WORKING ON THE EDGE
The Edge, Deloitte’s new headquarters in Amsterdam’s business centre of Zuidas, has been described as the world’s most sustainable office building.
London-based PLP Architecture had two main tasks: to consolidate Deloitte’s employees, who had previously been based in several buildings across the city, within a single environment; and to create a ‘smart building’, intended as a catalyst for the company’s transition into the digital age.
The end result is a 40,000-square metre project which has achieved the highest BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) rating ever awarded to an office building, thanks to a long list of innovative measures.
The Edge accommodates the largest array of photovoltaic panels of any European building on its roof and south-facing façade, as well as remotely on the roofs of buildings belonging to the University of Amsterdam, while an aquifer thermal energy storage system provides all the energy needed for cooling and heating.
That means the building uses 70 per cent less electricity than comparable structures and has become energy-positive.
Rain water is collected on the roof and used to flush toilets, as well as to irrigate the green terraces in the atrium and other garden areas surrounding the building.
There are also two 129-metre-deep wells that reach down to an aquifer, allowing thermal energy differentials to be stored deep underground.
Occupancy, movement, lighting levels, humidity and temperature are continuously measured, while smart technology – including Ethernet-powered LED connected lighting – enables the building systems to respond, maximising efficiency.
This is particularly important as employees in The Edge do not have assigned desks and work anywhere in the building, utilising work-booths, focus rooms and concentration rooms or sitting desks, standing desks and balcony desks, along with the many work-stations within the sun-filled atrium itself.
Each employee is also connected to the building via an app on their smartphone, and this enables them to find parking spaces, free desks and colleagues, while they can also customise the temperate and light levels of wherever they choose to work.