Sustainability in construction

DGNB-certified REWE market

Sustainability is a central component of our construction projects - from planning to completion. A current example of this is the new REWE market in Nordendorf, which is certified according to the demanding standards of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).

The DGNB certification ensures that every project is thought of holistically and in terms of its life cycle. The focus is on three pillars:

• Economy - Efficient use of resources and economical construction.
• Ecology - Reducing the ecological footprint through sustainable material selection and energy-efficient technologies.
• Social - Promoting user-friendliness and barrier-free access as well as creating a healthy indoor climate.

Green aspects in the construction of the REWE market

• Conservation of resources: Environmentally friendly materials that are both durable and recyclable were selected for the market. Even in the planning phase, attention was paid to ensuring the lowest possible environmental impact.
• Energy efficiency: A high-quality building shell reduces energy consumption sustainably. The integration of modern electric charging stations for vehicles shows our commitment to promoting electromobility.
• Sustainable infrastructure: A separate transformer station ensures the reliable supply of the electric charging stations and contributes to the future viability of the site.

Holistic construction process
We also attach great importance to sustainability during the construction phase:

• Quality assurance: Continuous monitoring of all processes ensured that the highest standards were met.
• Deconstructability and recyclability: Even during construction, care was taken to ensure that the building could later be efficiently dismantled and reused.
• Site-related aspects: The integration of the market into the existing infrastructure promotes regional development and increases the attractiveness of the site.

More than just building
For us, sustainability also means ensuring social and design quality. The REWE market impresses with barrier-free access, parking options for various needs and a modern design that combines functionality and aesthetics.

With every construction project, we pursue the goal of protecting the environment, improving the quality of life and creating economically viable solutions – for the people of today and the generations of tomorrow.

Sustainable urban development

Orchard meadow in the west of Memmingen

In cooperation with the city of Memmingen and the Office for Urban Greenery and Cemeteries, we have planted 17 new fruit trees for everyone to harvest freely. The newly created orchard meadow is located between Erfurter Strasse and the railway line in the west of Memmingen. Peaches, plums, sweet chestnuts, pears and apples now grow on 1,250 m².

Mayor Jan Rothenbacher and our managing director Ulrich Dick emphasized the importance of this new green space for the community and the environment. "Our trainees and employees were able to gain new experience here and create something sustainable," adds Dagmar Winter from KUTTER Marketing. The volunteer agency Schaffenslust supported us in planning and implementing the meadow.

In autumn, we cordially invite all Memmingen residents to harvest. Please treat trees, meadows and animals with care! Signs on the trees provide information about the respective types of fruit and their special features. Together we will create a sustainable and livable environment for everyone!

Image 1 (from left): City Councilor Fabian Nieder, Ulrich Dick (Managing Director of KUTTER Construction Company), Isabel Mang (Head of Schaffenslust Volunteer Agency), Dagmar Winter (KUTTER Marketing), Mayor Jan Rothenbacher, Michael Koch (Head of Urban Greenery and Cemeteries), City Councilor Evelyn Villing, Michael Haider (Head of Economic Development) and Uwe Weißfloch (Head of Urban Planning)

urban life

The green project of our building construction department

Enjoying urban life without having to forego relaxing peace and quiet in the countryside - our project development division wants to make this dream come true for the future residents of the StadtOase.
The residential complex is designed as an EH40-EE efficiency house with a groundwater heat pump, photovoltaic modules on the roof surfaces, preparation of parking spaces for the charging power supply and an orchard.

You can find out more about this here.

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SUPPLY

WATER AS AN ENERGY SOURCE

Hydropower is an environmentally friendly and reliable source of energy that makes a significant contribution to meeting our energy needs without harming nature. The use of this renewable form of energy promotes the preservation of natural resources and supports our goal of securing a sustainable future for future generations.

In 2023, we obtained an impressive 1,964,475 kilowatt hours of electrical energy from European hydropower. This impressive achievement not only demonstrates our commitment to environmentally friendly energy, but also highlights our contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions and protecting the environment.
Click here for the certificate.

KUTTER PHOTOVOLTAICS

POWER FOR THE FUTURE

Sustainable management has long since gone beyond ambitious climate targets. A successful energy transition can only succeed if every aspect of a company is examined. KUTTER has been facing up to these challenges for decades thanks to its in-house energy management system in accordance with ISO 50001; an example of this is the generation of electricity via photovoltaic systems on the company roofs. Every kilowatt hour of solar power replaces the same amount of conventionally generated energy and thus counteracts global warming.

Some of our subsidiaries and affiliated companies have been successfully generating solar power for several years. Bituleit Leipzig's photovoltaic systems produce around 50% of the total consumption at the site. About 41% of the electricity generated can still be fed into the public grid. At Hans Hebel in Darast, about 41% more is produced than is consumed in total; here approx. 57% of the solar power produced can be fed into the grid. At the KUTTER location in Leipzig, around 28% of the total consumption is generated by photovoltaics and around 30% of the electricity produced is fed into the grid. The leader is our subsidiary RAZ in Rückholz, which produces around 99% more electricity than is consumed at the site. About 67% of the electricity generated is fed into the public grid. The electricity fed into the grid at all locations roughly corresponds to the energy consumption of around 380 single-family homes per year.

Further plants are planned for 2023 in order to expand our joint efforts towards more climate protection in the future. Our KUTTER locations in Bad Wörishofen, Darast and Eschenlohe as well as BK-Kies in Bad Wörishofen and Bituleit in Kaufering are equipped with a photovoltaic system.

RECYCLING OF BUILDING MATERIALS

THE FUTURE OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Source AZ from 04/11/2023  

Whether road construction, track construction, industrial or residential construction: huge amounts of gravel are used everywhere. However, like any other raw material, gravel is also a valuable commodity that is becoming increasingly scarce. In southern Germany, thanks to the ice age, there are still huge amounts of it slumbering in the ground, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for construction companies to get new gravel pits approved. Recycling is becoming increasingly important. This in turn is also good for the environment. Our subsidiary, the Result-Recycling GmbH & Co. KG ensures regional cycles and helps to avoid long transport routes and thus protect the climate.

The company is dedicated to the demolition, recycling and disposal of building materials, which is becoming an increasingly important issue in Europe and the world because in the foreseeable future there simply won't be enough pits to dump construction waste into. Also, sand and gravel are not infinitely available, as has long been believed. 100,000 tons of material from demolished buildings, roads and rail tracks come together at the Bad Wörishofen site every year, half of which goes back into the construction cycle as valuable building material.

The decisive factor here is that the material is separated by type as far as possible. This can also be clearly observed on the company premises in Bad Wörishofen. Different material is stored on different piles of rock, such as track ballast, rubble, or concrete. During demolition work, great care is taken to ensure that the materials are separated as well as possible. D-mixtures, on the other hand, are hardly easy to recycle. Pure material, i.e. so-called substitute building materials, can be used well in new buildings. Builders would have to confirm where the demolition material came from. This is important in order to rule out contaminated material being smuggled in. In cooperation and cooperation with employees of the Technical University of Munich, we monitor each batch and take samples regularly.

In any case, the ballast from the railway tracks is loaded. This is due to the pesticides that have to be used to prevent the tracks from becoming overgrown. This material can also be recycled, which is why Result-Recycling will set up a floor washing plant on the company premises in Kaufering in the foreseeable future in order to expand recycling even further.

From the point of view of the district, the company Result-Recycling in the Lower Allgäu is one of the model companies in environmental protection. We are pioneers here. Three kilograms of carbon dioxide can be saved per tonne of recycling material. With an annual volume of 50,000 tons, that means 15,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide. Strong performance, what the RESULT-Recycling team creates! Thanks a lot for this.

save resources

From old to new

Our goal is to be able to convert as much old asphalt granulate as possible into new asphalt mix. So we not only practice recycling, but always strive for a suitable upcycling by processing between 50 - 100% old asphalt. This is made possible by proactive demolition work, in which we rely on milling in layers, even if it was not advertised by the client. Thanks to the modern plant technology in the asphalt mixing plant, e.g. B. a parallel drum and an increased sampling and analysis effort in our own laboratories, this project can be implemented expediently.

LOW-TEMPERATURE ASPHALT

THE COOL AMONG INSTALLATIONS

In road and asphalt construction, the paving of temperature-reduced asphalt can lead to a reduction in CO₂ emissions of around 13%. According to literature and measurements in other European countries, up to 40% are even possible. Unfortunately, the construction method is currently still very rare, since this variant must be explicitly requested in tenders. As a construction company, we cannot determine the installation variant. The use of temperature-reduced asphalt makes sense above all on construction sites with a short construction time (< 10 hours).

Low-resource heating and cooling system

We rely on well water

Heating and cooling - without using resources such as gas, oil or pellets. With our thermal heating system, we create an optimal working climate for our employees in the truest sense of the word. We use deep water, which is taken from wells created by baugrund Süd in Bad Wurzach and circulated in our administration building using a heat pump. The offices and meeting rooms can be tempered in an absolutely environmentally friendly way. Our data center is cooled in this way. Here, KUTTER works together with the regional company Alois Müller, which specializes in flexible energy solutions.

The system is currently supplied with external power. But that too will soon change with the construction of an in-house photovoltaic system. This is already planned, so that we can also use self-generated green electricity here.