How the communication for the construction of the sustainable company headquarters contributes to the UmweltBank brand
UmweltBank AG is a real Nuremberg original: Since 1997, Germany's green bank has been combining economy and ecology. UmweltBank is building its new headquarters with office and commercial space on Nuremberg's Nordwestring: the UmweltHaus. It is also planning a sustainable urban city quarter on the surrounding area. Kaltwasser Kommunikation is making the lighthouse project visible to the public: through target-oriented press and media work with placements in specialist media and consumer media as well as through proactive stakeholder communication and the maintenance of a network of local and national multipliers.
Since 2021, we have been developing and accompanying the press and public relations work as well as stakeholder communication for UmweltBank AG's sustainable building projects UmweltHaus and UmweltQuartier in Nuremberg. While the city quarter is still in the planning phase, construction work on the UmweltHaus is already well advanced. The new company headquarter is not a ‘prestige object’, but a project with a model character for sustainable construction, which is intended to contribute to UmweltBank's image with nationwide visibility.
In order to achieve this goal, our aim is to tell (and first discover!) the multiple stories behind the project. To do so, we developed a comprehensive communication strategy together with the corporate communications department of UmweltBank at the start of the project and implemented it consistently to achieve the following goals:
Based on the strategic goals and identity of UmweltBank, the focus here is on a transparent, proactive and integrative information policy in order to involve and include all relevant internal and external stakeholders at an early stage.
Agency services:
Press dates with various project participants
Regular stakeholder information and communication based on a dedicated participation schedule
Event organisation and conception (groundbreaking, topping-out ceremony)
Writing speeches, background and briefing documents for board members and project participants
Documentation on wood construction and tree transplantation incl. moving image accompaniment
Preparation of various owned media content (project website, social media, brochures)
Internal strategy/conceptual workshops
Ongoing issue and topic monitoring
For UmweltHaus, project communication automatically means sustainability communication - after all, ecologically responsible behaviour is an integral part of the green bank's brand essence. At the same time, this is the communicative challenge of the project: we have repeatedly broken down a large number of complex topics to an understandable level, explained them to the target group and prepared them for the specialist media and interested public.
Instead of choosing the simplest and most obvious ‘green’ solution, the planners and architects at UmweltHaus consistently question the possible options at every stage of the project. Simulations were repeatedly created and plans were adapted in order to achieve the most sustainable solution in every dimension. This approach sometimes leads to highly complex issues that require a lot of explanation - we have now answered the question of why the facade is not greened but used for photovoltaics so many times that our team can still record the answers in staccato even when they are in a deep sleep. (Admittedly: Compared to the energy concept for the entire quarter, this topic is rather simple).
Since very few construction projects always run smoothly, we designed and prepared strategies and measures for crisis communication and crisis prevention right from the start. Even though we hardly needed any of these: We always had the certain feeling that we were prepared for any scenario and were able to act at short notice - so that everyone else involved in the project could concentrate on their actual tasks.
Completion of the wooden high-rise is scheduled for the end of 2025. We are keeping our fingers crossed and doing our part to ensure that everything continues to run as smoothly as possible and we are already looking forward to the big, final project milestone: the inauguration of the UmweltHaus.
Headerimage: ©spengler wiescholek Architektur//Stadtplanung | bloomimage
