The new Vestre plant in Magnor, Norway, chooses Wicona low-carbon recycled facades and joinery

Vestre aims to attract and inspire other similar projects and demonstrate that it is possible to invest heavily in sustainable development while being profitable, a concept that The Plus perfectly illustrates. Through its WICTEC EL evo façades and WICLINE 75 evo windows, WICONA supplied 23 tonnes of recycled Hydro CIRCAL aluminium. The WICSTYLE 75 evo door is also part of the project.

In Magnor, in the forest east of Kongsvinger, a few kilometers from the Swedish border, the furniture manufacturer Vestre recently opened a new generation furniture production plant. Baptized The Plus, the factory owes its name to its particular shape. It now represents the largest investment by the Norwegian furniture industry for several decades.

In the center of the building is the heart of the factory, where visitors and the public can enjoy a unique experience. The four wings of the building correspond to the four stages of production. The first refers to the storage of equipment. Then comes the painting stage, followed by carpentry, then assembly. All pieces of furniture are created and finished at the factory, then shipped to the four corners of the world. The architectural office behind this unique project is called Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) architects.

The most ecological factory in the world

Vestre uses the purest aluminum in the world to manufacture many of its furniture. Moreover, the new plant is also the closest neighbor of Hydro Extrusions, in Magnor. Using the facade system from WICONA, 23 tons of recycled Hydro CIRCAL aluminum were supplied for this project. Hydro CIRCAL contains at least 75% post-consumer recycled aluminum waste, such as glass facades and windows that come from demolished buildings and are fully recycled. Aluminum can be recycled endlessly. The quality and properties of the material are never lost. Furthermore, Hydro CIRCAL uses only 5% of the energy needed to produce primary aluminium.

“The glass facades were specially designed for The Plus project, to ensure maximum transparency and minimum energy consumption. The profiles that frame the windows are produced from Hydro CIRCAL alloys »Frank Føleide, sales engineer at Hydro Building Systems.

The height of The Plus building reaches 14 meters in places, and the area of ​​​​its glass facades exceeds 2 square meters. Therefore, the requirements of the project in terms of insulation and energy performance are extremely high. The handrails of the interior stairs are also made of aluminum and supplied by us. They are connected to the ground and display an architectural design. The Plus aims to reduce its energy consumption by 000% compared to similar factories.

To achieve this, the building is equipped with 900 photovoltaic panels, 17 geothermal wells and heat pumps built into the walls to absorb excess heat from the production process. In addition, the excess heat produced by the photovoltaic panels contributes to heating, but also to the domestic water cooling system. In production, 90% of the water is also recyclable. The four wings of the building are covered in beautiful local, natural greenery made from seeds from the surrounding forest, and the photovoltaic panels produce 250 kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year.

“We are delighted to be able to contribute to a project as long-lasting as The Plus de Vestre project. We have been working with Vestre for many years already, especially on its 'Folk' furniture range, and we look forward to welcoming our new neighbor to Magnor, the world's greenest furniture production facility." Morten Bråten, Managing Director of Hydro Extrusion Norway AS at Magnor.

The Plus project will soon be the first to obtain the “Exceptional” level from BREEAM, which corresponds to the highest environmental certification.

“With its The Plus project, Vestre has proven that it is possible to invest heavily in the cost-effective and environmentally friendly production of finished products in a country where the cost of living is high. And we believe that if we can do it, others can too. The project should be a source of inspiration, so that others also follow this path. We hope that The Plus will become a strong symbol that will reverberate both in Norwegian industry and exports and in Scandinavian cooperation” Stefan Tjust, CEO of Vestre.

Vestre intends to attract other factories to Magnor

Vestre wants to break with the traditional image of the furniture factory by painting color combinations on the production floor. Each individual wing has been assigned a color from Vestre's RAL palette, whose beautiful floor lines lead to the central rotunda. This unique and colorful production layout creates a visual reference for easy orientation, tracking, identification and explanation of workflow. The idea behind this color map is to make the factory more appealing to everyone, including children.

The Plus wants to attract more visitors to its premises and ultimately become a tourist attraction worth discovering. Its ambition is to appear on Tripadvisor among the sites to visit in Norway. Besides the roof, which is already accessible to the public, an adventure park will be built around the building. Veste also wants to attract more business to Magnor, which enjoys an excellent location near the Swedish border and would thus become a hub for cross-border trade.

“We hope that The Plus project will allow more companies to discover all the opportunities offered by Innlandet and Magnor. Norwegian industry players need to come together to bring out the best in everyone. It would be great if other Norwegian companies decided to set up their production here”, explains Stefan Tjust. “There is enough space here to accommodate other factories” Stefan Tjust, CEO of Vestre.

• Project: The Plus
• Location: Magnor, Norway
• Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
• Metal constructor: Reflex
• Client: Vestre
• Completion: 2022
• WICONA solutions: WICTEC EL evo facades (Special construction), WICLINE 75 evo windows, WICSTYLE 75 evo
• Photographer: Einar Aslaksen/Vestre