Wilo Group has opened its new headquarters and fully climate neutral factory in Dortmund.
With its UK headquarters located in Burton, Staffordshire, Wilo’s UK arm produces around 2,000 pumps for the UK market a year and is ensuring sustainability is at the core of its approach.
Lee Tebbatt, managing director of Wilo UK, said: “Sustainability is something we take incredibly seriously across all of our day-to-day practices and it’s a key driver for us at Wilo. Public concern over the environment is at a record high in the UK and there is a rise in similar concern across Europe.
“Wilopark represents a huge milestone and for us and, as a climate protection company, implementing a comprehensive sustainability concept from the outset was really important. We are proud of the fact that climate-neutral production is already taking place at Wilopark and want this to be standard practice at all of the main Wilo production sites by 2025.
“The UK is the first major nation to formally back a pledge to cut carbon emissions to practically zero by 2050 and at Wilo we are facing this challenge head on. Corporate ‘greenwashing’ is a huge issue and many companies throw around the word ‘sustainability’ to appear more environmentally friendly. At Wilo, it truly is at the core of our ethos, which is why we have developed an explicit focus on sustainability.
“As a company, our goal is to supply more people with clean water whilst at the same time reducing our carbon footprint and continuing to drive smart product innovation. Climate change is something we are striving to constantly educate ourselves and our customers on, evolve our product range and provide knowledge and sustainable solutions here in the UK.”
Wilopark represents an essential milestone in the 150-year history of the company. With an investment volume of around 300 million euros, the redesign of Wilo’s headquarters represents the largest project in the company’s history, it said, and one of the largest industrial construction projects ever undertaken in the area.
To celebrate the official opening, Wilo Group invited employees and over 1,500 high-ranking international guests from the world of business and politics, including Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, to join a digital event.