“Sustainable real estate solutions offer clear added value”

What impact will the Lokstadt site have on Winterthur as a whole?

The influence of the new neighbourhood is considerable: the project exceeds the statutory requirements in terms of sustainability, which are already very stringent. In addition, Lokstadt is already a certified “2000 Watt site”. With its proximity to Zurich, established business community, educational institutions and attractive cultural offerings, Winterthur is an attractive, vibrant urban centre. The new neighbourhood fits in perfectly with this overall picture.

The “Tigerli” residential building is earmarked for student accommodation. How does this align with Lokstadt’s utilisation concept?

Alongside the focus on ecology, Lokstadt is becoming a socially sustainable neighbourhood thanks to the hybrid use of real estate, i.e. a mixed-use development of residential, working, commercial and leisure/entertainment. In addition to the student apartments planned for the “Tigerli,” Lokstadt already has cooperative housing. Both promote social diversity, which is essential for a vibrant urban neighbourhood.

Aside from sustainability, digitisation is a key issue in the construction and real estate sectors. Where are companies in Switzerland in this regard?

We optimise our projects with novel digital approaches to development, planning and implementation. Digital lean construction and building information modelling (BIM) play key roles in this regard: the planning and management of a project are increasingly based on data. It means that contractors can be more efficient, effective and sustainable. Integrating digitisation into Implenia’s operational divisions means it becomes a driver of value creation. The construction and real estate sectors used to perform badly in this respect: we’re now catching up – it’s changing the way Implenia will develop, plan and build going forward. An important aspect here is the greater integration of planning and execution. Based on these considerations, we also want to pioneer the development of standardised, industrially manufactured building products.

The demand for a resource-saving circular economy in industry is growing. Can this principle be applied to the construction and real estate sectors?

Either way, the importance of the circular economy is becoming increasingly apparent from our point of view. As I said earlier, the building’s entire life cycle must be considered early on when planning a project. The aim here is to save on materials for every component, to use renewable raw materials, and to rethink material structures and compounds in terms of their future reusability and separability. The overriding principle here is to maintain the value of the material over several life cycles. Modular timber construction is perfectly suited to these approaches. Circular principles are also taken into account in the development of standardised, industrially manufactured building products. Some of our construction sites already practise a circular economy: using semi-mobile gravel plants located on the sites, excavated material is washed, sorted and prepared for reuse on the those same sites. This not only recycles material, but also cuts down on large numbers of lorry movements, which significantly reduces CO2 emissions and costs.

In your opinion, what are the major hurdles and opportunities facing the sector in the medium to long term?

Land-use policy and regulation are major, overarching challenges for our sector. The population is growing, land in Switzerland is finite, and urban sprawl must be prevented. This means it’s hard to provide sufficient affordable housing and infrastructure. Our squeezed Switzerland is witnessing a major challenge in terms of thinking holistically about spatial development – a hugely protracted process – without coming under pressure from vested interests. In an approach coordinated with the various stakeholder groups, densification and refurbishment must be facilitated where transport and communication links are good. Ecologically and socially sustainable timber buildings are capable of creating attractive residential environments for a wide range of users.