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Breakfast cereal lab
The research and development centre of a breakfast cereal manufacturer is the first building in Switzerland to have been awarded Platinum Certification in the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system developed in America. The materials used to heat the new building, which is being built by a member of the Nestlé Group, include waste from coffee roasting.
Usually sweet, often colourful and available in large cartons: the breakfast cereals sold by the company Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW) under brand names like 'Cheerios' or 'Chocapic'. CPW is the second largest manufacturer in the branch worldwide.
For a company to safeguard its place on breakfast tables all over the world, requires continuous development of its products. That's exactly what CPW will now be doing in its R&D Centre in the small town of Orbe in the west of Switzerland. The new construction designed by the architects Concept Consult Architectes (CCA) from Lausanne is adjacent to premises of the parent company Nestlé, where product research and development has been going on for 50 years. In its capacity as an 'LEED Accredited Professional', Intep Zürich actively assisted with the certification aspects of the project.
For a company to safeguard its place on breakfast tables all over the world, requires continuous development of its products. That's exactly what CPW will now be doing in its R&D Centre in the small town of Orbe in the west of Switzerland. The new construction designed by the architects Concept Consult Architectes (CCA) from Lausanne is adjacent to premises of the parent company Nestlé, where product research and development has been going on for 50 years. In its capacity as an 'LEED Accredited Professional', Intep Zürich actively assisted with the certification aspects of the project.
The three-storey, 10,200 m² building has a distinct workshop character, mainly because of the red, container-like boxes with office spaces, tanks and a pipe bridge connecting the new building with the other Nestlé site. Inside, the pipes continue openly visible under the ceiling of the wooden frame construction. The rear of the building looks a little like a big steel shelf with the individual utilisations simply put in place there.
The energy demand of the research centre is around 30% below that of a standard office building of the same size. This is mainly attributable to the efficient building technology: ground water heat pumps are used for heating; a boiler fired with coffee grounds serves as a back-up system. The building is also cooled using ground water.
The approximately 190,000 litres of ground water collected on the premises every year, completely cover the water demand for toilets and irrigation of the outdoor areas. Together with the use of water-saving fixtures, this measure reduces the drinking water required from the public network by about 65%. The remaining rain water falling on the site, seeps into the ground and does not enter the canalisation. Green spaces created using local plants make up almost three quarters of the complex. Sustainability criteria were also taken into account in the construction of the building: The wood was obtained from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified sources and half of the building materials used were local or recycled products.