When did commercial warehouses become so aesthetically pleasing and aromatically inviting? Welcome to the solid wood herb warehouse of SONNENTOR Kräuterhandels GmbH in Sprögnitz, Lower Austria!

The leading international herb and spice specialist has changed how we think about industrial storage. Its 19-meter-high, 3 000 m² solid wood high-bay warehouse welcomes you with aromatic fragrances and is built with exposed natural wood.

SONNENTOR stores hundreds of herbs, spices and coffee beans from around the world. They work directly with around a thousand organic farmers and therefore require temperature-controlled, food-safe storage facilities. It was important for SONNENTOR that the environmental requirements for reducing climate-damaging CO₂ and transport emissions were also met in the construction of the new building to the highest possible standards.

Industrial storage systems of this size (SONNENTOR has over 8 500 storage spaces in the newly built high-bay warehouse) are usually built with steel frames, as they have to support the weight of the stored goods as well as the weight of the walls and roof. As well as the weight of the snow, and it can add up to a lot of weight. But here, BM-WERNER GmbH has created an impressive example of a cost-effective alternative made of solid wood.

The choice of Stora Enso's Sylva™ building material was obvious, as it is one of the most sustainable building products on the market today. Because Sylva is made of wood, it also has excellent thermal properties, making the building cool in summer and thermally insulating in the cold Austrian winter.

The 2 330 m² of cross-laminated timber (CLT) was manufactured just an hour's drive from SONNENTOR's warehouse in Ybbs an der Donau. The wood came from responsibly managed forests, and thanks to Stora Enso's highly efficient use of wood, not a single tree was wasted in the production of the CLT. Even the energy used to manufacture the CLTs was extremely low. '

Many contractors and builders are beginning to realize that engineered wood products such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) are twice as strong as steel and have a very low carbon footprint by comparison. As a result, more and more examples of the use of wood are being seen not only in smaller residential projects, but also in larger industrial projects like this one. Although the realization of an innovative solid wood project was new territory for the builders, the entire process was quick and straightforward thanks to the expertise and support of ZMP Holzbausysteme GmbH. Georg Fessl GmbH, a renowned construction company with carpentry operations from the region, also contributed to the success of the building project, which was planned by BM-WERNER GmbH. With this project, the company demonstrated the mass suitability of solid wood construction elements on an industrial scale and also showed that the switch to modern prefabricated products such as Sylva is worthwhile.

So if your next building project is a large industrial warehouse, you might want to consider building it with wood. For more ideas and inspiration, check out our range of prefabricated building concepts for industrial spaces: https://www.storaenso.com/en/products/mass-timber-construction/building-concepts/wooden-industrial-buildings