Stadtwerke Gießen AG (SWG) invests over 20 million euros every year. This year, the Giessen-based energy and water supplier has even earmarked 23.9 million euros. In addition, over 10.4 million euros will be spent on ongoing maintenance work. "As in the past, most of these funds will remain in the region this year. Because we see ourselves as an important promoter of the local economy," says Manfred Siekmann, Chairman of the SWG Management Board.
The focus of the investments is in the area of energy distribution and generation with around 77 per cent, followed by SWG service with around 21 per cent.
Energy distribution and generation
In this area, investments are being made in the renewal of old systems and the expansion of the supply networks used to develop new construction and commercial areas. "Security of supply has always been a top priority for us. With these investments, this will continue to be the case in the future," said Reinhard Paul, Chief Technical Officer of SWG.
In energy distribution, the investments totalling around EUR 16.4 million relate to electricity (around EUR 6.2 million), natural gas (around EUR 3.0 million), water (around EUR 2.6 million) and district heating supply (around EUR 1.8 million) as well as the network control centre, telecontrol technology, measurement and control technology and civil engineering. Investments of around EUR 2.0 million are planned for energy generation and energy production. Of this amount, EUR 470 thousand is attributable to water production and supply plants and around EUR 1.6 million to heat generation plants.
SWG service
The municipal utilities are investing around EUR 5.0 million in the SWG Service division. This includes operating and office equipment, IT software and hardware as well as other building measures.
Workshops
SWG plans to invest EUR 66 thousand in new equipment and tools in the central and car workshops.
Transport services
Further funds totalling 165 thousand euros are to be invested in transport services - in particular for the procurement of software programmes for data reports to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV). SWG is also investing in route equipment. The bus fleet of the municipal utility subsidiary MIT.BUS GmbH will be further modernised. There are plans to purchase five new solo vehicles with modern low-floor technology and air conditioning at a total cost of around 1.3 million euros.
Gießen cogeneration plant GmbH
Investments in this area total around 1.7 million euros. One focus is the overhaul of a turbine (900 thousand euros). Further funds are to be channelled into control and measurement technology, automation of the control room, an exchanger system and free cooling. Planning and authorisation costs for the TREA are earmarked at 250 thousand euros.
Baths
Funds totalling 118 thousand euros are also earmarked for the renovation and expansion of the indoor and outdoor pools as well as for more modern equipment in this business area. "We want to offer our bathers a wide range of facilities in an attractive environment. We have done a lot to achieve this in the past. We will continue along this path in 2005," commented Siekmann.
In addition to the extensive investments in all business areas, SWG is continuing the refurbishment of its building.
Refurbishment of the head office
It has been apparent for some time that a lot is happening at the municipal utilities. Since the beginning of the year, scaffolding has covered the seven-storey SWG building in Lahnstraße. The reason for this is the refurbishment of the main building.
With architect Ute Kramm from the architectural firm aplus in Giessen and Guido Eisfeller from Gesellschaft für Organisation, Gebäudeentwicklung und Immobilienmanagement mbH & Co KG -SCHUBERTEISFELLER, the municipal utilities have experts at their side for the refurbishment of their building.
"Our head office was completed in 1973 and has therefore been around for over 30 years. It is now simply due for refurbishment. We deliberately opted for a more cost-effective refurbishment instead of a new build," says Paul. Saving energy is an important aspect of the refurbishment, as the building in its current state no longer fulfils modern energy-saving requirements.
"We teach our customers how to use energy sparingly. We now want to finally implement this in our own building. The refurbishment will include replacing the old wooden windows, renovating the energy-inefficient façade and installing modern radiators," adds Paul.
Another important aspect of the refurbishment is fire protection. This is currently completely inadequate. The mandatory adaptation to modern fire protection means that usable office space is lost. As a result, additional space is required for the lost office workstations and essential office equipment.
SWG worked with SCHUBERTEISFELLER to plan this additional office space sensibly and to optimise the space allocation of the entire building with regard to work organisation processes. They developed a corresponding space utilisation concept. Siekmann on the aim of this concept: "We want to bring together what belongs together. This will enable the individual departments to work together even more efficiently in future without having to travel long distances."
Extension of the SWG building
As a result of the space utilisation concept and as the most economical solution, an eighth floor will be added. As the statics do not allow for a complete full storey, this eighth floor will be built with a reduced footprint. The eighth floor will be occupied by the SWG Executive Board, which will then vacate its previous quarters on the fifth floor of the building. This is the most effective way of utilising the newly created space, as 25 to 28 new workstations can be created on the fifth floor. A maximum of 10 to 12 workstations would be possible on the eighth floor.
The extension will be integrated into the overall refurbishment programme. SWG expects this to have advantages in terms of the construction process and costs. The costs for the entire construction project amount to 5.8 million euros, of which 1.8 million euros will be spent in 2005.
The architectural firm responsible for the refurbishment and construction of the eighth floor is aplus. Ute Kramm from aplus presented the new façade of the SWG building: "We opted for a metallic grey shell. This also visually expresses our goal of adapting the building functionally to contemporary office requirements."
The building project at a glance:
...inside
- Measures to comply with fire safety regulations
- Refurbishment of the office space
...outside
- Façade refurbishment
- Replacement of the windows
- Addition of storeys