Accolade is financing with a €137.5 million loan the construction of an automated distribution centre near Kojetín for a robotic warehouse for the Amazon online store. The total area of the multi-storey industrial complex, which will provide employment opportunities for up to two thousand people, is more than 187,000 sqm with a floor plan of 51,000 sqm. Robots and artificial intelligence will also be heavily involved in the operation of the hall. The industrial hall is being built on the brownfield of a former sugar factory and the handover is expected to take place this summer, according to E15.

"The financing banks subjected the project to a very rigorous assessment before granting the loan, not only in terms of the sustainability of the financing but also in terms of environmental friendliness," said Accolade's CFO Tomáš Procházka, adding that in addition to the financing of the project itself, the Accolade Group has also negotiated a hedge for the interest rate risk.

Accolade signed a loan agreement with a consortium of banks in the first quarter of this year. The consortium of banks is led by Komerční banka, for which the contract with Accolade represents the first mutual cooperation. The other members are Česká spořitelna and Raiffeisenbank.

The industrial estate for Amazon also includes natural features such as beetle and lizard habitats and insect hotels. Bee breeding is also planned. Accolade will also plant around 500 trees, 300 of them on the site and the rest in Kojetin. The entire distribution centre will be heated by heat pumps instead of gas. Approximately four MW of photovoltaic panels will be installed on the roof of the hall. Most of the electricity will be consumed in the distribution centre, with the unconsumed part being fed back into the grid by the building. The turnkey construction is being provided by Goldbeck Bau, which operates a precast concrete plant approximately 12 kilometres from Kojetín.