Sulz/Vöhringen, Germany, October 21, 2021 – An extraordinary construction project underway to the south of Stuttgart, on the Stuttgart-Zurich innovation axis, has met with great interest from all over Germany. Named Green Innovation Park, the new innovation campus will be a center for German and international traditional companies, and startup and scaleup enterprises. With its integrated sustainability strategy, the campus will foster innovation and contribute to a better future. The first details and plans for the construction project were presented by the strategic partners of the family-run enterprise SÜLZLE at a hybrid media conference today.
Joint innovation project of SÜLZLE, a family-run group of companies, with leading partners of the sector
Green Innovation Park is the name of the innovative center, which is currently being built on the A81 highway on the initiative of the family-run enterprise SÜLZLE following many years of preparations. The construction project is being carried out in close collaboration with strategic partners, such as consulting and planning company Drees & Sommer, which specializes in construction and real estate; architects kadawittfeldarchitektur; energy company E.ON and its subsidiary Bayernwerk Natur; and PHOENIX CONTACT, a provider of system solutions for digital infrastructure. They introduced the Green Innovation Park (GIP) to the media jointly today for the first time. Forward-looking companies from the energy, construction, environmental and digital sectors will find a perfect home in the Green Innovation Park and benefit from an environmentally-friendly, networked and modular environment. The aim is to use the collaborative setting to create solutions for a sustainable future and a resource-conserving way of coexisting. ‘The Green Innovation Park is remarkable not only for its aim of integrated sustainability, but also for its focus on co-creation when working on innovations,’ explained Heinrich Sülzle, Managing Partner of SÜLZLE Group at today’s hybrid format media conference. Andreas Sülzle, also Managing Partner at SÜLZLE Group added: ‘The next phase in the development of our family enterprise will take place here in the Green Innovation Park. We are already planning to locate innovative SÜLZLE group startup companies in this state-of-the-art commercial district.’
A Sustainable Construction Concept from Alpha to Omega
After the media representatives attending in person and the online participants had been welcomed on behalf of the SÜLZLE Group and the GIP had been introduced briefly, the strategic partners gave more detailed insights into the plans for the construction project. Designed for German and international companies according to green building principles and the Cradle to Cradle concept, the innovation campus is being built on a brownfield site, which was carefully restored for further use in line with environmental standards. ‘With this sustainable approach and a modular construction method, the Green Innovation Park is a showcase project for future-oriented construction’, commented Steffen Szeidl, Executive Board Member of Drees & Sommer SE. ‘This approach has long been a recipe for success in the automotive industry, but is catching on rather more slowly in the construction industry. Indeed, modular construction promises not only efficiency and savings, but also simplifies climate change mitigation and building recyclability.
The Green Innovation Park demonstrates how forward-looking collaboration by all the players involved in the construction project should work: project management, design services, modularization of design, and selection of later construction partners are all integrated. The objective is to save time, reduce costs and eliminate unnecessary interaction and involvement. We want the Green Innovation Park to establish a new, sustainable, digital industry standard for the construction sector to simplify planning, design, engineering, manufacturing and assembly of individual buildings.’
Care has been taken from the start to ensure that the Green Innovation Park has an integrated and sustainable energy supply.Patrick Schneckenburger, Member of the Management at E.ON Energy Solutions, commented: ‘The Green Innovation Park has a forward-looking, innovative and integrated energy system. The optimal use of local energy sources combines warmth, cooling and electricity as well as mobility concepts, and makes a carbon-neutral energy supply possible. The consistent focus on sustainability by all the partners involved in this project shows that collaboration and joint investments are worthwhile to achieve climate protection targets.’ Equipped with battery storage capacity along with roof, façade and open-space photovoltaic systems, and combined heat and power plants, the pioneering commercial park will provide regional and, most importantly, sustainable energy for the new companies. Franco Gola, Managing Director at Bayernwerk Natur, also stressed the aim of integrated sustainability for the energy supply of the new innovation campus: ‘I am delighted that we have been able to team up with the family-run SÜLZLE Group to shape a really futuristic space. With our expertise and our many years of experience of decentralized and renewable energy generation, we have developed a balanced and, most importantly, sustainable design that is perfectly in tune with the needs of future businesses.’
An intelligent building automation system links the people in the GIP to each other. Stefan Volgmann, General Manager at PHOENIX CONTACT explained: ‘With an integrated smart building design, we are seeing the Green Innovation Park from a 360-degree perspective. Our focus is on working with our project partners to develop the Green Innovation Park into a living environment that adapts to the needs of the individual, and can be both adjusted and extended.’ He believes that we have to rethink buildings and quarters for our society and our economy.
The architectural design of the GIP is also integrated and environmentally-friendly. From green construction materials to open spaces that promote interaction, the focus is always on sustainability, innovation and collaboration ‘With a modular construction method based on recyclability, and a unifying green façade, the architecture expresses through design the project’s aim of sustainability. Healthy, recyclable materials, green roofs, a wide mix of uses, and varied design of open spaces will equip the Green Innovation Park for the future,’ said Gerhard Wittfeld, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of kadawittfeldarchitektur. When considering potential projects to participate in, SÜLZLE also attaches particular importance to its own core values, which serve as a standard for the harmonization of working and living.
Investment and Creation of Jobs in the Region
The new innovation campus on the A81 highway, on the Stuttgart-Zurich innovation axis, will also benefit the region, as up to 600 new jobs are expected to be created in the first construction phase alone, when traditional companies and startup enterprises begin to move in. The family-run SÜLZLE Group has already invested an eight-figure sum. More than EUR 100 million is budgeted for the planning and construction of Campus 1 and Campus 2, the energy center and the data center in the Green Innovation Park. Planning permission will be applied for in the spring of 2022, and construction is expected to begin in the same year. The first users should be able to move in from 2024. The business park of the future is already open for any further suitable companies that are interested.
The SÜLZLE Group has more than 1,000 employees and operates in the steel, energy and environmental sectors in Germany and France. With the new construction project, the Group is steadily working towards its Vision 2030: In partnership with extraordinary people, SÜLZLE is creating sustainable solutions for the world of the future. In this way, the family-run company wants to pass on its values to future generations of entrepreneurs and transform the SÜLZLE Group for a digital, sustainable future.
About the Green Innovation Park
The Green Innovation Park is an innovation campus for German and international traditional companies, as well as startup and scaleup enterprises, with an integrated sustainability strategy in the areas of energy, construction, environment, and digital processes and services. A new collaborative approach to working and living will accelerate innovations and technologies for development and manufacturing that will ensure a sustainable future for us.
A key partner and the initiator and driving force behind the Green Innovation Park, the SÜLZLE Group is an international company run by the fourth generation of the same family. With more than 140 years of experience and tradition, SÜLZLE combines steel, energy and the environment in one group of companies. The corporation’s main focus is on the sustainable and integrated development of the site in Sulz/Vöhringen, combined with the transformation of the SÜLZLE Group for the digital future.
For additional information about the Green Innovation Park, please visit: www.greeninnovationpark.de