City Hall Venlo - Sustainable and more
The city of Venlo recently opened their new city hall. It is not just like any city hall though. This is a special building designed according to the cradle-to-cradle (C2C) principles.
Cradle-to-Cradle
A structure which is built based on C2C principles, is not constructed to be demolished after a few decades. A C2C building can be seen as a raw materials bank. During the building stage, the parties involved describe what materials are used for the build. This results in a material ID, or passport for the building. Taken into account is the value of the various materials at (partial) demolishment and where to reuse the materials afterwards. This building is not only sustainable but it is literally a raw materials bank for the future.
Self sufficient
The city office generates its own energy. Through using thermal-energy- storage, solar panels, solar boilers and other energy efficient measures, the structure is energy self sufficient. Energy usage is monitored per floor and is shared through the municipality’s intranet. Employees are informed about their energy usage and how they can reduce it. Moreover, rainwater is purified to reduce the consumption of clean drinking water. Furthermore, the building’s green façade purifies the air outside and a greenhouse on the roof provides natural ventilation. The interior of the office has ’green’ walls that regulate humidity, oxygen level and acoustics. Thanks to the large windows and solar panels, the building makes good use of the sun, an important energy source.
Social value
The Municipality of Venlo office generates social value by offering its employees a pleasant, bright and natural work environment. Just by lowering absenteeism due to illness by 1%, the municipality saves €480,000 per year – not even taking into account the increase in productivity due to the pleasant work environment.
The Best Practices
Holland Circular Hotspot (HCH) wants to support international cooperation on the circular economy, with the aim of creating business opportunities and promoting the exchange of knowledge and innovation. In the magazine Circular Is Going Global - Join Holland's Flow you can read which circular best practices the Netherlands has to offer.
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