“Size does matter!”

Due to cargo-partner's steady growth as well as the increasing demand at its headquarters near Vienna Airport, a new warehouse became necessary in order to avoid capacity bottlenecks. Following the company's declared goal of ecological sustainability, cargo-partner decided on timber construction as an environment-friendly and resource-efficient option.

This project enters a new dimension in timber construction – not just due to the architectural complexity and height of the high-bay racks, but also due to the extreme precision requirements in regard to structural tolerances. As cargo-partner continues to expand its global contract logistics network, important insights gained from this endeavor will also be incorporated into the equipment and design of other new warehouses. The figures and dimensions of the new iLogistics Center are certainly impressive – we’ve taken a look at them from a slightly “alternative” point of view…

• 109.5 x 104 x 20 meters – these are the “naked” dimensions of the building.
  • This calculates to a volume of 227,760 m³, which can almost fit into exactly 6,881 TEU containers…
  • … That’s a lot of containers on a surface of 10.615 m², which equates to 1.5 soccer fields.
• 23 meters – the length of the longest timber element in building.
• 16.3 meters – the height of the tallest pillars, with a dimension of 1.5 x 1.5 m.
• A total of 12 columns secure a stable roof for the warehouse hall below. Incidentally, the roof is constructed in a way which will allow for the simple subsequent installation of a photovoltaic system.
• 23 m x 17 m is the size of the largest axial grid, which constitutes the basis of the supporting framework. In a timber construction, these dimensions can be considered quite remarkable due to the technical challenges involved. Funny coincidence: 17 m meters is also the current world record in triple jump, and 23 m corresponds exactly to the world record in shot-put. We swear this is a coincidence!
• 7,600 running meters – this is how long all timber elements inside the iLogistics Center would be if you put them all in a row. Just to illustrate: This would easily add up to 9 Burj Khalifas. Not for nothing that it’s the highest building in the world with a height of approx. 828 meters.

We will refrain from drawing skyscraper comparisons with the larch wood planks on the outer siding, which would add up to a total of 117 km. Good thing we don’t have to think about the building foundation for such a hypothetical calculation. A connection from Vienna to Bratislava, however, could easily be accommodated.

• 19,000 m² of wooden roof and wall elements were used in the construction, of which 10,000 are roof elements and 9,000 are wall elements. The exposed outer surfaces are covered with a total of 7,322 m² of larch wood. The larch planks on the outside of the building are not only decorative, but also highly robust and weatherproof.
• 10 weeks is how long it took to install the building envelope. 70 days for a building with these dimensions – we’re still baffled…
• 365 days passed between the groundbreaking in June 2017 and the start of operations at the new warehouse, which provides workplaces for 35 people. The total land, construction and planning costs amounted to 18 million euro.
• 24,500 pallet spaces are available for storage in the cargo-partner iLogistics Center.
• All pallets stacked up on top of each other would make a tower of 3,528 m – just under the height of Mount Fuji in Japan.
• All pallets placed next to each other would create a surface of 23,520 m², which is a little more than 3 soccer fields.

Timber as a construction material for a logistics center? An innovative decision for the benefit of the environment.

Building with wood is active climate protection. In order to absorb as much CO₂ from the material cycle for as long as possible, it is worthwhile to use as much wood as possible in highly durable products. Wood replaces conventional building materials such as bricks or concrete, whose production is carbon-intensive, thus avoiding additional CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, timber constructions are massive carbon reservoirs. The environment-friendly aspect of cargo-partner’s innovative construction project has been recognized with a renowned award: The iLogistics Center has been honored with the HERMES Verkehrs.Logistik.Preis in the category “Sustainability”.

• The 4,200 m³ of timber used in the construction correspond to 4,200 of stored CO₂. To better illustrate:
  • 1.5 Olympic swimming pools could be filled with this amount of wood. The amount of CO₂ saved corresponds to…
  • 1,000 hippopotami.

Since we are an international info-logistics provider and not a safari park, you can also visualize the 4,200 t as:

• 3.5 times the famous “Cristo Redentor” statue in Rio de Janeiro
• 2 times the largest tree on Earth: “General Sherman”, a giant sequoia in California. Luckily, the General is under strict protection and is not considered construction timber…

And what do 4,200 t of stored CO₂ numbers really mean in practice? We’ve calculated the effect of these saved emissions:

• 4,200 t of stored CO₂ correspond to the yearly power consumption of 620 households,  
• or the average CO₂ emissions of 887 people driving their cars for one year.

But this is not the only impressive advantage. An additional positive effect for the environment emerges when the building has to be dismantled at the end of its operating life of 70-100 years.

Timber does not require elaborate disposal procedures, but can eventually be used as an environment-friendly energy source. Thanks to these positive qualities of wood and the resulting energy savings, the constructions costs will be amortized after seven years. We find this extraordinary, and it goes to prove once again that environmental protection is not a matter of high expenses, but of willingness to act.

In total, 4,080 m³ of spruce wood and 120 m³ of larch wood were used in the construction, all PEFC and FSC certified and harvested from sustainably cultivated forests in Austria and Bavaria. The timber-based construction allows for a cost-efficient temperature range between 15°C and 25°C, a constant humidity of up to 70%, low operating costs and a considerable reduction of CO₂ emissions, as only materials with a low carbon footprint have been selected for the construction. In addition to modern, energy-efficient lighting technology, 20 thermal bridge optimized loading docks enable further energy savings. The lock gates don’t open until the truck is hermetically docked, preventing dirt and dust from entering from the outside.

iLogistics Center Fischamend Gallery