Aleksandar Nikolic, Head of Logistics Center Construction Department at Lidl Srbija KD – Logistics Center in Lapovo Has Its Own Solar Power Plant and Uses Rainwater as Technical Water

In August, Lidl opened a logistics center in Lapovo – its second logistics center in Serbia. The facility, which spreads on 57,000 m2, was built in compliance with the highest sustainability standards, and it is in the process of getting the highest-level LEED certificate, as Aleksandar Nikolic, Head of Logistics Center Construction Department at Lidl Srbija KD, reveals in his interview for eKapija.

As our interviewee points out, the consumption of water and energy is optimized to the maximum extent, the roof features a solar power plant which produces electrical energy of up to as much as 1 MW, and the collected rainwater is used as technical water.

What makes the Logistics Center in Lapovo different from the one in Nova Pazova?

– When the first Logistics Center of Lidl opened four years ago in Nova Pazova, it was built in line with the then most recent international standards of our company. As the market is developing and as there has been a great progress of technology and innovations in all domains, the Logistics Center in Lapovo was build precisely in line with the latest and newest Lidl criteria, collected from over 30 countries in which we operate. The main difference is in size, so LC Lapovo, with its 57,000 square meters and 20 meters in height is around 25% bigger and 5 meters higher than the first LC in Nova Pazova, and this enables the storing of as many as 35,000 pallets from 130 loading-reloading ramps. During the construction of the logistics center in Nova Pazova, we acquired the internationally recognized LEED Gold certificate, which confirms compliance with the principles of sustainability in construction, but I am proud to point out that, this time, we took it a step further, as we are in the process of obtaining the highest-level LEED certificate. Considering that we are following construction trends when it comes to sustainable development as well, in the four years since the first logistics center was built in Nova Pazova, we have tries to meet all the latest criteria that such a facility needs to meet, and what I am particularly proud of is the implementation of the solar power plants which are located on the roof of this logistics center with an area of 10,000 square meters, where, with the production of electrical energy of as much as 1 MW, the facility is supplied with 30% of the power needed for the operations of the center. Based on the abovesaid and a range of other successfully realized innovations, we have managed to build a fully modern Logistics Center and ideal working conditions for our colleagues and truck drivers, who are staying in it on a daily basis.

What are the reasons why the newly built facility in Lapovo got the title of a “green” logistics center?

– Said process of obtaining the highest LEED certificate entailed the meeting of numerous requirements. Primarily, it should be pointed out that the consumption of water and energy is optimized to the maximum in this facility and that the majority of electrical energy is gotten from renewable energy sources thanks to the “ZelEps” agreement with Elektroprivreda Srbije, and at the same time, the carefully selected equipment and modern systems implemented in the facility save energy by about 45%. The collection of rainwater from the roof of our building to the end of using it as technical water and the reduction of water consumption on all sanitary batteries and other systems have enabled the lowering of water consumption by as much as 80%. Also, I would emphasize that we get the energy for the full floor heating of the warehouse by recuperating the heat from the cooling system, which we use for the refrigeration of our cooling chambers. By carefully choosing the paints and coatings which don’t contain or emit VOCs, we have managed to considerably increase the quality of the air for the employees, whereas, for the surface of the roof of the facility and the parking spaces, we deliberately used light colors in order to prevent the heating of those surfaces, which also guarantees working at optimal temperatures for the employees. The result of these measures is a logistics center, in whose construction a lot of effort and love was put, which is why I am incredibly happy to have been part of this process and I eagerly await new construction challenges.

Lidl Srbija KD Nova Pazova

Lidl

logistics center in Lapovo

logistics center in Nova Pazova

LC Lapovo

solar power plant

LEED certificate

energy saving

green construction

rainwater