Developing new office building for Grundfos

In September 2023, approximately 90 employees at Grundfos will move into a completely new office building by the company’s headquarters. Wednesday, November 16^th, the project reached a milestone with the celebration of the topping-out ceremony in Bjerringbro.

“Grundfos came to us with the ambition of building an office extension with focus on sustainability and the well-being of their staff. Research shows that the physical working environment plays a vital role in our well-being by increasing job satisfaction and productivityand as well as reducing sickness absence. Based on research of ‘biophilic architecture’, an approach that seeks to connect the building design with nature, we have worked consciously and purposefully to translate Grundfos’ wishes into tangible solutions in the building,” Kathrine Hegner Stærmose, Architect and Partner at AART, says.

Knowledge-sharing, community, and collaboration

In order to support collaboration, the working environment, and the sense of community among Grundfos’ employees, we have worked with an activity-based approach to the interior design, where employees can seek out different environments as needed – e.g., labs, rooms for immersion, collaboration stations, and informal meeting zones – during the day.

“Knowledge-sharing, community, and collaboration were key points in the presentation we received from Grundfos. Therefore, we have worked to create a special working environment with very raw spaces and visible installations. Here, the life of the building becomes visible, and you really get the feeling that this is where creative people work,” Kathrine Hegner Stærmose says.

Designed with a focus on sustainable operations

Sustainability is a central part of Grundfos’ business, where, among other things, they have a set goal to reach net-zero in regards to CO2 emissions – and thus reduce emissions with at least 90 percent – by 2050 at the latest. Sustainability has therefore also been central to the development of the new building, with particular focus on operations.

“We have an ambition to be the world’s best workplace, and at the same time we have an ambition to reach net-zero in relation to CO2 emissions. This fantastic building fully delivers on the objective of making a positive impact for both people and the planet. AART understood our vision from the beginning and has shown great flexibility throughout, and we have thus successfully ended up with this building that we at Grundfos can be incredibly proud of,” Kjeld Schmidt Christensen, Head of Group Facility Management at Grundfos, says.

The new building will be Grundfos’ first building to be certified for DGNB Gold, and they are also working purposefully to reduce CO2 emissions from construction through, for example, the choice of materials.