Building and renovating non-residential buildings in an energy-efficient manner is a key element in achieving climate protection targets. The city of Aachen is also pursuing this goal. Two particularly successful construction projects - the Stettiner Straße daycare center and the Breitbenden daycare center, which is still under construction - received an award from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday (April 9).

Heiko Thomas, municipal councillor for climate and environment, municipal operations and buildings: "This award shows that a high energy standard is good for the municipal budget, as we have permanently low costs. This also increases the independence of our supply and is good for the climate."
In North Rhine-Westphalia, around 75 percent of the 460,000 non-residential buildings heated, such as educational institutions, hospitals and office buildings, are still heated with oil and gas, with only 15 percent using renewable energies. Seven outstanding projects that have now been awarded the title of "Energy-efficient non-residential buildings in NRW" by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection together with the state company NRW.Energy4Climate and recognized as role models that can be emulated show how energy-efficient construction and refurbishment works. Since 2019, a total of 32 projects have received this award.

An Aachen delegation from the city's building management team, headed by Heiko Thomas, Head of the Buildings and Climate Department, accepted the two awards in Düsseldorf. The councillor was joined by Building Management Managing Director Jens Hauschild, Head of Department Gabriele Hajok and Project Manager Leonidas Papadopoulos, as well as the respective architectural firms on site, in expressing their delight at the appreciation that the City of Aachen is receiving at state level for its efforts to construct climate-friendly and energy-efficient buildings for a better future.

KitaBreitbenden:
The Breitbenden day nursery is breaking new ground for the City of Aachen. For the first time, a daycare center will be built entirely in solid wood construction and certified as a sustainable building. The ground-breaking ceremony took place in summer 2024. Completion of the new building, which is expected to cost almost 11.4 million euros, is scheduled for 2026. The timber construction will feature green pitched roofs, the installation of photovoltaic systems and a minimization of sealed surfaces on the site. The necessary sealed roof areas will be compensated for by rainwater retention. All of this will help to improve the microclimate in the future. The façades are designed as timber façades and also reflect the solid timber construction method and design on the outside. This is the first time that a CO2 or eco-balance and a life cycle cost calculation has been carried out for a municipal building for the Breitbenden daycare center, making the building almost climate-neutral in its construction and operation. Control and measurement technology ensures that the operation of the technical systems is monitored and adapted to actual requirements. The daycare center in the Aachen-Eilendorf district offers three U3 and two Ü3 groups (80 places in total) on a net room area of around 1180 square meters.

KiTa Stettiner Straße:
The new Stettiner Straße daycare center was built on roughly the same site as the old pavilion, which previously stood there as a single-group daycare center. The approximately three million euro daycare center went into operation in 2020. The project was completed on time and on budget during the coronavirus pandemic. A total of four groups were set up: two groups on the first floor for the zero to three-year-olds and two groups on the upper floor for the over-threes to six-year-olds. In total, 20 U3 places and 50 Ü3 places, a total of 70 places, were created in the Driescher Hof district. 20 people are employed at the daycare center. The daycare center acts as a family center for the Driescher Hof residential area. All groups have their own access to the beautiful outdoor area. The Stettiner Straße daycare center is considered the showcase daycare center of the city of Aachen, not only because of its good concept, but also because of its exact adherence to the LVR's specified room program, which was refinanced. Thanks to the compact design, it was possible to create a therapy room in addition to the room program specified by the LVR.
The combination of a comprehensive ventilation system with heat recovery and an air/water heat pump with underfloor heating provides a particularly efficient energy supply for the 700 square metre building. Control and measurement technology ensures that the operation of the technical systems is monitored and adapted to actual requirements. A PV system mounted on the roof rounds off the concept. As the building is energy-optimized, surplus energy from the PV system is passed on to the neighbouring elementary school.

You can find the press release from the State Association for Energy and Climate Protection with all the other award winners here: https://www.energy4climate.nrw/aktuelles/newsroom/neue-energieeffiziente-nichtwohngebaeude-fuer-nrw