Data centres are at the heart of any bank and by their very nature and size account for a large proportion of its total energy consumption.

UniCredit Bank AG has launched a particularly interesting infrastructure project for cooling its data centre at Tucherpark in Munich. Originally envisaged as a backup for the conventional cooling system, the cooling system using water from the nearby ‘Eisbach’ stream is now set to be the environmentally friendly primary source of cooling. The conventional cooling system used to date will only remain for redundancy as a backup to the new environmentally friendly cooling system, if the stream is drained for cleaning or the water temperature falls below 10°C.

This resulted in higher operational reliability combined with sustainable cooling and considerable energy savings.

Facts & Figures

Energy savings: 2,320,000 kWh/year of electricity (for cooling machines, cooling towers etc.)

Estimated reduction in CO2 emissions: 1,385 tons/year (Source: SWM GmbH 597g/Kwh)

Green Building

A building is designated a ‘Green Building’ if its resource efficiency in terms of energy, water and materials is increased while simultaneously reducing the negative effects on health and the environment, for example by paying special attention to resource conservation in the planning and renovation of such structures.

The certification makes it possible to quantify the building’s ecological potential.

Energy-efficient renovation of the VTO North building façade in Tucherpark, Munich

The floor-by-floor renovation of the façade of the VTO North building at the Tucherpark site fulfilled its energy requirements and design specifications in such an exemplary manner that the city of Munich gave us an honourable mention in the ‘Competition on Construction and Renovation in a Historic Setting’ category of its Attractive Cityscape Awards (Preis für Stadtbildpflege). The building is part of the listed complex by architect Sep Ruf, who is also known for the Chancellor’s Bungalow in Bonn, the EXPO in Brussels, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. The façade dates from the building’s original construction in 1974.

The new façade incorporates state-of-the-art technology and has improved the building’s thermal properties, for optimised energy consumption.

The renovation led to the following achievements:

• Approx. 80% improvement in the façade’s thermal properties (Use of triple glazing with UV protection, doubling of curtain wall mullions/panels and replacement of exterior sun protection)
• Approx. 30% savings on heating energy
• Approx. 20% savings on cooling energyIncrease in users’ ‘thermal comfort’ (reduction of chilliness and drafts in the glazed area)