In the next few months, the Circle will be certified with LEED PLATINUM status. HRS as the total contractor and Amstein + Walthert as the building services planner with primary responsibility played a leading role. Rebecca Kull, COO of HRS, and Christian Appert, CEO of the Amstein + Walthert Group, talk about sustainability in a superlative project.
Ms. Kull, you realized "The Circle at Zurich Airport" project under the auspices of Flughafen Zürich AG and Swiss Life AG. What role did the sustainability aspect play?
Rebecca Kull: A very big one, as evidenced by the fact that we are implementing LEED-PLATINUM certification with it. The Circle will thus be the largest LEED-PLATINUM project in Europe and one of the ten to twenty largest in the world. For Switzerland, this is a superlative with great charisma. Many people like to talk about sustainability, it's easy. But what is decisive is what you do: sustainability in practice.
Mr. Appert, LEED is not yet very well known in Switzerland beyond professional circles. What do the letters stand for?
Christian Appert: LEED is the abbreviation for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is one of the most widespread sustainability labels in the world. Basically, LEED is something similar to Minergie: a quality assurance tool that helps building owners define their sustainability requirements and maintain what they have defined.
What are the differences between LEED and the Minergie label, which is better known outside the building industry in Switzerland?
Appert: LEED is not an aspect-oriented label that focuses only on the energy consumption of the building, but tries to cover all aspects of sustainable construction. There are certain minimum requirements that must always be implemented; for other aspects, an individually developed sustainability strategy can be followed, taking into account the overall system. The following applies: The more sustainability aspects are implemented in a project, the better the certification result will be. There is something very American about this basic idea, which is where the model comes from: You do something good and are rewarded for it.
In what respects is the Circle particularly sustainable, so that it will achieve this high-quality certification?
Appert: There are a number of categories in which the Circle stands out. The energy concept is one example, with very low primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Drinking water savings are very high, with rainwater tanks providing water for flushing toilets, for example, and the fixtures are also very efficient. We have combined photovoltaic modules with green roofs on the roofs. In this way, we can cover part of the electricity demand ourselves and at the same time create habitats for insects, for example. The Circle was built on a site that had already been developed, and the project involved remediation of a contaminated site. The connection to public transport and non-motorized traffic is excellent. For commuting by bicycle, correspondingly generous infrastructures were built, such as showers or covered parking spaces... I could continue the list, it shows the comprehensive approach of LEED PLATINUM well.
What lessons do you draw from the project?
Appert: That even large projects can be very sustainable. We often hear that a large project simply has a negative impact. The Circle shows that this is wrong.
Kull: You need good cooperation between the planners to achieve this high level of sustainability. In general, processes for quality assurance were the big challenge in a project with so many people in planning and execution. You can't pay enough attention to the project organization in such a situation - for me, that's the key learning from the project. And of course it helps when, like our two companies HRS and Amstein & Walthert, you have a long history together and a relationship of trust at the highest level. I am very much looking forward to our further cooperation!
What does the further schedule look like?
Appert: The final inspection of the Circle has taken place, and from then on the LEED review process will take a few months. We are confident that certification will be in place by the end of Q1 2022.
Rebecca Kull, born in 1971, has a degree in architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) SIA and has completed further training, also at the ETH, in business administration for construction managers, real estate valuation and marketing. She has worked for HRS since 2009 and has been COO, owner and member of the board of directors since 2010. Rebecca Kull's current projects include the Police and Justice Center (PJZ) in Zurich, Geneva Airport and the Swisslife Arena stadium project in Zurich.
Christian Appert, born in 1961, is a Swiss Federal Dipl. El. Inst. and has been CEO of the Amstein + Walthert Group since 2006. He is also responsible for the project management of major projects such as The Circle, the Bäderquartier in Baden and the Police and Justice Center (PJZ) in Zurich.