Schiphol office building awarded BREEAM international sustainability construction certificate
Schiphol's new TransPort building (photo: SchipholTV.com)
Tue 3 May 2010 – The Dutch Green Building Council has awarded Schiphol Group, operator of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, the first BREEAM-NL certificate for its sustainable construction of the new TransPort office building at Schiphol-East. Rated as ‘Very Good’, this is the first time the certificate has been awarded for a Dutch building. BREEAM is the quality mark that assesses the sustainability of buildings around the world on aspects such as energy, ecology, transport, materials and health. This summer the building will be assessed for its eligibility for LEED certification.
Construction on the building started in Match 2009 and the sustainable concept and architecture were developed in collaboration with Amsterdam firm Paul de Ruiter.
Amongst the features of the building are the 460 solar panels on the roof, each with a capacity of 225 watts each, which will provide 10% of the total electricity consumption and 5% of its energy consumption overall. All other energy purchased will be 100% green energy. As people enter the building, they will encounter a visual display of the amount of energy generated by the solar panels.
The building has been designed to allow as much daylight as possible to enter the office space. The lighting, natural ventilation and heating can be regulated per individual room and even per individual workstation, providing a high degree of thermal comfort. It has also been designed with a ventilation overcapacity and CO2 levels in the meeting rooms are monitored constantly so that the ventilation system can be regulated accordingly.
Other features include a large bicycle parking facility, car park spaces reserved for energy-efficient cars and car-poolers, and water-saving measures to ensure consumption is half of that of a comparable standard office building.
With a lettable floor area of 10,800 square metres, new tenants include carriers Martinair and transavia.com, who are establishing their head offices at TransPort.
“We are proud that we are the first in the Netherlands to be awarded this certificate,” said Executive Vice President & CCO of Schiphol Group, Maarten de Groof. “We invest heavily in sustainability at Schiphol. The new TransPort building is special in many regards. It is efficient, inspiring and sustainable in terms of design and it makes a positive contribution to the work and business climate at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
“The sustainable building fits in perfectly with Schiphol Real Estate’s and Schiphol Group’s strategy to play an active part in the development of sustainable real estate and area development.”
Schiphol is now aiming for the ‘Platinum’ sustainability quality mark awarded by the internationally-recognized LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) programme for the TransPort building and this summer it will be assessed for its eligibility.
