EGGER Headquarters — energy-efficient lighting control

Tyrol, Austria

True to the company’s motto “Living and working with wood”, the administrative building was made from self-manufactured wood-based materials.

“We were also extremely pleased with the service provided by Helvar in the planning phase and implementation of the commissioning process”.

Founded in 1961, EGGER is known for its pioneering spirit, innovative solutions and complete ranges of products created from natural wood. The new head office of the family-owned company was completed during June 2015 in St. Johann in the Tyrol, Austria. True to the company’s motto “Living and working with wood”, the administrative building was made from self-manufactured wood-based materials.

The office was designed by the Austrian architect Bruno Moser and consists of two four-storey buildings connected by a glass Atrium. The remarkable thing about the construction is that the structures consist of prefabricated modules manufactured by EGGER themselves. The economic and ecological concept behind the modular timber construction is exemplary and is an inspiration for timber construction companies, architects and planners. Overall, the new office building provides space for 276 workstations and 48 training areas. There is also a staff restaurant with room for 220 people.

“The remarkable thing about the construction is that the structures consist of prefabricated modules manufactured by EGGER themselves.”

The new office building provides space for 276 workstations and 48 training areas. There is also a staff restaurant with room for 220 people.

HELVAR LIGHTING CONTROL

The lighting design for the new building was developed by Manfred Draxl from conceptlicht, based in Mils (near Innsbruck). In terms of building services, it was crucial that the lighting and the lighting control system for the head office was modular.

For the lighting control, a Helvar DIGIDIM 910 router was installed on each floor, each with five modules. Additional routers on the ground floor control and regulate the lighting of the Atrium, the restaurant area, and the seminar rooms. Its scalability and flexible features ensure that the Helvar system offers a versatile solution that meets numerous requirements. The routers in the individual building modules were connected to each other via Ethernet and can be used as an overriding control system for all of the light sources.

Another important criterion for the EGGER construction was energy efficiency. The lighting in the corridors are controlled using Helvar motion and constant light sensors. The project management team opted to use Helvar because they use open standards and interfaces and can therefore subsequently be expanded. For example, DIGIDIM Toolbox systems are used in some corridors as stand-alone solutions that can later be connected to the router system where necessary, without requiring new components.

“The Helvar system fits ideally into our modular concept”, explained Christopher Stimpel, project manager for electrical engineering in the EGGER Group. “It is flexible, you can extend it later, and it is an open system. We were also extremely pleased with the service provided by Helvar in the planning phase and implementation of the commissioning process”

Comfort is the priority in the meeting rooms. In them, the router system takes control of the blinds and lighting. The individual components are operated via a central media control and the interface used here based on the IP-based HelvarNet protocol.

The use of control solutions and sensors in the office building is not the only way in which Helvar components have been implemented in the project. They are also used for energy-efficient lighting in the parking facilities, where for the first time, the Helvar DALI Repeater (405) is used to extend the DALI line length to over 300 m.

“The modular design of the new EGGER company building is superb and worth emulating”, explains Christian Wein, Country Manager of Helvar GmbH. “Our energy efficient and decentralised integrated control solutions perfectly fit the concept, primarily because they can be extended”.

ABOUT EGGER

The family company was founded in 1961 and has around 7,400 employees. They have sites throughout Europe at 17 locations, manufacturing a comprehensive range of products from wood-based materials (chipboard, OSB and MDF), as well as sawn timber. In the 2014/2015 financial year, the company generated a turnover of 2.26 billion euros.

EGGER’s customers include the furniture industry, specialist wood retailers and the DIY construction market. EGGER products can be found in countless areas of private and public life: in the kitchen, bathroom, office, living room and the bedroom. EGGER considers itself to be a full-service provider for furniture and fittings, as well as both structural timber work and wood-based flooring.

Tyrol, Austria