Cologne’s lesson in sustainable building with ECOPact and ECOCycle®

Student well-being, engagement and academic performance. We all want young people to fulfil their potential, and the positive influence well-designed school buildings have is immense. In Cologne, Germany, a modern new school is benefiting 1,000 students and revitalizing an old industrial neighborhood – with Holcim’s sustainable building solutions inside.

As the leading partner for sustainable construction for developer UBRE and ZÜBLIN, one of Germany’s largest construction companies, Holcim provided ECOPact and ECOCycle® for this pioneering project, helping reduce embodied carbon during construction and incorporating recycled construction demolition materials (CDM) in the concrete to make it circular.

With its sustainable building solutions and state-of-the-art technologies to ensure energy efficiency, Brügelmannstrasse Gymnasium is setting new standards in sustainability for educational environments, while addressing Cologne’s urgent need for more schools.

21,000 m³ of ECOPact and ECOCycle® inside

Construction-related CO₂ emissions reduced by at least 30%

Over 1,000 children learning in a state-of-the-art school

The vision

With Cologne - a city of one million inhabitants - in the grip of a schools shortage, city leaders needed to tackle this issue, while also facing the challenge of limited building capacity.

The city is commissioning private developers like Ulrich Beckmann Real Estate (UBRE) to build more schools to accommodate the city’s growing population. For Ulrich Beckmann, the founder of UBRE, sustainability in construction is of paramount importance.

“Our strategy is focused on developing buildings that meet the highest standards in terms of energy efficiency, resource conservation and environmental friendliness. We take a holistic approach that ranges from the selection of building materials to the use of renewable energies,” Ulrich says.

With the Brügelmannstrasse Gymnasium, Ulrich and his team set out to embrace sustainability at every level, including the sustainable building solutions chosen for the school.

Customer perspective

“We found a great partner in Holcim to bring to life what we envisioned. We can all be very happy that we achieved the high quality here that I hope to be able to provide in the long term.”

Beckmann, Founder of Beckmann Real Estate

The Solutions

UBRE worked with ZÜBLIN, one of Germany’s largest construction companies, and thanks to the latter’s commitment to sustainable construction and long-term relationship with Holcim, selected almost 21,000 m³ of ECOPact low-carbon concrete for the project, to reduce construction-related CO₂ emissions for the school and its gym building by at least 30%.

Going further, to close the material loop and advance circularity within the construction process, the ECOPact used in this project used ECOCycle®, Holcim’s circularity technology, to incorporate recycled CDM as aggregates into the concrete mix design.

Architect perspective

“We wanted to achieve the DGNB Platinum certification, and in this context, the topic of concrete came to the fore. With exposed concrete, the idea of working with recycled concrete came up and was implemented with the general contractor. And that's where Holcim came into play to offer the right product.”

Markus Krämer, Project Lead, heinlewischer architects

Did you know?
Holcim Germany used more than two million tons of secondary raw materials and fuels obtained from materials at the end of life in production during 2024.

The icon

Where a gravel parking lot once stood – bringing little value to the local community – there is now a first-class school that underpins the wider development of its industrial surroundings in Cologne’s Deutz district.

Brügelmannstrasse Gymnasium achieved the DGNB Platinum Standard, the German Sustainability Building Council’s highest environmental performance award, and Holcim’s ECOPact concrete contributed to this with its Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC) label.

Alongside the sustainable building solutions used in its construction, the school is equipped with state-of-the-art air conditioning technology, and a solar-power system that supplies renewable and cost-effective electricity. The building’s heat pump converts geothermal energy directly into heat, reducing the school’s energy requirements.