Dutch parties to establish climate-resistant garden center in Reykjavik

Garðheimar is a family-run business that focuses on everything related to a green lifestyle, including plants, flowers, decorations, gifts, pet products, and gardening tools and materials. The company's strategy is to operate a sustainable business where people can spend time and enjoy the atmosphere created amidst diverse vegetation and to provide excellent service based on knowledge and experience. After Garðheimar was informed that their garden center had to make way for new residential buildings, the company saw this as an opportunity to realize their dream: to build an environmentally friendly and climate-resistant garden center of 7,250 m2 in Reykjavik.

Garðheimar selected different partners to assist them in constructing what they believe will be one of the most beautiful garden centers ever. The building's design was handled by PK Arkitektar, with assistance from Ferils Engineering, Landslags, and Hafstudio. Smiemans Projecten BV, a specialist in constructing garden centers worldwide, built the climate-resistant structure. Stolze, a long-time partner of Smiemans, was selected as the supplier for the design and construction of the entire electrical installation and irrigation systems of the Gardheimar project.

Mezzanine in a 12-meter high building
The 90-meter-wide building has an asymmetrical roof and a central hall 25 meters wide and 12 meters high, where a mezzanine has been created to accommodate offices, a canteen, and recreational areas for Garðheimar's staff. The garden center also features a restaurant and numerous attractive shop-in-shops. The warehouse will be equipped with a green roof.

Architecturally natural appearance
The asymmetrical roof adds allure to the front view of the new garden center. The large windows at the front create a connection between the outside and inside and offer the opportunity to display many products. Furthermore, the natural sun protection of the vertical wooden blinds and the green roof contribute to the biophilic appearance that suits the company. A covered walkway around the outdoor area ensures that customers can shop comfortably even in bad weather.

Climate-resistant and energy-efficient construction
Due to Iceland's tumultuous climate, the roof structure was built with specially developed gutters that connect to 200 mm thick sandwich panels, providing more load-bearing capacity and less condensation. These extra-wide insulated rain gutters have an extra-large capacity to prevent inconvenience during heavy rainfall or snowfall. All of this results in greater comfort and safety and energy savings of over 40%.

Sustainable climate control
Stolze designed and built the electrical installation and the irrigation system in accordance with Garðheimar's strategy to be a sustainable business. Thanks to the installations, Garðheimar can minimize the amount of energy, water, and fertilizers required while ensuring optimal conditions for both plants and customers. The installation consists of a climate controller developed by Stolze that regulates the entire installation in the garden center, including ventilation, heating, irrigation, and lighting. Weather forecast data is used to control the garden center's climate, making the entire system even more sustainable and energy-efficient.