head of Development in Accolade.
"We are proud to have been able to prepare a tailor-made logistics facility for Volkswagen Slovakia. The know-how that Panattoni has thanks to the implementation of a large number of projects in Europe and around the world allows us to build sustainable spaces tailored to the needs of the most demanding clients," said Marián Fridrich, Development Director in Panattoni for Slovakia.
As is customary with the cooperation between the developer Panattoni and the investor Accolade, the industrial park respects the requirements of modern logistics as well as the environmental criteria and needs of the local community. The park includes charging points for electric vehicles, a retention basin with capacity for 100-year flood, nest boxes for birds, an insect hotel, a lizard refuge, rest areas and a workout area for employees. Also thanks to these elements, the entire Park Bratislava North II project is aiming to obtain the BREEAM New Construction environmental certificate with a minimum rating of Excellent.
"We are very pleased that such an important company as Volkswagen Slovakia will be operating in the neighborhood. This underlines the attractiveness of the industrial zone, which brings significant financial income to the municipality and at the same time many job opportunities for our residents," said Martin Zálesňák, Mayor of Zohor, the municipality where the industrial park is located.
What is side loading?
Side loading is an innovative way of loading goods, in which the loading onto the load area of the vehicle is done from the side instead of the standard loading from the rear. This is a solution required in the automotive industry due to its high efficiency. Since, for example, body and interior parts or complete dashboards typically exceed the standard pallet size, it is more efficient to load them from the side of the truck.