About 300 of the more than 400 employees of the worldwide active Schmalz Group work at the head office in Glatten. The continually increasing number of employees there made it necessary to provide new parking facilities, since the available number of parking slots was too small. In the middle of 2006, the managing directors Dr. Kurt Schmalz and Wolfgang Schmalz therefore decided to invest in an expansion of the parking areas to provide a further 227 slots, including three slots reserved for handicapped persons. A separate parking area is provided for employees who come to work by bicycle or motorcycle.

After planning permission had been given by the local council in Glatten, work on the new parking area was started in November 2006. At the end of January 2007, the work had to be interrupted because of the bad weather. But last Monday was at last the big day: the new parking area was officially opened for use. The opening ceremony was attended by the planners, the builders, the company management and the chairman of the Schmalz works council.

Since Schmalz places great emphasis on sustainable operations, and has won many awards in this area, the "construction management" team made every effort to ensure that the new parking area was as environmentally friendly as possible. Grass paving blocks allow most of the rainwater to drain away naturally, thus relieving the load on the sewage system. The rest of the rainwater (for example, in the case of very heavy rain) is collected in the existing flood retention basin, from which it flows slowly into the River Glatt. Special lamps for illumination of the parking area produce twice as much light as conventional lamps, which means that the electricity consumption for illumination is reduced by 50%.

"With this new parking area, we have created a further prerequisite for the planned extension of the factory buildings in 2008," said Wolfgang Schmalz, and added, "At the same time, the parking area acts as an access road for delivery of fuel for the new wood-chip heating system, which is currently being built."