GROUND-BREAKING CEREMONY TAKES PLACE

STIHL GB held a groundbreaking ceremony last week to mark the first official day of construction of its new 11,500m2 purpose-designed headquarters and state-of-the-art warehouse facility in Camberley, Surrey.
 
Chairman of the executive board at STIHL AG, Michael Traub, STIHL GB managing director, Kay Green, Mayor of Surrey Heath, Councillor Helen Whitcroft, and managing director London and South at Glencar Construction, Roy Jones, attended the ceremony to turn the first soil and announce the official commencement of works on the site.
 
Due for completion in 2023, the site will be home to nearly 100 employees and will include dedicated dealer training facilities, an on-site restaurant, flexible collaborative workspaces and a technical workshop.
 
The company says the new 9,000m2 warehouse space will utilise the latest picking and storage system technology. All logistics will now be consolidated onto one site, which they say will mean a speedier and more efficient delivery service to the 700 strong STIHL dealer network.
 
Kay Green, managing director of STIHL GB, said, “The groundbreaking ceremony is the beginning of an exciting new chapter for STIHL GB and the result of a sustained period of growth in recent years. Our new purpose-built headquarters represents a significant capital investment and is a commitment to the future for our dealers and end user customers.”
 
The new HQ boasts environmental credentials including BREEAM Certification, the sustainability assessment method for building projects. In addition, it is proposed that two-thirds of the total roof area (1600m2) will be covered with photovoltaic solar panels to provide power to the new facility, as well as the installation of EV charging points.
 
The new headquarters will be connected to Blackwater railway station by a dedicated cycle path and will feature landscaped gardens with native shrubs and trees and a wildflower meadow, which forms part of an integrated flood risk mitigation zone on the former Thames Water Utilities site.
 
Three biodiversity offset planting schemes will be implemented in the local area, which will replace the greenery that has been removed during construction, as well as adding an additional 10% planting provision. All the planting has been carefully selected so that only native species are planted.