immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Zuchwil

  • AMAG now also produces solar power in Zuchwil

    AMAG now also produces solar power in Zuchwil

    AMAG Zuchwil/Solothurn has installed and commissioned a photovoltaic system on the roof of the VW and Škoda building. On an area of 726 square metres, 367 solar panels are to produce 155,978 kilowatt hours of energy per year. With the same performance data, the garage expects to have a second system installed on the roof of its Audi and Seat building by the end of the year.

    “The fact that we are now also one of the AMAG businesses that can produce our own electricity with a photovoltaic system not only makes us proud, but also more sustainable and independent,” AMAG Solothurn’s managing director Raphael Biberstein is quoted as saying in a media release. “We need the electricity primarily for customer vehicles and for our own fleet.”

    By 2025, around 75,000 square metres of AMAG’s roof surface will reportedly be equipped with solar modules. This is roughly equivalent to the area of ten football pitches. This means that the car dealer will produce more than 20 per cent of its current electricity consumption itself.

  • Swiss Prime Quartier Riverside is ready for occupancy

    Swiss Prime Quartier Riverside is ready for occupancy

    In Zuchwil, the new residential and work area Riverside is now ready for occupancy. According to a press release , the first tenants will move into the Widi Huus and Sulzer Huus in October. The project of the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation is characterized by modern energy supply and traffic management as well as recreational opportunities. It was also developed by the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation in Olten as a “living space”. As a location in the country with all the amenities of an urban place. The new Riverside district combines living and working. The Aare in turn connects nature with the city. The quarter has direct access to the river.

    According to Jérôme Baumann, President of the Board of Trustees of the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation, “120 apartments have already been rented. Only a few are available. ”The apartments offer a lot of quality of life. The Solothurn architect Benedikt Graf from gsj architects and agps architecture was quoted as saying that the choice of materials was "extremely careful". The heat generation for heating and water takes place sustainably via a groundwater heat pump. Natural cooling is in operation in summer.

    All apartments are designed according to the guidelines of Procap Switzerland and are wheelchair accessible. There are individual charging stations for e-vehicles at the visitor parking spaces. The parking spaces in the underground car park can also be equipped with a charging station. All five houses of the first stage should be occupied by autumn 2022.

  • Riverside benefits from pop-up pickling

    Riverside benefits from pop-up pickling

    The Riverside in Zuchwil combines the best of both worlds: urban amenities and rural tranquility. The owner is the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation, which not only attaches great importance to careful treatment of the environment, not only in this sensitive development. "For us, a holistic, sustainable development of this former Sulzer industrial area also includes regular exchange with the surrounding area and the community in order to be able to respond to the current needs of society in the further development of the existing master plan," says Tobias Hossfeld, Head Development at of Swiss Prime Site Solutions AG, the asset management team of the investment foundation. Markus Hauri, a genuine Solothurn native and his team from mha GmbH, is responsible for the structural developments. At the same time, Andreas Brunner and his team from Wincasa MUSM are working on the best possible management and marketing of the new quarter, which offers space for a wide variety of uses such as living, leisure and business. Seen in this way, around 20 people are permanently busy with the riverside area.

    Lots of momentum
    Last year the RiverYard garden pub was created in an industrial look, which not only received a lot of popularity from the region, but also works wonderfully as a marketing tool. Many guests were already interested in renting an apartment, even though the shell was not even finished. "We did not expect such a rapid momentum of its own", says Leo Smeets, Head Letting at Swiss Prime Site Solutions AG. He believes this development will continue in the future. The restaurateur would also like to stay on the site for the long term and is already working on new ideas with the development team. In the area of living, too, development is being advanced with care and continuity. Various projects are being worked out in line with ongoing demand and will be implemented in the coming years.

    Proximity to the quarter
    Riverside management is currently looking forward to inquiries from other interested parties, for example from the retail and service sectors or the catering industry. Seen in this way, the development from a former industrial area to a lively, diverse quarter is working very well. According to Hauri, more and more people are recognizing the qualities of the area and are able to establish a closeness. The effects of the pandemic have also resulted in only a few changes in rental inquiries.

  • Solothurn receives a new waste incineration plant

    Solothurn receives a new waste incineration plant

    Kebag in Zuchwil disposes of 221,000 tons of waste annually and supplies the region with district heating and electricity. It is the third largest waste recycling company in Switzerland. 85 percent of the waste comes from the 1,178 municipalities in the cantons of Bern and Solothurn. However, the plant will be 50 years old in 2025 – and will thus reach its age limit. In order to ensure environmentally friendly disposal in the future, a new system is essential. Because with increasing age, failures increase, which lead to expensive business interruptions and disposal bottlenecks, as the company writes on its website.

    The company in Emmenspitz is already the largest electricity producer in the region. Throughout Switzerland, the largest proportion of electrical energy is obtained from the rubbish. The planned plant, called Kebag Enova, will in future be able to generate up to 15 percent more energy from the same amount of waste thanks to the latest technology. A special fabric filter and multi-stage flue gas cleaning lead to an almost complete reduction in pollutants. The investment costs amount to between CHF 450 and 500 million. But the new building cannot be implemented without any compromises: 11,000 square meters of forest had to be cleared. As compensation, Kebag is providing the same amount of replacement afforestation at other locations in the canton of Solothurn.
    The company TBF + Partner AG from Zurich was commissioned with the planning mandate. Penzel Valier AG won the architecture competition in 2017. The Kebag Enova will have two instead of four incineration lines. Larger furnace lines are planned for this, which ensure greater energy efficiency. The building envelope is fitted with solar panels, making it currently the largest photovoltaic facade system in Switzerland. The chimney is attached to the side of the building and rises 80 meters in height. There is a viewing room at the top of this concrete shaft.

    One or the other challenge had to be overcome beforehand: A significant change had to be made in 2018 to the cooling. The kebag has always used river water cooling. Cooling is essential so that electricity can be generated and the steam required for this can be used. Due to the revised Water Protection Ordinance, which came into force in mid-2018, the decision was made to use air instead of river water cooling for the new building. In addition, a test showed that the subsoil was not stable enough for the Kebag Enova. Thanks to a pile and slab foundation, this problem could also be solved.

    The planning application was finally submitted in 2019. The groundbreaking took place on May 7, 2020. Commissioning is planned for the beginning of 2025.

  • Less cheap electricity consumption!

    Less cheap electricity consumption!

    The Riverside Zuchwil represents the sustainability strategy of the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation and the energy-efficient, future-oriented energy policy of the energy city of Zuchwil, which has been awarded gold status: "We have a district heating pipe at this location to which all existing buildings are attached," explains Markus Hauri from mha GmbH the energy concept. “In 2014 it turned out that this area could easily be developed into a 2000-watt district. Because in addition to district heating, we have river and groundwater here. In addition, in 2015 we put one of the largest photovoltaic systems (PV systems) into operation on an industrial hall. It has an area of around 37,000 square meters and marks the sustainable development of the area. " Newly built and renovated buildings all have a PV system, which in some cases is even built into the facade. There are also groundwater heat pumps, which also increase comfort during the summer months. For example, the groundwater can be used for free cooling by means of pumping operations in order to lower the internal temperature by two to three degrees.

    Clean electricity for the price of dirty electricity
    For several years, the development team under the leadership of Swiss Prime Site Solutions AG has been looking for an energy concept with the highest possible self-consumption value. The cleanly generated electricity should be made available to the residents and users of the quarter directly. This is possible with the help of its own medium-voltage network, called RiverGrid, which the Sulzer company previously operated on the site. "Thanks to this internal power grid, we can primarily distribute the clean PV electricity to our tenants and thus perhaps one day supply the entire area with energy", says Hauri, formulating the energy strategy of the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation. In order to be able to guarantee this throughout the year, it must be possible to store the excess PV energy not only for a short time, but also for a long time. In addition to license / ion and salt water batteries, alternative solutions based on hydrogen or with compressed air are also being tested. “Our goal is to be able to supply the tenants on the riverside with 'clean electricity' at a cheap price from 'dirty electricity' at all times,” concludes Hauri, following the slogan “Less” formulated by Solothurn rocker Chris von Rohr and Greenpeace Dräck ».