Hohenstein Institute expands - The first spade is dug into the ground for a new research and services building

BÖNNIGHEIM (mdi/ri) On 27 March 2012 at 15:00 hours Professor Stefan Mecheels, Head of the Hohenstein Institute, will dig the first spade into the ground to mark the start of the extension to be built at the Hohenstein Institutes in Bönnigheim.

The building programme will include three new buildings to be constructed on the Hohenstein Institute site. In the first building phase, over an area of 7,200 m² to the south of the former buildings, a 3-story 2,580m² research and services building, an underground car park with 52 parking spaces and about 108 additional car parking spaces will be built. The new building was designed by the architect practice Körner, Blattert and Partner and will be built by regional building developers Karl Köhler GmbH (Besigheim) and Eugen Mayer GmbH & Co. KG (Kirchheim).

Since the inauguration in 2007 of the 1,700 m² Josef-Kurz Building, the number of employees at the Hohenstein Institute in Bönnigheim has increased from 220 to 350. A lack of space has therefore been the cause of work still going on in many areas of Schloss Hohenstein and its existing 9 ancillary buildings.

It is planned that about 160 employees will relocate as from August 2013 into the extension building with its light, airy offices and laboratories. The specific aim here is to improve internal organisational processes from a space point of view than was previously the case. Therefore the building will also house a central goods-in function which will accept test samples day and night from across the world and which can be distributed to the different work areas.

The new energy supply is both innovative and environmentally-sensitive. Energetic power and heat will be supplied to the new building through an efficient combined heat and power plant powered by natural gas. Modern heat exchangers also form part of the system which will ensure the necessary climate control of the premises, specifically in the summer months. This new technology will reduce energy consumption significantly and will help savings of about 700 tonnes of CO₂ to be made every year. Pre-requisites for this include new supply cables which will be laid over the next few months along the Castle footpaths from the locality of Hohenstein.