Head office of SachsenEnergie AG, Dresden, Germany

The new building for the largest energy supplier in eastern Germany was also a project of superlatives for Uponor: more than 14,500 Uponor Thermatop M modules for ceiling heating and cooling and more than 26,000 m of Uni Pipe PLUS pipes were installed on 13 floors.

Modern mega-new building completed on time: SachsenEnergie moves into new company headquarters": these and similar headlines accompanied the completion of the latest high-rise building in Dresden in mid-2022. SachsenEnergie AG was created in 2021 through the merger of DREWAG Stadtwerke Dresden GmbH and ENSO Energie Sachsen Ost AG. Its new company building is the symbol of this merger and marks the strength of the new group of companies, which is now the largest energy supplier in eastern Germany. SachsenEnergie has invested a total of around 74 million euros in the new building. 

One headquarter for all employees 

The office complex - designed by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners - was built as a perimeter block structure and has two towers, the southern one of which is 51 meters high and has a total of 13 floors. The reinforced concrete structure was fitted with a metal and glass façade. The employees now have more than 900 modern workplaces on almost 18,000 square meters at their disposal. Over the next few years, the energy supplier's existing building, the CITY CENTER, will also be completely renovated. In 2024, the two buildings are to be connected so that all employees will be united in the same complex in future.  

Aiming for gold status in terms of sustainability 

From the SachsenEnergie Center, employees work every day to ensure a future-proof infrastructure and a sustainably secure supply for the entire region. It is therefore only natural that the new building should also meet very high standards of energy efficiency and sustainability: the SachsenEnergie Center has applied for gold certification from the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). 

The client SachsenEnergie will of course provide district heating and cooling itself.    

Heating and cooling in one 

The distribution of heating and cooling energy is also modern and efficient - with Uponor Thermatop M ceiling heating and cooling. The ceiling system can both heat and cool and is so efficient that additional wall heating is only required in individual rooms. It is also easy to install because the heating and drywall construction areas are clearly separated.A sample room was built on site to clarify all the details of the interface with the drywall construction, for example, and only then was the system installed on all floors. 

Five module variants 

Uponor Thermatop M makes it easy to create architecturally sophisticated, seamless and directionless heating and cooling ceilings. The system comprises five standard module lengths from 95 to 255 cm, which can be combined with each other to make optimum use of the space available according to the ceiling surface "As a rule, around 70 percent of the ceiling is covered with our modules, leaving enough space for recesses, such as for lamps or sprinklers," explains Hannes Klaves from Uponor's Technical Sales department, who oversaw the entire project. 

A total of 14,500 Thermatop M modules were installed over an area of 18,000 square meters. In addition, 26,000 m of Uni Pipe PLUS multilayer composite pipes with a diameter of 16 to 25 mm were used to connect the modules to the manifolds. As with many projects, Uponor also worked closely with Knauf on this high-rise building: It supplied the plasterboard panels, which the drywall contractor used to construct the suspended ceiling.  

Rapid construction progress

The entire project progressed very quickly despite the pandemic. The foundation stone was laid in May 2020, the topping-out ceremony in July 2021 and the opening just one year later.Installation planning for the ceiling heating and cooling began in March 2021, and all modules were installed by December 2021. Uponor Thermatop M now ensures comfortable temperatures in the SachsenEnergie Center.