Tag: The Circle

  • The Circle: Switzerland's largest Minergie building certified

    The Circle: Switzerland's largest Minergie building certified

    Minergie and LEED certification has been an integral part of planning and construction at the Circle for 12 years. In the presence of Christian Appert, CEO Amstein + Walthert AG, Martin Kull, CEO and owner HRS Real Estate AG, Daniel Scheifele, Chief Real Estate Officer, Flughafen Zürich AG, Giorgio Engeli, Head Real Estate Portfolio Management Switzerland, Swiss Life Asset Managers, and Stefan Feldmann, Head The Circle, Flughafen Zürich AG, the team around The Circle celebrated on Monday, June 27, 2022, the goal they have now achieved.

    Beautiful, functional, climate-optimized
    With a good 200,000 m 2 energy reference area, the circle accounted for 6% of the certified Minergie area in the year of provisional certification, but was only one of around 1,900 buildings. This shows the size and importance of this extraordinary building in the Swiss context. The Circle is the largest Minergie-certified building in Switzerland. According to government councilor Marc Mächler, the Minergie certificate means that – in addition to all other requirements and uses – the building is also climate-optimized. Climate-optimized means «that this building does not accelerate climate change and that it uses resources carefully. It is efficient and works almost entirely with renewable energy instead of fossil energy.”

    Thanks to intensive cooperation between the Minergie certification body and those responsible for the circle, the high requirements of the Minergie quality label for the building envelope and ventilation could also be met. Andreas Meyer Primavesi, Managing Director of Minergie, is pleased that the result ultimately benefits everyone: “Especially with today’s energy prices, every kilowatt hour of energy saved is worth it – not only for the climate, but also financially”.

    Into the net-zero energy future
    With the leading Swiss building label Minergie, more than 12 million tons of CO 2 and 67 million megawatt hours of energy have been saved since 1998 thanks to over 53,000 Minergie buildings compared to the minimum legal requirements. Minergie certifies around 3 million m 2 of energy reference area per year. In close coordination with the cantons, Minergie always leads the way and is therefore a pioneer in cantonal energy laws. This interaction has worked since the beginning and continues successfully. Minergie is currently looking very closely at the energy used and the greenhouse gas emissions in the construction of a building. And secondly, Minergie is striving to improve the operating phase: Extensive, digitized building data is used to measure the energy flows during operation in order to then carry out operational optimization where necessary on the basis of the monitoring. For years, fossil-free operation – even with modernization – Minergie is moving more and more towards net zero. The Minergie-A-ECO standard comes closest to the Swiss net-zero building.

  • The Circle: Switzerland's largest Minergie building certified

    The Circle: Switzerland's largest Minergie building certified

    Minergie and LEED certification has been an integral part of planning and construction at the Circle for 12 years. In the presence of Christian Appert, CEO Amstein + Walthert AG, Martin Kull, CEO and owner HRS Real Estate AG, Daniel Scheifele, Chief Real Estate Officer, Flughafen Zürich AG, Giorgio Engeli, Head Real Estate Portfolio Management Switzerland, Swiss Life Asset Managers, and Stefan Feldmann, Head The Circle, Flughafen Zürich AG, the team around The Circle celebrated on Monday, June 27, 2022, the goal they have now achieved.

    Beautiful, functional, climate-optimized
    With a good 200,000 m 2 energy reference area, the circle accounted for 6% of the certified Minergie area in the year of provisional certification, but was only one of around 1,900 buildings. This shows the size and importance of this extraordinary building in the Swiss context. The Circle is the largest Minergie-certified building in Switzerland. According to government councilor Marc Mächler, the Minergie certificate means that – in addition to all other requirements and uses – the building is also climate-optimized. Climate-optimized means «that this building does not accelerate climate change and that it uses resources carefully. It is efficient and works almost entirely with renewable energy instead of fossil energy.”  

    Thanks to intensive cooperation between the Minergie certification body and those responsible for the circle, the high requirements of the Minergie quality label for the building envelope and ventilation could also be met. Andreas Meyer Primavesi, Managing Director of Minergie, is pleased that the result ultimately benefits everyone: "Especially with today's energy prices, every kilowatt hour of energy saved is worth it – not only for the climate, but also financially".

    Into the net-zero energy future
    With the leading Swiss building label Minergie, more than 12 million tons of CO 2 and 67 million megawatt hours of energy have been saved since 1998 thanks to over 53,000 Minergie buildings compared to the minimum legal requirements. Minergie certifies around 3 million m 2 of energy reference area per year. In close coordination with the cantons, Minergie always leads the way and is therefore a pioneer in cantonal energy laws. This interaction has worked since the beginning and continues successfully. Minergie is currently looking very closely at the energy used and the greenhouse gas emissions in the construction of a building. And secondly, Minergie is striving to improve the operating phase: Extensive, digitized building data is used to measure the energy flows during operation in order to then carry out operational optimization where necessary on the basis of the monitoring. For years, fossil-free operation – even with modernization – Minergie is moving more and more towards net zero. The Minergie-A-ECO standard comes closest to the Swiss net-zero building.

  • The Circle receives certification for sustainability

    The Circle receives certification for sustainability

    The Circle is expected to receive LEED Platinum certification in the spring of next year, HRS informs in an interview on the portal of the real estate company from Frauenfeld. HRS realized the area at Zurich Airport as a general contractor in collaboration with Amstein + Walthert , the main building technology planner responsible. For the highest standard of the green building classification developed by the US Green Building Council , a project must achieve 80 or more points.

    The LEED classification tries to “map all aspects of sustainable building”, explains Christian Appert from Amstein + Walthert in an interview. According to the CEO of the engineering service provider based in Zurich, The Circle was able to score points in a number of categories. As examples, Appert cites, among other things, drinking water savings through rainwater tanks, a combination of photovoltaics and greenery on the roofs as well as generous infrastructure for bicycles. The Circle has shown that “even large projects can be very sustainable,” says Appert.

    With the certification, The Circle will be “the largest LEED Platinum project in Europe and one of the ten to twenty largest in the world,” explains Rebecca Kull in an interview. According to the COO of HRS, this is “a superlative with great charisma” for Switzerland. Talking about sustainability is easy, says Kull. The decisive factor, however, is “lived sustainability”.

  • The Circle draws its first annual balance

    The Circle draws its first annual balance

    Since the opening on November 5, 2020, a number of new tenants have moved into The Circle , writes Flughafen Zürich AG in a message . She realized the quarter at Zurich Airport together with Swiss Life . One year after the opening, the co-owner company is “largely satisfied” with the development of the quarter, writes the company.

    “It is a great pleasure to see how the Circle is getting livelier”, Stefan Feldmann, Head of The Circle, Flughafen Zürich AG, is quoted in the press release. According to her, 85 percent of the space is now occupied “with an exciting mix of well-known companies from the technology, pharmaceutical, finance and consulting sectors”. The alleys of the quarter are also livened up by restaurants, exhibition rooms, the Hyatt Regency Zurich Airport The Circle Hotel, the coworking space Spaces and the branch of the University Hospital Zurich. At the end of the year, the day care center in the Circle is also due to be inaugurated. “We are aware that everything is not yet perfect, but we are on the right track and are working on it every day,” says Feldmann.

    In September 2021, the first district festival was also celebrated in the Circle. The new winter festival Zauberpark will start on November 25th. Live open air concerts and children’s shows are planned here every day for 18 days. Finally, on December 15th, the second Hyatt Hotel, the Hyatt Place Zurich Airport The Circle, will open its doors.

  • Siemens technology makes The Circle sustainable

    Siemens technology makes The Circle sustainable

    The Circle building complex at Zurich Airport, which was inaugurated in November last year, is not only Minergie-certified, but also meets the LEED PLATINUM standard of the US Green Building Council, Siemens Switzerland informs in a press release . At the highest standard of the organization, seven areas are checked for sustainability, it says there. Products for building and energy technology from Siemens have made an active contribution to the sustainability of The Circle.

    In total, over 30,000 Siemens components have been installed in the Circle, the company writes in the press release. "We are present with our products in every room", Felix von Rotz, Head of Building Products Switzerland, is quoted there. For the implementation of the order, Siemens Switzerland had "designed a unique logistics concept, with a warehouse at our Steinhausen location and a transport vehicle that is only on the road for The Circle," explains von Rotz.

    When it comes to heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, Siemens products create a healthy and optimal room climate. Other components regulate the communication of the controls of these systems with blinds and lights. All buildings can be fully automated using the KNX communication standard.

    A further 7,000 Siemens components were installed in the power engineering systems. There are also voice alarm systems in private and public areas of the complex.

  • Zurich Airport welcomes new tenants

    Zurich Airport welcomes new tenants

    AMAG , Bruno Wickart , RehaClinic , cermony Swiss and Vebego have signed rental contracts for sales, event, therapy and office space in The Circle , according to a statement from Flughafen Zürich AG . In addition to shops and service providers, The Circle also houses restaurants and a Hyatt Regency Hotel.

    The car dealer AMAG is now also setting up a center for new mobility in The Circle. The furniture store Bruno Wickart will present offers for work and living in a new exhibition area. The RehaClinic will move its RehaCenter from the airport to The Circle in mid-2021. The real estate service provider Vebego is creating a location for its international activities in The Circle. And cermony is opening its Bliss Center for massages and other health-promoting services in spring.

  • Airport opens The Circle

    Airport opens The Circle

    The Circle has been the largest building construction site in Switzerland for years. The building complex next to the airport has been open to the public since Thursday, as the airport writes in a message .

    The opening takes place gradually. The University Hospital Zurich has been represented in the Circle with a health center since October, and the Victoria Pharmacy has already opened. Stores like Avec and Bayard open in November. The Hyatt Regency Hotel with the Convention Hall for 2500 people opens in December, the Hyatt Place Hotel follows in the spring. Some office tenants have already moved in. Other tenants such as Abraxas, Microsoft, MSD, Novo Nordisk, SAP and Oracle are gradually following suit. A shared office from Westhive will follow in the spring.

    Andreas Schmid, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Flughafen Zürich AG, emphasizes that construction costs have been kept under control and The Circle is almost fully let. “The decision to implement was a courageous step by the two co-owners,” he is quoted in the press release. "Today we can reap the benefits."

    Rolf Dörig sees it similarly: "The Circle is a future-oriented development in every respect: compact and sustainable construction in the right location and a modern usage concept that is geared to the needs of current and future generations," said the Chairman of the Board of Directors of co-owner Swiss Life quoted.