Climate-Neutral Printing House

Our premises in Amersfoort has grown organically in recent decades. The purchase of adjacent plots enabled us to expand on a step-by-step basis. However, this was not ideal in terms of process technology and energy consumption. With the new construction of the ‘WILCO, the Clean Climate-Neutral Printing House’ at the Vanadiumweg 2 in Amersfoort, we have taken a major step in realising our sustainability ambitions. The innovative design has resulted in a single conditioned production environment, in which humidity, temperature and ventilation are properly controlled. All this results in the gas-free and energy-efficient running of a professional offset printing plant with significant energy savings of approximately 690,000 Nm₃ Ae per year, which corresponds to more than 1,300 ton CO₂ per year.

The Clean Climate-Neutral Printing House was put into operation on 1 February 2022. This is where all processes take place: warehouse storage of paper, CTP plate production, sheet-fed printing and the folding and sewing of book blocks. The premises at Vanadiumweg 9 is equipped for all bindery activities in relation to books and magazines as well as shipping. With the permanent closure of the Wilco Meppel BV site as of 31 December 2021, inter-company movement of goods has decreased. The production-technical staff that moved with the company from Meppel to Amersfoort does generate increased commuting. Wilco organises collective transport from Meppel using private office vehicles. This is not all. We will also look into whether a new sustainable bindery can be realised in Amersfoort in the coming years. To realise this, we have scheduled the demolition of the premises at Vanadiumweg 8 and Nijverheidsweg-Noord 71, followed by new development in 2024 and 2025.

Clean Climate-Neutral Printing House

• High-quality outer shell insulation.
• Underfloor cooling and heating with a geothermal energy system and heat pumps.
• Heat recovery.
• Heat buffer at height fed with excess heat from machinery.
• Energy-efficient LED room lighting.
• Building management system.
• Low Chemistry computer-to-plate.