New building with mixed programme: 70 flats, the new office of Bureau Bouwtechniek in Antwerp, a catering establishment, underground car park with storerooms, technical rooms and bicycle storage, and a roof terrace accessible to residents.

Circular insertion

Sustainability has been an important theme for us since its inception. It was therefore obvious that this would also be the case in the design and fitting out of our own new office in Michel de Braeystraat in Antwerp, in a building we co-designed.

Our new home base scores highly in terms of circularity in several areas.

Location

Our office is on Michel de Braeystraat in Nieuw Zuid. Easily accessible by bicycle and public transport. The office is on the ground floor, making it easily accessible for everyone.

User participation

All our employees were given the opportunity to share their opinions, so that the new office can satisfy as many wishes as possible and is a high-quality and pleasant workplace.

Construction and structure

The building consists of an intelligent concrete structure with sufficient clearance for all possible changes. Except around the circulation cores, there are no load-bearing internal walls. The internal walls are movable so that the office layout can evolve with our needs over the years.
As floor insulation, we chose PUR boards. This encourages reuse, sorting and recycling.

Techniques and comfort

Cables for electricity and data are incorporated in a grid of cable ducts in the floor so that the rearrangement and reallocation of spaces remains possible. A high-quality wireless network and laptops or surfaces allow work to be taken to anywhere.
The pulsing and extraction of ventilation air is also nicely dispersed to allow that rearrangement.
The building is connected to a heat grid. Should the connection fail, the building will be fitted with solar panels. Heating and cooling are done at low temperature via a climate ceiling. Because a simulation revealed that the cooling load of the office is greater than the heat load, double instead of triple glazing was chosen. This increases heat losses, so that a balance can be found more quickly.
In terms of lighting, we opted for LED lighting with manual switch-on and automatic switch-off based on absence detection.
We preferred energy-efficient electrical appliances (dishwasher, fridge, etc.) with an A+++ label.

Furniture

The office furnishing was done with the principles of circularity in mind. We recovered almost 60% of its 'old' furniture. The remaining pieces of furniture were recycled and/or offered second-hand. We found 'new' furniture, doors, etc. second-hand (e.g. via the ODS harvest card) or purchased new - always paying attention to high-quality materials with a long lifespan.

Read the full article by sustainability consultant Katrien Van Lierop in Circubuild (NL)

Our new office building in Antwerp won a place in the top 10 most notable circular projects of 2022 according to Circubuild.

Facades of in-situ concrete

A striking design feature is the on-site cast concrete terraces, designed as horizontal slabs with a glass facade with aluminium joinery behind. To achieve a monochrome image, all elements (joinery, facade cassettes, doors, parapets, etc.) are matched to the on-site cast concrete by means of a powder-coated structure. The tight execution of all façade elements is carefully examined at all stages and closely monitored during execution.

A plinth is provided on the ground floor and a walkway on the roof.

BIM

We built the BIM model in cooperation with stability consultancy Forté. We were responsible for the model Architecture discipline. At the start of this project, the BIM model was discussed with the contractor to see how it could be of use to them during the construction phase. A limited set of modelling agreements soon yielded significant added value between the various construction partners.

In the BIM model, 17,508 elements were automatically measured.