Panattoni Europe has completed the investment for Pilkington Automotive Poland

Panattoni Europe, Poland's leader in the industrial property market, has completed works on one of the largest and most modern investments in the country. It involved the construction of a new manufacturing plant which will make innovative automotive glass for Pilkington Automotive Poland Sp. z o.o. The facility has been erected in Chmielów, at the Tarnobrzeg Special Economic Zone EURO-PARK WISŁOSAN, and it totals approx. 90,000 sqm, of which as much as three quarters were developed by Panattoni Europe. The opening ceremony took place on 12 October 2015.

The development of a modern automotive glass manufacturing plant of Pilkington Automotive Poland worth half a billion zlotys was planned for 2011-2015. It is the second Pilkington factory in Poland and it will make glass for the world's largest car manufacturers. The facility will also make glass products for trucks. Panattoni Europe was involved in several stages of the construction project and finally developed as much as three quarters of the 90,000 sqm facility. Apart from building the warehouse and manufacturing hall totalling 56,000 sqm, the company also acted as a general contractor, delivering a 10,000-square-metre manufacturing hall.

Works on the development of the 56,000-square-metre warehouse and manufacturing facility by Panattoni Europe were divided into two stages. Stage one took place back in 2012. The space of 35,000 sqm was delivered during that stage - the warehousing section of 16,700 sqm; the manufacturing hall, where automotive glass is to be made - 13,500 sqm; and offices arranged on 1,600 sqm. It was this stage that Marek Foryński, Managing Director of BTS Group, Panattoni Europe, regards as the hardest: "Two sections of a single facility were going up at the same time - one developed by Pilkington Automotive Poland itself and the other by Panattoni. Both had to dovetail together, and additionally the connecting point featured a fire wall which perfectly hugged the perimeter of the site". Stage two involved an extension of that hall by an additional ca. 21,000 sqm. In this case, the warehouse section took up approx. 15,000 sqm, the manufacturing section 5,000 sqm, and more than 1,000 sqm featured social and office space. This part of the investment was executed between February and September 2015.

As the general contractor, Panattoni Europe additionally built a manufacturing hall, which will house a production line making innovative automotive glass. The facility takes up approx. 10,000 sqm and construction works proceeded under quite extraordinary circumstances, as the manufacturing hall was built while the plant was operating at full capacity. Panattoni Europe was selected in a tendering procedure, and the works continued between September 2014 and March 2015. 

The factory of Pilkington Automotive Poland is now the most modern facility of its type in Poland and one of the most modern worlwide. It is equipped with innovative process lines for making windscreens, installing additional windscreen elements, for truck glass manufacturing and glass encapsulation. The final stage of the investment ended with the launch of a process line for manufacturing tempered side windows, including the line for installing additional elements onto laminated side windows and side windows with hydrophobic coating. Armed with the new technologies, Pilkington Automotive will be able to double its capacity in Poland. The investment into the construction of the Pilkington Automotive Poland plant has created a total of 1,100 new jobs for local inhabitants, e.g. from Tarnobrzeg, Chmielów and Nowa Dęba.

The Pilkington Automotive Poland plant in Chmielów is situated within the Tarnobrzeg Special Economic Zone EURO-PARK WISŁOSAN. The investment project was executed under the Innovative Economy Operational Programme, Measure 4.5 "Support for investments of vital importance for the economy", co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.