Advancing Decarbonization

Build & Operate

Sustainability is a central component of our corporate strategy. Implenia combines clear objectives with strong partnerships and adheres to the highest standards in building and civil engineering. We develop innovative solutions, promote biodiversity, reduce resource consumption, and drive decarbonisation forward. Together with Wincasa and other partners, we are shaping a future‑proof construction and real estate industry – ecologically, socially, and economically.

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Sustainable Property Management Building with timber Innovative solutions Research and pilot projects Project measures implemented

SUSTAINABLE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Wincasa, Switzerland's leading real estate service provider, has been part of the Implenia Group since 2023. Wincasa’s business activities are focused on real estate management. The company also supports its customers with a wide range of services for all phases of a property's life. Sustainability is a key priority.

Sustainable property management begins with the careful collection of key data on all three dimensions of sustainability (environment, social, economic) using professional data management tools. In collaboration with a partner company, Wincasa has developed a practical platform that integrates all the relevant steps, from initial data acquisition and plausibility checks, to energy data reporting. This allows the creation of CO2 reduction pathways, on the basis of which sustainability measures are developed and integrated into strategic investment planning. 

Various owners are currently implementing targeted biodiversity measures in their properties. In response, Wincasa, when tendering for and renegotiating strategic facility management (FM) contracts, has now added biodiversity aspects to the existing guidelines for sustainable operations. 

The Real Estate Consulting team supports owners in the sustainable optimisation of their properties. Its experts use standardised building surveys and status analyses to identify potential improvements and propose targeted measures to help reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. 

A lot of modern property owners are keen to promote social as well as environmental and economic sustainability. Through its Real Estate Community Management and Settlement Coaching units, Wincasa helps them integrate sustainability issues into shared housing arrangements. Real Estate Community Management promotes neighbourliness on mixed-use sites, while settlement coaches encourage social interactions between residents. The “Tenant Engagement” team serves as an interface between the owner and tenant, and facilitates the concrete implementation of sustainability goals in the daily lives of tenants.

Building with timber

In recent years, Implenia has systematically developed its extensive expertise in sustainable techniques and materials. This applies to timber construction in particular. Thanks to new building methods and its low grey energy content, wood has been enjoying a renaissance as a natural and renewable construction material for some years now. Having planned and executed many projects, Implenia is one of the leading players in the timber construction sector in Switzerland (read more).

At Implenia, timber construction is characterised by seamless collaboration between engineering and project execution units based on coordinated processes. Clients appreciate this integrated approach as it enables the engineering team to make early optimisations during the development phase – which is crucial when executing sustainable projects. In the projects it develops itself, Implenia only uses wood and wooden materials that carry an FSC, PEFC or equivalent label.

Buildings made of wood generate much lower greenhouse gas emissions than buildings made of concrete or brick, especially if the wood comes from the local region. Wood is also very well suited for the prefabrication of building elements. The advantage of modular construction is that these elements can be used flexibly and are easy to replace or dismantle. Implenia runs a production facility in Rümlang, Canton Zurich to help meet the growing demand for wooden construction elements.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

Digitalisation and technological progress are profoundly changing the construction and real estate industry. Implenia leverages this transformation not only to increase productivity and quality, but also to make its activities and products more sustainable. For example, Implenia develops new business models and standardises processes that conserve resources and support the circular economy. The company also validates new technologies at an early stage to develop environmentally compatible solutions. To achieve these objectives, Implenia strengthens the entrepreneurial mindset of its employees and selectively draws on external expertise and ideas from third parties such as business partners, research institutions and customers. The following overview provides insight into selected examples that contribute to the reduction of CO₂ emissions.These activities are coordinated by Implenia’s Group-wide Innovation Hub. Innovative offerings and products have been developed and tested in all Implenia Divisions. The following overview provides an insight into selected examples.

Research and pilot projects

«Beyond.Zero»

NEST is the modular research and innovation building run by two Swiss research institutes, Empa and Eawag, in Dübendorf, close to Zurich. More than 150 academic, business and public sector partners work together closely at NEST. 

NEST’s “Beyond Zero” unit tests low CO2 and CO2-negative innovations in the building sector, and highlights how buildings can act as carbon sinks. Novel building materials developed by Empa, such as carbon-binding concrete and insulation, are installed and tested. Implenia supports the project as a realisation partner.

Read more

Wood composite flat ceiling

Implenia has worked with WaltGalmarini AG and ETH Zurich to develop an innovative wood-composite flat ceiling. This combines materials with different properties to create a high-performance ceiling system. The wood composite slabs do the same job as traditional concrete slabs or solid/composite timber solutions, but with a significantly lower environmental impact.

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Smart construction site containers

As temporary structures, the containers on construction sites tend to lose a lot of heat and energy. A pilot project by Implenia Germany showed how optimised technology has the potential to improve this situation: a combination of motion sensor lights, on-demand heating controls and automatic shading reduced energy consumption by 30 to 50 percent. Implenia is showing that targeted improvements can be made even to temporary infrastructure.

Project Measures Implemented

Conveyor belt at the Mont Cenis base tunnel

Implenia is helping build a 57.5-kilometre tunnel for the new high-speed railway line between Lyon and Turin. A conveyor belt was installed at the start of 2024 to take the large quantities of excavated material away from the tunnel portal. This has greatly reduced the need for transportation by truck, leading to lower CO2 emissions as well as lower environmental impacts from dust, noise and the water consumption required for road cleaning. Another advantage of the conveyor belt is that the excavated material can be processed on site by a crusher and reused.

Hybrid reinforcement in the new Gotthard tunnel

While building the second road tunnel through the Gotthard, Implenia is implementing an innovative solution that saves around 9,200 tonnes of CO₂. Instead of pure steel, a hybrid material made of bar steel and fibres is used to reinforce the tubbing segments. This reduces steel consumption from 115 to 62 kilograms per cubic metre, which saves around 9,000 tonnes of CO₂ in steel production alone. The hybrid technique also increases the quality and service life of the segments and reduces overall costs. Further CO₂ reductions result from shorter construction times, optimised transport processes and lower processing costs.

Optimised processes in a noise abatement project

Implenia was responsible for technical management of the noise abatement system for Deutsche Bahn along the railway line from Homburg (Saar) to Ludwigshafen (Rhine). It also made a critical examination of the proposed construction concept during the preparation phase. The concept was significantly optimised as a result of additional analyses, structural planning investigations and subsoil excavations.

These modifications reduced construction costs and saved 420 tonnes of CO₂. This was made possible by optimised construction processes, which removed the need for three excavators – accounting for a total of 810 operating hours. The volume of excavated material was reduced, as was concrete and steel consumption.

Drill and blast with sustainable explosives

Implenia is using Hypex-Bio for the first time in Switzerland at the tunnel construction site in Ligerz, where the SBB’s Lausanne–Biel railway line is being expanded to two tracks. Hypex-Bio is nitrogen-free and is seen as an effective solution for future blasting operations. Its main advantage is that it leaves none of the nitrogen-containing residues that can contaminate excavated material and site wastewater. This new explosive improves the project’s environmental impact, while setting new standards for sustainable underground construction work.

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Fully electric wheel loader for tunnel construction

©Volvo

At its construction site for the Marienhof station on Munich’s new S-Bahn mainline, Implenia has become the first company in Europe to use a fully electric wheel loader. The zero-emission Volvo machine is needed because the compressed air used in the tunnelling process means that diesel-powered vehicles would be too dangerous. With a runtime of up to eight hours per shift, the wheel loader takes excavated material from the tunnel face to the transport trucks.

As well as cutting direct emissions on the construction site, the machine also exposes construction site personnel to less noise. Implenia’s experience with the new wheel loader will be very valuable for future low-emission construction sites.

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Reusing building materials

In 2024, Implenia’s civil engineering unit tested a materials exchange system in German-speaking Switzerland in an attempt to reduce waste. The resulting ReUse app was introduced in 2025. It allows all Implenia employees to access an internal marketplace for used materials: they can post ads, search for anything from paving stones to precast concrete elements to shaft components, and they can save their search profiles.

More climate-friendly yards

Implenia runs 18 large yards across Europe. These are mainly used as maintenance and storage facilities, but also house office space. The yard halls and buildings, which are often very large, consume considerable amounts of heat and electricity. 

Each yard always looks to implement its own specific energy-efficiency measures. In 2024, for example, yards in Germany converted some of their lighting to LEDs, set up charging points for electric vehicles, procured electric tools and machinery, and installed photovoltaic modules on their portable cabins.

Project-specific CO2 minimisation

Implenia Sweden was not satisfied with isolated measures to reduce greenhouse gases. By implementing an overarching strategy, it was able to reduce emissions from two large projects by up to 47 percent.

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