BPI Real Estate, Baloise and CLE inaugurate their new WOODEN headquarters in Leudelange

Several decorative wooden staircases are placed in the interior spaces of WOODEN. They invite people to move about easily and offer great accessibility between levels.

Laurie Ensch, Project Manager at Baloise: “The central staircases encourage me to walk more. I prefer them over the lifts to get from one floor to another. The layout of the various workspaces, particularly informal areas, also allows for more spontaneous exchanges and promotes communication across departments.”

Same feeling about the layout at CLE. Julien Ekoret is the Quality & Environment Manager with CLE and he noticed that his colleagues quickly settled into the premises: “People are smiling more, the spaces are more welcoming and ergonomic, spatial organization improves communication between departments.” He also believes that the variety of layouts makes it possible to approach exchanges in different ways: “It encourages breaking up the routine and formalism of a meeting room.”

Across every stage of the building lifecycle, the real estate sector accounts for more than a third of CO2 emissions. However, wood construction can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of buildings. This is currently the best in terms of eco-design.

Wood is indeed a natural and regenerative resource, especially when forests are managed sustainably. Wood used in the construction of WOODEN comes exclusively from PEFC-certified forests in the greater region. When one tree is cut down, two more are replanted.

In addition, the transformation of wood into a constructable element requires little energy (water, electricity, etc.). On the contrary, it is said to be “carbonivorous”, because the carbon that has accumulated there during its growth, thanks to photosynthesis, remains trapped there until its end of life. Also, from a social point of view, wood allows off-site prefabrication, which offers better working conditions for workers; reduces the waste of raw materials to a maximum; also reduces the number of trucks needed for transport to a worksite and reduces nuisance to residences near construction sites.

WOODEN was able to be achieved thanks to the determination of its co-developers, IKO Real Estate and BPI Real Estate, and their firm determination to challenge the status quo. With 9,600 m2 of office space, WOODEN is the first building for the service sector in Luxembourg to be built of wood. Currently, new projects are following suit in the country (including the mixed-use ROOTS project in Belval, a co-development between BPI Real Estate and Unibra).

Arnaud Regout, Managing Director of BPI Real Estate Luxembourg is thrilled that this is turning out to be more than a trend, but a necessity to decarbonise the construction sector: “It’s great if WOODEN paves the way for alternative construction methods in Luxembourg. I hope this private initiative, spearheaded jointly with our partner IKO Real Estate, will inspire the public sector to make timber construction the norm.” Note that Arnaud Regout is President of the Advisory Committee of the brand new LCBI label, which brings together the main European real estate players to promote low-carbon construction and cut CO2 emissions from European real estate in half.

Christophe Herrmann, Managing Director of the CLE construction company, concludes: “CLE is extremely proud to have completed such construction with our own teams. Today, our headquarters is a great showcase of our group’s know-how. It symbolizes the attention we pay to both the well-being of our employees and our environmental footprint.”

Construction of WOODEN began at the end of 2020 for delivery at the end of 2022 (including rental fittings). This is a co-development between IKO Real Estate and BPI Real Estate, CLE construction with the help of wood specialist Wood Shapers (also from the CFE group). The building is fully leased to Baloise, CLE and BPI and was sold at the end of 2022 to the Swiss investor ACRON.