Nigrad d.o.o

Nigrad d.o.o. is a utility company, established in 1875 in the Municipality of Maribor and acts as a fundamental maintenance and construction company in the city. Nigrad`s core business is the maintenance of public transport areas, streets, squares, and roads with related facilities and devices. Also the maintenance of public sewerage, public lighting, traffic light system, and the implementation of construction and other works for municipal infrastructure needs.

Following its strategy, the company Nigrad d.o.o is committed to finding solutions for more responsible management and protection of the environment, which is represented by the European recognizable model of the circular economy. The model is based on the reuse of secondary raw materials and in the field of processing and reuse of secondary raw materials and production of new products, the company Nigrad d.o.o. sees a business opportunity to expand its business to a hitherto relatively unexplored and technologically demanding segment of the use of secondary raw materials, which is still rigidly addressed by construction and environmental legislation.

Nigrad d.o.o. has been an important partner of the Municipality of Maribor, acting especially intensely in the field of the use of secondary raw materials and in bringing new, innovative technologies and processes to the construction sector in the city. Through the implementation of different circular economy projects and involvement in different circular networks and programs, Nigrad d.o.o. is already well known in the sphere of circular urban construction.

The City of Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia and one of the most renowned cities in Europe for their Urban Circular Economy approaches. In 2018, the city has adopted its first circular economy strategy developed in the Interreg Alpine Space project called GreenCycle. The Strategy for the Transition to Circular Economy in the City of Maribor was adopted by the City Council in June 2018. The activities of the city and its utily and other companies, that are part of the Holding Maribor are also built on the result of previous / complementary (some EU funded) projects such as H2020 CINDERELA, UIA Urban Soil 4 Food, Interreg City Waters Circles, URBACT URGE, LIFE IP RESTART and the city is looking complementary on some recently funded projects.

Furthermore, this university and the metropolitan city is the economic, financial, administrative, cultural, educational, trade and tourist center of north-east Slovenia. It is only 18 km away from the Austrian border, and for centuries has been an important junction between the north and the south, as well as between Eastern and Western Europe.