Hettich makes hardware and, as I found out recently, the company also makes some rather impressive buildings. The Hettich Forum building, located at its headquarters in Kirchlengern in northern Germany was opened in 2009. In Germany, buildings are responsible for over one third of resource consumption, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions. For this reason, low environmental impact and cost-effectiveness were an important focus in planning for the Hettich Forum. The aim was to ensure that the building’s resource consumption and operating costs would be low over its whole life cycle.
The insulation that went into the making of this imposing building is equivalent to 120,000 shredded newspapers, the heating system (extremely useful in northern Germany) is 80% below German energy-saving legislation (about the same power consumption used in 21 detached houses) and the lighting throughout is controlled by a system that detects movement in conjunction with natural light that reduces consumption by up to 25%.
A 239 m² bank of solar powered photovoltaic panels installed on the building produces 25,000 KWh per year, with peak output of 30 KWp. This would be enough to operate up to 1,500 energy-saving 20 W light bulbs simultaneously. A 6 m² solar collection system supplies most of the hot water required for the heating system and normal hot water. Additionally, wide areas of the roof have been constructed as a green roof and planted with low-growing, drought-resistant plants. The green roof keeps the building cooler in summer and warmer in winter. No surprises then that in its first year of opening it won the European Commissions “Green Building Award”.
The Hettich Forum building functions as an information platform and source of inspiration for the furniture industry, for architects and designers and for visitors from product development, marketing, production and purchasing. Hettich will have a strong presence at Interzum in May – for further details of the show go to our “Upcoming Shows” page on TKKB.
If you have dealt with a client and been involved in a beneficiary eco solution – let us know, we’d love to show it to the world!
For more information visit www.hettich.com
