Green and Lean

Sustainable building
Climate protection through smart processes

Bild zeigt eine Pfahlgründung bei Stemwede.
© PORR

PORR pursues ambitious and clear goals in the area of sustainability and is gradually increasing the associated transparency. The basis for this is our comprehensive "Green and Lean" strategy, which is based on the three-pillar model of sustainability and takes all economic, environmental and social aspects into account. At PORR, these three central areas of sustainability are summarised under the term ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance).

Our focus is on active energy and emissions management, as well as resource-conserving and circular construction. In special civil engineering, we can make a significant contribution to sustainability in the construction industry throughlow-CO2 processes and numerous other measures. With our constantly evolving technologies, we contribute to mitigating the negative consequences of climate change and take current environmental issues into account in all our decisions. We work with you to develop sustainable solutions and assume ecological and economic responsibility.

Conserving resources starts in the planning phase

Sustainable planning is crucial for a significant improvement in theCO2 footprint during construction. In the later phase of construction pits and foundation work, we can only influence 5% of the causes of theCO2 footprint. Planning and preparation are therefore of the utmost importance.

We support you as early as the planning phase in selecting the optimum methods for the efficient use of construction materials and technology. As a full-service provider in special civil engineering, we select the method with the bestCO2 footprint from all the methods suitable for the construction project.

Brochure
Sustainability in special civil engineering

What you can expect in this brochure:

  • Sustainable planning improves CO2 footprint
  • Environmentally-friendly products and processes
  • Optimised processes: Benefits thanks to Lean
  • Resource-saving production
  • More transparency: monitoring and documentation
  • Certifications: Additional quality assurance

Sustainable applications

A particularly sustainable method that does not require the use of cement is the vibration tamping method. By using natural and locally available materials such as gravel and crushed stone, this subsoil improvement method is particularly environmentally friendly.

In the soil mixing process, the native soil is mixed with a binder suspension. This significantly improves the mechanical and physical properties of the soil. The overlapping columns create a continuous soil mixing wall that can be used for cut-off walls or excavation pit stabilisation.


In addition to the horizontal sealing function, the soil mixing wall can also perform static functions.

To prevent pollutants from contaminated soils entering the groundwater, we can secure them using jet grouting with overlapping DSV columns. DSV sealing blocks bind the pollutants and thus protect the groundwater in the long term. The stabilised soil can later be extracted, fed into soil treatment plants or disposed of professionally.

Sealing slabs are used to seal the surface of excavation floors against vertically rising groundwater. The soft gel injection base is a particularly environmentally-friendly process that we manufacture economically, safely and with an excellent CO2 footprint. Our environmentally neutral bio-soft gel is one of three soft gels with general type approval from the German Institute for Building Technology (DIBt).

Recycled building elements pay off for you. Instead of extracting soil, the soil mixing method uses the existing soil. Using a leader-guided mixing paddle, we mix the soil with a comparatively small amount of cement suspension to create an earth concrete body. To realise shoring walls with low deformations, load-bearing elements are placed in the fresh earth concrete body.

If you need a pile foundation anyway, the additional costs for near-surface geothermal energy are low. We will be happy to consult you on the planning of energy piles. This allows you to heat in winter and cool in summer.

Shallow geothermal energy in combination with modern heat pumps offers a cost-effective, low-maintenance and virtually emission-free energy supply, in addition to the use of locally available resources such as heat and cooling. Besides being permanently available, it can be realised at almost any location.


With deep drilling of up to 400 m, the existing natural geothermal potential on your property is used particularly efficiently. In this way, we are making an active contribution to the decarbonisation of energy supply.

With our slender Displacement piles - Greenpile - such as the Frankipile NG® or the atlas pile, we save a considerable amount of concrete compared to alternative pile systems. The efficient use of materials conserves resources. In addition, the soil displacement means that no drilling material is produced. This means that no additional transport or external utilisation is required. Conclusion: You save costs, reduce emissions and relieve the burden on neighbouring construction sites. All of this also increases your project's eligibility for approval.

We replace contaminated soil with uncontaminated soil using overlapped, cased large boreholes. The drill heads for the replacement boreholes have a diameter of up to 2 metres. The excavated material is then fed into soil treatment plants.

DGNB

Sustainable construction site special civil engineering
Sustainability certificate.

We support you right from the start if you are aiming for a sustainability certificate for your construction site. PORR Special Civil Engineering has been awarded the DGNB basic certificate ‘Sustainable Construction Site Special Civil Engineering’. Our sustainable standard construction processes already cover essential standards from the DGNB requirements catalogue for sustainable construction and serve as the basis for the certification of future PORR construction sites.

On request, we can manage your construction site in an environmentally friendly manner and with DGNB certification. The DGNB certificate offers you benefits for subsequent building certification and contributes to sustainable construction. External certification confirms our quality through neutral verification by a third party and gives you security.

Grafik Nachhaltigkeit im Spezialtiefbau

Example from practice
for the foundations of a silo

The cost savings andCO2 savings from foundation optimisation can be enormous, as the following project example illustrates. For the foundation of a silo in Wilhelmshaven with a total load of around 680 MN, we were able to convince the client to opt for deep foundations on Frankipile NG® piles. We can also plan your excavation project economically and ecologically from the ground up or optimise it accordingly - for example by replacing classic jet grouting with soft gel injection grouting with bio-soft gel, without the use of cement.

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