City Hall Venlo

The brief for the new City Hall presented a unique challenge in the form of stringent sustainability requirements set by Venlo municipality, which is the first region in the world to seek full implementation of the Cradle-to-Cradle principles. This resulted in an unique design process and an extraordinary (visionary) building that combines a comfortable working environment with sustainable innovations.

The project incorporates several strategies to guarantee sustainability: the heavily polluted air from the adjacent road is cleaned by the building and cooled down with the help of the Maas River and the underground car park; the offices and glass house generate heat for the surrounding homes by implementation of a geothermal heat pump; rain water will be collected and used, then cleaned and released into the Maas. The building will be mainly constructed out of wood

The new City Hall combines several municipal services that currently are scattered all over town in one open, accessible complex. The lay out of the building is efficient and includes offices, a plaza, a public hall with exhibition spaces, meeting rooms and an underground parking. The public hall located on the ground floor offers a view on the river Maas and its flood plains. The work places are situated in the tower.

See more details about this project

http://www.kraaijvanger.nl/en/projects/94/stadskantoor-venlo/

Data reliability

Self-declared

Stakeholders

Function : Contractor

Function : Designer

Owner approach of sustainability

The project incorporates several strategies to guarantee sustainability: the heavily polluted air from the adjacent road is cleaned by the building and cooled down with the help of the Maas River and the underground car park; the offices and glass house generate heat for the surrounding homes by implementation of a geothermal heat pump; rain water will be collected and used, then cleaned and released into the Maas. The building will be mainly constructed out of wood

Architectural description

The brief for the new City Hall presented a unique challenge in the form of stringent sustainability requirements set by Venlo municipality, which is the first region in the world to seek full implementation of the Cradle-to-Cradle principles. This resulted in an unique design process and an extraordinary (visionary) building that combines a comfortable working environment with sustainable innovations.

Energy consumption

Primary energy need : 1,00 kWhpe/m².year
Primary energy need for standard building : 23,00 kWhpe/m².year

Calculation method : Other

Envelope performance

Envelope U-Value : 0,10 W.m^-2.K^-1

Systems

Heating system :

Heat pump
Solar thermal

Hot water system :

Solar Thermal

Cooling system :

Water chiller
Geothermal heat pump

Ventilation system :

Natural ventilation

Renewable systems :

Solar Thermal
Heat pump

Renewable energy production : 75,00 %

Product

Product category : Structural work / Structure - Masonry - Facade

The green facade and the trees purify the air from the road and railway line alongside the building. More than 100 varieties of flora & fauna contributes to the wellbeing of the employees, combat heat stress and form part of the insulation layer, but most of all they reduce 30% of the SO2 and NOx in the filtered air. The facade filters out the particulate matter produced by 3000 m² of roads and makes the surrounding air cleaner in general.

The city of Venlo established the ambition to create this green facade but needed measurable result before committing to the project. The stakeholders set out with The Eindhoven University of Technology and Royal HaskoningDHV to create a test set-up as proof of concept. This proved a considerable reduction of SO2, NOx and particulate matter, enough for the city to greenlight the project.

Product category : Structural work / Structure - Masonry - Facade

The inner leaf of the cavity wall is made by the Thoma Company from Austria. Their Holtz100 system creates a non-glued solid wood shell on the interior of the Venlo City Hall.

The absence of glues and other chemicals makes the inner leafs completely Cradle to Cradle. In case of a future internal refurbishing all the wood can be disassembled and up-cycled into new and useful products.

Urban environment

The lay out of the building is efficient and includes offices, a plaza, a public hall with exhibition spaces, meeting rooms and an underground parking.

Parking spaces

450 underground parking spaces for visitors and employees

Building Environmental Quality

energy efficiency

The project incorporates several strategies to guarantee sustainability: the heavily polluted air from the adjacent road is cleaned by the building and cooled down with the help of the Maas River and the underground car park; the offices and glass house generate heat for the surrounding homes by implementation of a geothermal heat pump; rain water will be collected and used, then cleaned and released into the Maas. The building will be mainly constructed out of wood.