About Jumbo

Jumbo is a Dutch supermarket company with a rich history. Jumbo started in 1921 as a wholesaler, and over the past 100 years it has gone through impressive growth to become the second-largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands. Jumbo has over 680 stores in the Netherlands and has been active on the Belgian market since 2019.

In 2017, Jumbo decided to build a new National Distribution Centre (NDC) in Nieuwegein. This location is at the centre of the Netherlands and Belgium. The complex with a surface area of 45,000 m2 and a height of 29.25 m is built on a 200,000 m2 site on De Liesbosch industrial estate. The new NDC replaced the old distribution centre in Elst, where there were no longer any possibilities for expansion.

The NDC in Nieuwegein can supply the growing number of Jumbo stores much quicker and more efficiently. Jumbo started as a family business in the Dutch province of Brabant, and has recently achieved significant growth through a number of takeovers. Jumbo took over the Super de Boer supermarket chain in 2009, which was followed by the takeover of the much bigger C1000 chain in 2012. In 2016, Jumbo was able to acquire the restaurant concept La Place. The takeover of a part of the EMTÉ supermarket chain followed in 2018, and in 2019 Jumbo took over the regional Agrimarkt supermarket chain. This enabled Jumbo to grow from a regional supermarket chain to the foremost omni-channel retailer in the Netherlands. The company opened its first store in Belgium in late 2019.

Jumbo expects to see persistent growth over the coming years. In addition to its regular supermarkets, Jumbo now has eight Foodmarkets with a huge range of products and a fast-growing number of Jumbo City branches, a new convenience store concept that includes elements of the Jumbo Foodmarket and the La Place in-store restaurant concept.

The online ordering and delivery service via Jumbo.com is also growing fast. Jumbo wants to make delicious and healthy food easily accessible for everyone via its retail channels. The unique Jumbo formula is characterized by superior service + largest range x lowest price, and is implemented in a uniform way in all of its physical and online stores. Its customers can rely on the 7 Promises of Jumbo. By always putting the customer first, Jumbo has become one of the highest rated supermarket organisations. Jumbo has been ranked as the Best Supermarket in the Netherlands no less than 16 times by GfK.

Key Features

To qualify for this sustainability hallmark, Jumbo used as much sustainable and energy-saving building materials and lighting as possible. An overview is given below of the most innovative technologies, environmental characteristics, and assessment categories that led to the awarding of such a high score.

Heat Recovery

The heart of the NDC is the robotized system which stacks pallets of products in roll containers in a mechanized way. The heat generated by this process is recovered by means of an internal heat recovery system called the Twincoil system. By combining existing technologies in a smart way, a unique, replicable solution was created for the temporary storage of the recovered heat. This method of heat recovery had never been used before. The heat recovery system transports the heat to a buffer tank which is situated in the technical area. From there, the heat can be distributed as needed via four air handling units to other areas of the distribution centre, such as the offices and the workstations. A traditional heating system is therefore no longer necessary.

Heat Pumps

The exceptionally high BREEAM score was partly thanks to the high efficiency of the three air-water heat pumps for the halls in the NDC. The three heat pumps of each 500 kW, which operate in a cascade configuration, have a Coefficient of Performance (COP) of no less than 4.3 (1 kWh electricity results in 4.3 kWh thermal energy). A cascade configuration is extremely efficient because it eliminates the need for switching on all heat pump sat once. Furthermore, they have bigger heat exchangers and compressors, which means the pumps can be operated at a much lower speed.

Water Supply

There are two large water tanks which can collect up to 88,000 litres of rainwater, which is used to flush the toilets. This avoids unnecessary consumption of tap water by the 250 employees. The rainwater is also used for the soft landscaping and planting around the building. In order to emphasize the importance of sustainability, the water tanks are in a prominent location at the centre of the building.

Sustainable Roof: Solar Panels and Roof Cladding
The roof of the NDC is fitted with over 13,500 solar panels that have a total capacity of 4.5 MW. Thanks to their east-west alignment, in theory they can generate up to 4.2 million kWh. That is almost equal to the total electricity consumption of the whole building. In addition, the entire surface area of the roof is covered with white roof cladding. This less heat is being absorbed and leads to a higher efficiency of the solar panels.

Healthy Indoor Climate: Natural Daylight and Fresh Air

One of the starting points of the design was to maximize the amount of natural lighting both in the office spaces and the operational areas. The design therefore includes daylight sensors that react to the brightness and intensity of the ambient daylight outside. The employees are supplied with fresh air through air pockets, which prevents the formation of cold draughts. The air conditioning units filter out fine particles in the air, for example from packaging materials. Although this aspect is not included in the BREEAM assessment criteria, Jumbo decided to add this feature in order to create an optimal working climate.

Sustainable Building Materials and Circular Design Choices

At the start of the project, the choice was made to build in a circular manner on an existing site. The old building was demolished and fully reused as rubble granulate under the new building. No less than 99% of all materials purchased have a sustainable product label. Three-quarters of these materials were produced as sustainable and/or in as circular as possible according to a comprehensive LCA calculation. The LCA calculation enabled us to accurately determine which materials were the most sustainable. We discussed all the criteria and requirements with our suppliers beforehand. As a result, for example the suppliers of the concrete and roofing insulation were able to modify their production processes in order to ensure compliance with this standard. This led to a higher certification level for these suppliers (BES6001 –tier level 1). All wood used comes from certified sources (e.g., FSC) or was recycled. Recycled wood was also used for the temporary construction site.

Virtually every element of the building can be dismantled. This means a lot of the raw materials used in the architectural shell of the building can be separated out into the different types of materials and products. This makes future recycling of materials much easier.

Ecological Measures
Jumbo wanted to make sure this project had a positive impact on the local biodiversity and ecosystem. The following initiatives and measures contribute to this:

• A kingfisher wall so that this endangered species can nest and breed
• A 200-metre-long hawthorn hedge that provides a plentiful source of food and nesting spots for birds such as sparrows
• Twenty indigenous trees that contribute to a healthy ecosystem for animal wildlife.-Various ‘insect hotels’
• A green wall around the car park that is 600 metres long and 10 metres tall
• Two large shell basins of 15 metres by 15 metres on the roof for oystercatchers
• Nesting boxes for black redstarts on the north façade.

About the BREEAM Assessment

As a family business and leading supermarket chain, Jumbo is right at the heart of society. We feel responsible for the world around us, for both this generation and generations to come. We also believe that we can only make the world a better place by working together. First and foremost, that means being the best that we can be, every single day. We do this step-by-step and in close collaboration with all our employees, businesses, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.

One of the pillars of our CSR policy is the reduction of our environmental impact. Jumbo strives to be climate and futureproof by limiting the energy consumption and emissions in our entire supply chain as much as possible. We aim to do this by focusing on logistics and transportation, sustainable energy, and sustainable buildings. Since 2017, the guiding principle has been that all of our new-build distribution centres need to be in accordance with BREEAM Outstanding.

“It was a very enlightening project, in which we learned how to look at sustainability and building design in a completely different manner. The BREEAM criteria were a hugely influential part of the process. The fact that we decided to develop the new distribution centre in accordance with the BREEAM Outstanding standard naturally says a great deal. We are now considering doing the same with other types of Jumbo buildings. In addition to the positive environmental benefits, we think that in the long term it will actually lead to cost savings.”

– Martijn Vogelzang (Program manager Supply Chain Building & Automation)

Lessons Learnt

“With this BREEAM certified NDC, we are showing our employees, customers and partners how committed we are to sustainable development and which tangible benefits it can have. Inspiration and motivation play a big role here. We do this, for example, on our website, and during guided tours we organized for our suppliers and customers.

We have learned a lot during the whole project. Looking back, we can say that it was crucial to work with experienced consultants. They helped us to make clear choices which were the basis for the defined specifications that were discussed with suppliers. It was also very important that key partners, such as the supplier of the mechanization and robotization systems, were involved early on in the design phase of the project. Getting stakeholder groups – e.g. local residents and future users – involved was also helpful.

We were able to successfully complete this project thanks to our ambitious sustainability and CSR policy. That is what has driven our willingness to invest in sustainable solutions for the long term. It is also driven by the winners’ mentality within our company: we always go for the best, and thus also the highest possible BREEAM certification. It is about being open to new technologies, and understanding that in the long run they can lead to a better and more sustainable result than standard solutions. Ultimately, therefore, it will lead to lower operational costs.”

– Karel de Jong (Executive Director Supply Chain)