Endress+Hauser to build new net zero facility in Ontario

July 25, 2019 – Endress+Hauser Canada plans to build a $28 million new facility in Ontario that will emphasize sustainability, aim for LEED Gold status and showcase the company’s product offering.

The additional location will be located 400 metres from the company’s current building in Burlington, Ontario. The new two-storey facility, set to be around 47,000 square feet, endeavours to achieve the LEED Gold certification standard and to function on a net zero carbon and net zero energy basis.

“Our goal is to create an exceptional facility in all respects that will not only be sustainable on the day it opens, but will still be considered as such decades from now,” says Anthony Varga, CEO and general manager for Endress+Hauser Canada Ltd. 

The current 27,000-square-foot headquarters is primarily an administration building, with few customer services except for one classroom used for training purposes. The new facility, planned for occupancy in the fall of 2020, will be a “Customer Experience Centre” featuring the company’s second process training unit (PTU) in Canada, as well as other customer features such as a calibration laboratory, an expanded workshop and a large training centre.

The PTU concept, featured in Endress+Hauser facilities globally and most recently in Edmonton, Alberta, is essentially a full-sized pilot plant with a wide range of Endress+Hauser instrumentation installed.

“All of our customers and partners will be able to come in and simulate process conditions that they would find in their own plants,” says Varga. “They can try out various products in real-world conditions to gain confidence in performance once installed at their own sites. That, in turn, will help them make proper instrumentation choices.” 

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Endress+Hauser is a supplier of measurement instrumentation, services and solutions for the process sector. Almost doubling the size of the current facility reflects the company’s continuing strong growth in the Canadian market, says Varga, stating that the company, locally and globally, operates on the philosophy that enhancing the customer experience is a key differentiator.

For employees, the new headquarters will feature two cafes, a fully equipped health and fitness room, a wellness room for private time, as well as a multi-faith prayer room. There will be an atrium with a live full-sized tree for both aesthetic enhancement and oxygenation, and an outdoor terrace for employees and guests to enjoy.

The company says one of the benefits of building a second location so close to the first is that there is no disruption for employees and no additional emissions resulting from changed commuting patterns.

The building will be effectively off the hydro grid. Plans to achieve net zero energy and emissions include using a reflective roof with double-sided solar panels to generate electricity during the day. At night, most electrically powered systems, such as video monitors, will be turned off rather than drawing even standby power and the building environment will be maintained by heat pumps supplemented by a geothermal system.

Throughout the facility, Endress+Hauser products will be used – and showcased – as part of the building’s environmental control and monitoring systems. “We can measure any of the liquids flowing into and within the building, effluents or outputs in real time and perform oxygen and environment analysis,” says Varga. “The entire facility will be a living showcase of the technology and solutions we offer our customers.”