The assembly of the newest JUFA hotel has begun in Savognin. It sets new standards in terms of regionality and sustainability. Construction in the QUADRIN modular system uses a lot of wood from the region and most of the work is carried out by regional companies. The operation of the hotel will also focus primarily on regional producers. The JUFA Hotel Grava in Savognin will open next summer. It will offer around 200 beds in 80 rooms.
With the installation of the prefabricated wooden room modules, the decisive construction phase for the new JUFA Hotel Grava in Savognin began on Thursday. A crane began stacking the fully assembled and already furnished hotel rooms on and next to each other on the construction site and thus assemble them to form the future hotel. The hotel will open in just eight months. It is operated by the Austrian JUFA Hotels Group.
Hotel construction in Savognin has particular significance: UFFER AG, which developed and manufactures the QUADRIN modular system, has its production facilities less than a kilometer away from the hotel construction site. The building material for the modules comes from the immediate area: The wood for the 80 rooms grew in the forests of the valley. A large part of the remaining work on hotel construction was also awarded in the Mittelbünden region.
Entrepreneur Enrico Uffer and the JUFA Hotels Group want to make a contribution to the sustainability of construction and economic development in the mountain region.
A JUFA hotel is being created, characterized by sustainability and regionality
Regionality and sustainability have now also become a trend in the hotel industry. More and more guests say that sustainability has become an important criterion for them when choosing their holiday destination. JUFA Hotels, which operate across Europe, benefit greatly from this: They have been focusing on sustainability and regionality for 30 years.
Sustainability and regionality also play a very important role in the construction and operation of the JUFA Hotel Grava in Savognin. The construction of the hotel is progressing according to plan despite the Covid-19 pandemic. With the installation of the wooden room modules, the construction of the JUFA Hotel Grava is entering a decisive phase. The earthworks had been completed before last winter.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, construction was able to start at Easter 2020. At the same time, QUADRIN hotel rooms were produced at the nearby Uffer plant on Julierstraße. The requirements of the Federal Office of Public Health were strictly complied with during production. In order to prevent too many employees from being in the plant at the same time, two independent shifts were worked. The two teams were consistently separated from each other for months in order to avoid production downtime in the event of a single infection.
At the start of assembly work on the construction site, over 80 room modules are piled up on three floors in the Uffer assembly hall. They are already fully equipped. The Covid-19 pandemic could not slow down production, but it affected work on the construction site and in production.
Even in the rest of the project implementation, complex processes had to be discussed between the international project partners via video conference and telephone instead of in meetings and on-site inspections. “The corona crisis has also had a positive effect on the digitization of processes,” says entrepreneur Enrico Uffer. “The already high level of digitization of our work has increased once again. Fortunately, the JUFA delegation was able to examine the sample room in Savognin just before the outbreak of the pandemic. The feel and positive atmosphere of the room furnishings can only be conveyed analogously.”
“Perhaps the most regional hotel group in the world”
The new Savogniner Hotel is operated by internationally active JUFA Hotels from Austria. Regionality and sustainability have also become a real trend in tourism in recent years, JUFA inventor Gerhard Wendl knows: “Year after year, consumers are paying more attention to the positive effects of operating a hotel in their region. Regionality and sustainability have become important criteria when choosing a hotel and holiday destination.”
For CEO Gerhard Wendl, regionality has always been part of JUFA Hotels' DNA: “With an awareness of the world in which we live, we create added value for holidaymakers. Our connection to nature is therefore reflected in every one of our hotel projects. In Uffer AG with its QUADRIN system, we have found a partner who stands for the same values as JUFA Hotels. With our new hotel in Savognin, we can also prove in Switzerland for the first time how we actively create regional value, sustainability and ecological tourism.”
But JUFA Hotels not only rely on regional products when it comes to construction: “All of our 61 hotels work with regional products. To this end, we have set up a network of 250 regional producers,” explains Gerhard Wendl. “Local farmers, bakers and butchers, together with our kitchens, ensure that the best regional dishes are served in our restaurants from breakfast to dinner.”
JUFA Hotels are benefiting from the trend towards sustainability: “What is in good form for more and more hotels today has always been a matter of course for us. Since day one, we have rooted our hotels locally across Europe and buy locally what we need for our guests.”
Guests at JUFA Hotels appreciate the connection with the respective holiday region. That is why JUFA Hotels not only buy from local producers, they also give them the opportunity to present themselves in the hotels. “Our hotels should also be a shop window for our local partners,” says Gerhard Wendl. And another point is important to the inventor of JUFA Hotels: “Our solidarity and respect for the regions also means that we live in a genuine regionalization in our hotels. Instead of Alpine Disneyland and lots of shows, we bring the regions closer to our guests in a quiet production.”
Regional added value in our forests still needs to increase
The intention of the project participants to use as much wood from the region as possible in order to make a sustainable ecological contribution was an unexpectedly major challenge. On the one hand, there was a lack of capacity in the Surses community saw a lack of capacity, on the other hand, as is usually the case with complex construction projects, preparation time was scarce. Based on this insight, Uffer AG launched the “resurses2025” project, which aims to ensure an efficient sawmill in Mittelbünden in the future. “In future, the forest in Mittelbünden should be given the status it deserves,” says Enrico Uffer.
“Most of the contracts for the new hotel building were awarded in the Mittelbünden region,” says entrepreneur Enrico Uffer. “Especially during this uncertain corona period, it is important to bring some peace to hectic everyday life with good capacity utilization of construction companies. The spirit of optimism in the holiday region cannot be overlooked. Although other hotel and resort projects are still finding it difficult to establish themselves, construction activity in Savognin has increased significantly.”
photos
Images from the media event and the new JUFA Hotel Grava in Savognin can be downloaded free of charge from Flickr for editorial use:
www.flickr.com/photos/gartmannbiz/albums/72157715628988616/
personals
JUFA Hotels Group
Martin Seger-Omann
Head of Press & Public Relations
+43 664 80783 117
presse@jufa.eu
UFFER AG
Enrico Uffer
CEO and owner
+41 79 336 28 22
enrico.uffer@uffer.swiss
Patric Vincenz
Project manager/member of management
+41 79 636 76 04
patric.vincenz@uffer.swiss
The JUFA Hotel Grava in Savognin
The JUFA Hotel Grava in Savognin has 80 modernly furnished rooms with around 200 beds and meets the structural requirements of a four-star hotel. A public restaurant, public wellness, fitness and seminar rooms and an indoor children's play area on two floors round off the offerings of the new sports and family hotel.
The hotel is located in the Grava district, just a few steps away from the valley station of the mountain railways. As a ski-in/ski-out hotel, it is directly connected to the ski slopes. The hotel is largely built using QUADRIN timber modules from Savogniner Uffer AG. The investment costs amount to a total of around 19 million francs.
The JUFA Hotels Group
The JUFA Hotels Group was founded in 1991 in Austria by Gerhard Wendl, who still manages it today. A total of over 60 hotels in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Hungary are now part of the JUFA Hotels Group's extensive portfolio. More than 4,000 guests a day and thus over 1.6 million overnight stays a year make JUFA Hotels the Europe-wide market leader in group and family tourism.
With 1,500 employees, the JUFA Group is also an important and reliable employer. Each hotel project focuses in particular on the diverse opportunities and offers that a holiday region offers. All this, combined with many years of tourism expertise and the necessary individuality, will also make JUFA Hotels a successful product in Switzerland.
The UFFER AG
Since its founding in 1902, the name “UFFER” has stood for high-quality and competent timber construction work in Savognin. The innovative family business is now managed by Enrico and Andrea Uffer in the 4th generation. Uffer AG's core competencies include contemporary, modern system timber construction and related finishing work.
The company has constantly developed in recent years and is now one of the largest employers in the Mittelbünden region. Various subsidiaries offer construction services covering the entire building envelope. The business areas include the development and planning of modern architecture projects and implementation with state-of-the-art infrastructure and completely digitized processes. In thinking and acting, Uffer consistently focuses on sustainability, satisfied and first-class employees and the highest quality of construction.
QUADRIN, modular living
QUADRIN is the modular, flexible modular system from Uffer AG. The mostly standardized wood elements can be assembled individually and according to various requirements. The QUADRIN infrastructure can be bought or rented and is suitable for the flexible living and working of our time. Furthermore, the innovative construction system is also often used in temporary event areas.
The interior of the room cells can be optionally defined and thus designed to create an individual living experience. The building components can be assembled modularly, from simple single-family homes to hotel complexes. All components are manufactured by trained specialists in the Uffer production halls in Savognin.