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The real estate market is becoming increasingly ambitious when it comes to carbon-neutral buildings, with more tenants and developers looking for new builds and projects that can reduce or offset carbon emissions.
Located a ten minute train ride away from Germany’s financial capital, Arup and Holger Meyer Architektur worked together on LEIQ on behalf of real estate investor Hamburg Trust and its joint venture partner Lupp. Standing on the shores of the Main river in Offenbach, the commercial development is set to be one of the first carbon-neutral office buildings in the Frankfurt metropolitan area, and the office building has also been certified LEED Gold. The 27,000 m² office development, which includes technology group Danfoss among its tenants, will be ready for occupancy in the 3rd quarter 2023.
Arup provided all the engineering services, including structures, MEP, façades, building physics, lighting, acoustics and fire; as well as sustainability consulting and energy simulations.
Joint values lead to sustainable solutions
Around half of the overall rental space has already been let to host the new German headquarters of technology group Danfoss. Like Arup, the Danish family-owned company is committed to the sustainability goals of the United Nations. It was therefore not difficult to convince first the tenant and then the investor to move away from standard building services solutions and towards a carbon-neutral energy concept. The key to this lies in the electrification of the building and the associated avoidance of fossil fuels.
Project Summary
20% less CAPEX
20%less OPEX
500tless carbon per year
“As one of the first CO₂-neutral office buildings in the Rhine-Main region, LEIQ will serve as a model not only for new buildings but also for the renovation of existing buildings. ”
Oliver Schwabe Director, Leader Advanced Building Engineering at Arup Germany
The electrification of the building
In the search for an economical solution and after weighing up various options, the energy concept of the office complex is based on a simple and compact system. Instead of a conventional supply of district heating and cooling, LEIQ will implement an energy concept with an air-water heat pump, which heats and cools. The flexible system uses the thermal energy contained in the ambient air and converts it into heating or cooling via a pump refrigerant circuit.
CO₂-neutral and economical
The LEIQ development is yet another example that sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive. With the new energy concept annual savings in the building operations of around 500 tons of CO₂ will be achieved over the next 20 years. In addition, the investment costs will be reduced by 20%, with the annual operating costs also cut by 20%.
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