Panattoni has finalized an investment for Hermes Fulfilment in the Iłowa municipality

Panattoni has completed the construction of a logistics center for Hermes Fulfilment. This is the first investment built for the company in Poland, and at the same time one of the largest and most modern projects of this type in the Hermes group's portfolio.

- "The Lubusz Voivodeship, with its strategic location and growing infrastructure, is becoming an important hub for the e-commerce industry in Europe. Panattoni has already delivered over 730,000 sqm of space for its clients in this region, and has plans for over 100,000 sqm more. This is half of the volume of industrial space in this dynamically developing market. We are pleased that Hermes Fulfilment appreciated our work and chose us as a partner for the construction of its first center in Poland. This was a very demanding project and a building with a high degree of complexity. We are all the more grateful for the trust and for the exemplary cooperation" – comments Dorota Jagodzińska-Sasson, Managing Director at Panattoni.

The investment in Iłowa near Żagań covers 115,000 sqm of built-up area, but thanks to the use of multi-level mezzanines (4 levels), its actual area is almost 250,000 sqm. Ultimately, several thousand people will find work here, 60 percent of whom are expected to be women. The facility was put into operation at the turn of the first and second quarter of this year. 

- "The first logistics center in Poland is a turning point for our operations in Europe. It is one of the most modern and largest facilities in the Hermes Group's portfolio. The investment combines advanced technology with human talent, which translates into increased efficiency and work safety" – says Julia Hanebuth, Managing Director of Hermes Fulfilment for Central and Eastern Europe. The facility is equipped with, among other things, a highly automated sorting system (the so-called pouch sorter) and an automatic sorting plant for parcel segregation. Their foil packaging, production of shipping cartons with the company logo, and internal pallet transport have also been automated. In the future, robots are to support inspections of the facility from the outside and inside, and are also to support the process of unloading parcels.

The Hermes Fulfilment logistics center will be responsible for order picking for e-commerce companies of the Otto Group, for which the Hermes group is responsible for logistics. The Otto Group, a German family-owned company founded 75 years ago, is currently one of the largest integrated e-commerce companies in the world, present in over 30 countries.

Among the orders handled in Iłowa, the following will dominate: clothing, textiles, jewelry, toys, small household appliances, as well as small technology items such as mobile phones or tablets. Thanks to the optimized operating system, almost 80 million items can be dispatched from here annually, but the facility will be prepared to even double this number. Initially, the center will mainly serve Germany, while in the future it may also cover Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Italy.

Located just 20 km from the German border, the investment will undergo DGNB environmental certification at the Gold level. The facility is equipped with a photovoltaic installation with a capacity of 0.5 MWp, with the possibility of expansion by another 1.5 MWp. The share of renewable energy sources in the annual final energy demand reaches 27.3 percent – this is a very good result, which also allowed for a reduction in the annual EP demand indicator by over 24.2 percent (which more than doubles the taxonomic requirements in this regard). The facility is equipped with an advanced BMS system, which allows for the control of air handling units with recuperation or hall lighting.

The office space is finished to a high standard, and relaxation and creativity zones have been prepared for employees, and amenities for people with disabilities have been introduced. Parking spaces for approx. 100 bicycles and infrastructure for electric cars – 22 charging points – have also been provided.