Development of a Life-Cycle-Based Empowerment and Quality Assurance Concept for Serial Building Services Engineering in Lidl Branches

The operation of branches in food retail is associated with high energy consumption and significant greenhouse gas emissions. Against the background of Lidl’s corporate objective of achieving climate neutrality or net zero by 2050, a continuous reduction in energy consumption and emissions in branch buildings is required. As part of its sustainable corporate strategy, Lidl is already implementing a wide range of measures to reduce emissions. A central starting point is the transition to renewable energy sources and the modernization of technical building equipment. However, due to the heterogeneous building structures of both new and existing branches, this modernization is associated with considerable challenges, particularly with regard to convertibility and retrofitting, flexibility, and system integration, which makes standardized implementation more difficult.

Against this background, the research project investigates how a concept for serial technical building equipment can be efficiently integrated into the heterogeneous structure of Lidl branches. The aim is to transfer this framework into a standardized application that ensures high quality and efficiency in the serial process while also enabling site-specific adaptations. As a central outcome, a standardized, life-cycle-spanning quality and competence management system will be developed. This system safeguards the planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of technical building equipment at a high level of quality and thus contributes to the decarbonization of buildings as well as to increasing efficiency in branch construction and operation.