SMART MOVE

The main building at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is set to become the most sustainable education building in the world.

A highly detailed renovation design programme has been awarded the highest ever BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) score in the education sector, of 93.86 per cent.

And that score also puts it in the top five sustainable buildings of any type in the Netherlands.

The main building, which will be known as ‘Atlas’ after renovation, will no longer have a gas connection.

All the heating and cooling the building needs will come from the campus-wide TU/e geothermal system that stores heat and cold separately in the subsurface and accesses it whenever there are heating or cooling requirements.

Also set to be installed are solar panels with the capacity to supply 500 Megawatt-hours per year, which will cover the majority of the building’s power requirements.

An innovative feature is the building’s ‘night flush’. During summer evenings, the floor-high windows slide outwards to cool the building and clean the air.

It will also be equipped with smart, economical LED lighting; the standard level of light is relatively low but users can access an app to adjust the level of lighting to suit their individual requirements.

These initiatives will combine to reduce the CO2 emissions of the building by around 80 per cent, even though the number of building users will more than double.

Atlas will become the fourth TU/e building without a gas connection, while a fifth is scheduled to become ‘gas-free’.