Panattoni, the leading European industrial real estate developer, has developed a BTS manufacturing facility for Phoenix Contact E-Mobility in Rzeszów. The facility has been built on time thanks to the great support from local authorities of Rzeszów. Ultra-modern charging systems for electric vehicles will be manufactured and tested at the 15,000 sq. m facility, and the production plant will supply them to global companies and operators of the electro-mobility equipment & infrastructure. The products of Phoenix Contact E-Mobility include cutting edge High Power Charging devices, designed for rapid and safe charging of electric cars. The newly completed plant will also include research and development department for new products and technologies.
Working with a common goal. Panattoni has completed the manufacturing plant, designed for AC and DC charging systems, located in the Rzeszów-Dworzysko Science and Technology Park in a record time. Although the construction started with more than a month delay, the development took only five months – a record time. Thanks to that, Panattoni handed over the plant to Phoenix Contact E-Mobility on schedule, i.e. on December 21st last year.
Marek Foryński, the BTS Managing Director of Panattoni, admits, it was not an easy task: “Due to the pandemic, the investment preparation stage was severely challenged. Execution of this type of projects requires obtaining a number of permits, which is time consuming even without pandemic situation. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, forced local councils to operate in “closed office” mode while many of their employees were on sick leave due to the virus. Nevertheless, the project was successfully completed – mainly thanks to the support of Rzeszów city council and its individual departments, including the department of architecture, who were committed to the investment from its very outset and showed us a great deal of understanding. This was especially crucial during the work because several changes were made to the project, which then required each of the necessary permits to be individually processed.”
“Maintaining such a disciplined approach to the work on the project would not have been possible without a participation of Phoenix Contact representatives, who also showed partnership approach and understanding to the complexity of the process. They were very actively involved in all aspects of the project preparation and execution, responding to and supporting Panattoni in the process whenever this was needed,” explains Michał Chodecki, Panattoni’s BTS Development Director, responsible for the project.
These joint efforts resulted in a record short time, not only in plant construction but also in completion of all the electrical, heating, water, rainwater and sanitary connections, as well as two access roads. All of this required close cooperation with the local fire brigade, water and energy suppliers, construction supervision and work inspection bodies and finally, the state health and safety executives, who were parallelly engaged in the fight against Covid-19.
Józef Jodłowski, the Director of Rzeszów city council, has commented on Panattoni’s project for Phoenix Contact E-Mobility: “We have immense appreciation for every investor who comes to our city. Thanks to them, our local region develops faster and new investments take place. We are especially happy that this time Rzeszów has attracted a major producer and supplier of devices for the electro-mobility industry.”
The new Phoenix Contact E-Mobility plant has opened as the response to a growing demand from global electro-mobility players. Christoph Paetzold, Project Manager for the new plant in Rzeszów said: "We are very pleased that we were able to complete the building in Rzeszów in this record time thanks to the good cooperation with Panattoni and the local authorities. We were able to start operations at our plant in the last days of 2020 and the team has already produced the first AC charging cables. We are preparing to install more equipment and hire new employees in the coming weeks. Thanks to its convenient location in the Dworzysko Science and Technology Park, with its well-developed infrastructure, our plant will become an important site within the Phoenix Contact e-mobility production network. In parallel, however, further investments are also take place at the headquarters in Germany to expand production capacities.”
The plant has a total area of 15,000 sq. m, of which 14,000 sq. m is production and warehouse space, while office space is located in the remaining 1,000 sq. m. In line with Panattoni’s sustainable development strategy, the building is environmentally friendly and received BREEAM certification at the “Very Good” level.
The factory Panattoni has built for Phoenix Contact E-Mobility is located in the Rzeszów-Dworzysko Science and Technology Park, on an investment site prepared and fitted by Rzeszów city council. It is located by the S19 expressway, a part of the Via Carpathia route, that will eventually connect Klaipėda in Lithuania with Thessaloniki in Greece. The A4 motorway, which runs between the German and Ukrainian borders, is also nearby. Rzeszów Airport is just 15-minute drive away.
