The C&A/REDEVCO ECO Store in Mainz developed by REDEVCO Services Deutschland GmbH has been awarded third prize in the 'PROM des Jahres 2009', being classed as best in the 'existing buildings' category.
The initiative for the competition to identify the most energy efficient commercial and public buildings in Germany was taken by Dortmund-based RWE Energy AG and the competition took place under the auspices of Germany's environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel. Winning third place, the ECO-Store, the result of a redevelopment of a building almost 50 years old, beat countless new developments competing for the prize.
At the awards ceremony held in Berlin on 8 July, the C&A/REDEVCO ECO-Store was praised as "an example of originality and functionality and for being extremely energy efficient". The REDEVCO store was chosen from over 30 participants and 15 finalists selected by the German Centre for Sustainable Building.
First prize went to the city of Neckargemünd for a new school complex; the second prize was awarded to Hiba Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG for its Etrium office building in Cologne. Unlike the C&A/REDEVCO ECO-Store, both of those projects involved new buildings.
'PROM des Jahres' is organized by the German Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development, the Centre for Sustainable Building, the Fraunhofer Institute and the Technical University of Munich. This is the second year the competition has been held. Its aim is to cement an awareness of the issue of energy efficiency among clients and architects.
With their C&A/REDEVCO ECO-Store, REDEVCO and its C&A sister company have set a standard for the sustainable management of large city center retail properties. The building, which offers sales space of c. 6,500 m², dates from 1961 and was reopened in October 2008 following a major redevelopment which took almost 12 months. One of the most important objectives was to permanently reduce energy usage and CO2 emissions. The C&A store now uses c. 50% less electricity and 70% less heating energy. It is also CO2 neutral.
The building had previously been certified using the strict BREEAM criteria, a European standard for the sustainable design of buildings, and was rated 'very good'. The building has also been certified using the most recent German energy conservation regulations EnEV 2007, which led to the building receiving an energy passport with an energy coefficient significantly lower than the EnEV norm for new buildings.
Source: REDEVCO
