Stories

Implenia thought long and hard about how to provide employees at its new head office with a really pleasant and healthy working environment. The meticulously designed interior of the building has – for the first time in Switzerland – earned the highest certification under the international WELL standard.

As part of an internal innovation campaign, Implenia employees developed numerous creative sustainability ideas. At the end of 2021, a jury selected three particularly promising proposals. These are now being thoroughly tested in pilot projects.

Implenia Sweden and its client have been rated as “excellent” by an external sustainability agency for their “Londonviadukten” metro tunnel project. It’s a far higher rating than expected.

The construction and real estate industry moves a lot of material around, so circular economies can have a particularly big impact in the sector. Implenia began exploring the great potential of the circular approach some years ago, launching a whole series of pilot projects. Seeking to maintain progress down this path, the company agreed with respected certification agency SQS to test the new circular economy assessment scheme “Circular Globe”.

Implenia Sweden is testing a new technology designed to clean the waste water produced on construction sites more effectively. The clever part is that the key substance used to remove pollutants is a simple by-product of food production.

Implenia Sweden has recently started using DissOil, a sustainable absorbent material, to clean up oil and fuel spills on construction sites. Based on natural cork, this innovative method quickly sorts out critical situations and prevents environmental damage.

Recycling is all the rage of course, but when it’s not just individual materials and components but an entire major structure being repurposed, that’s something special. Implenia has done precisely this, working with partner companies to dismantle an old bridge in Norway and rebuild it in another part of the country.

Implenia has set ambitious waste and recycling goals for 2025. It is making a huge effort to avoid construction waste and to reuse and recycle materials in a circular economy. Two examples show that Implenia is heading in the right direction.

Implenia is involved in several projects aimed at reducing electronic waste. As well as helping to conserve precious resources, two examples from Sweden and Germany demonstrate that these can also have a social benefit.

Implenia’s modernised and expanded Trois Ponts surfacing plant in Ecublens is a great example of a circular economy in practice. As well as saving valuable raw materials, the plant creates less air pollution than any comparable facility in Switzerland.

Two interns have put our depots in Western Switzerland and the Upper Valais under the eco-microscope. Using a practice-based approach, they have injected new momentum into sustainability work at several Implenia sites.

André Wyss talks to Schweizer Illustrierte about sustainability topics that affect him as the CEO of Implenia and personally.

Implenia has come up with a novel idea for improving the sorting of recyclable materials on its construction site for a new coastal highway in Norway. And now almost all construction waste ends up in the correct container.

The twin eight-kilometre tunnel bores between Stuttgart and Ulm set a standard for climate-friendly mobility. The project’s own sustainability report documents the successes achieved on the construction site.

Implenia is sending its own experts to help build a unique school project in Cambodia.

The World Council of Churches has called its construction project “Green Village” for good reason: Implenia is carrying out the redevelopment in Geneva in accordance with comprehensive sustainability principles.

Implenia is encouraging its employees to try new ways of doing things, and is giving them the tools and resources to do so. A “Kickbox” process is helping innovators take their ideas through to implementation.

At Implenia, climate protection is a matter for top management: CEO André Wyss is taking part in the CEO4Climate initiative, calling on politicians for ambitious climate protection measures and binding rules.

The principles of Lean Construction are proving their worth in the Modernisation business. A new online planning tool is helping Implenia avoid empty runs on its construction sites. The team around Caroline Beyerle, Roland Bamert and Henning Puhl is running a pilot project in Zurich.

In Basel, Implenia has trialled an exoskeleton designed to help with strenuous work above shoulder height. The trial produced mixed results.

Implenia is developing and building a whole new neighbourhood in the middle of Winterthur: Lokstadt. The city’s first 2000-Watt site will provide a wide variety of housing for 1,500 people.

In western Switzerland, Implenia has created a central service for waste water treatment on its construction sites. As well as being better for the environment, it’s cheaper.

Implenia is developing a sustainable office project for international organisations in Geneva. The site won’t just look green, but will provide tenants with an environmentally friendly power supply.

Implenia is committed to gender equality. With the “Advance” coaching programme, the company wants to increase the percentage of women in its workforce – and particularly in managerial roles.

Implenia is running a model building site in the Norwegian capital completely free from fossil fuels. The experience gained has been positive.

A complete overhaul or just the bare minimum required? Implenia helps the owners of residential property in need of renovation make a smart decision.

In summer 2018, Implenia apprentices in the canton of Grisons helped to restore large parts of one of the longest dry-stone walls in the Alps. It proved a truly unique experience during their week-long community project.

Implenia is building the Andreasturm tower for Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in Zurich-Oerlikon. The 21-storey building is a pilot project for our internal environmental concept for construction sites and is certified under the highest German sustainability standard: “DGNB Platinum”.

Around 60 people met for a Group-wide sustainability workshop at the start of 2017. They worked through more than 40 suggestions for strengthening sustainability in the company.

There is fierce competition within the construction sector for the best specialists. In this tough environment, Implenia Deutschland needs to show how attractive it is as an employer, which is why it attended 17 job fairs and staged numerous public events in 2017.

Nine Implenia apprentices plan and build a driveway in preparation for their final examination.

In 2017, Implenia developed a web-based safety training programme to help protect its own employees and subcontracted workers from accidents. The pilot project was very well received.

Implenia had to master some unusual logistical challenges when it built the world’s steepest funicular railway. In spite of the exposed location, no accidents occurred.

Implenia is making jobs involving tunnel-boring machines safer. Right from the time the machines are assembled, measures are taken to reduce the risk of accidents.

Implenia Sverige conducted its first Safety Week for staff in 2017. The centrepiece was an emergency drill conducted together with the fire department at the Johannelund construction site near Stockholm.

In a successful pilot project, Implenia conducted a detailed analysis of electricity consumption and energy-saving potential at its Mannheim depot. The first measures taken are reducing energy costs by 13,000 euros a year.

Implenia is testing out the construction site of the future at its Pont-Rouge project. A whole series of new approaches designed to make construction more efficient are being given a thorough workout in Geneva.

Implenia is piloting its new sustainability concept, “Chantier Marguerite” at the construction site for a new United Nations office building. Refugees have been hired to work on site for the first time.

Implenia is building two tunnel sections for Stockholm’s new city bypass. Work started in autumn 2016. Because the route goes through a sensitive lakeland area, Implenia Sverige has had to implement complex environmental measures.

Environmental officers were confronted by a small mystery story at an Implenia construction site near Geneva in summer 2017. Luckily, there was a happy ending.

In Sweden, Implenia is giving students, refugees and unemployed people opportunities to join the labour market – and is recruiting talented staff in the process.

By submitting a flood of creative daisy photos, employees in the five home markets raised around 120,000 francs for social projects.

The “Krokodil”, a timber building currently under construction by Implenia in Winterthur, is the first project to use a three-dimensional data model throughout the whole process, from the architectural competition to execution planning.