Published on 18 May 2018

Sustainably renovated Witteveen+Bos office opened by mayor of Deventer

On 18 May 2018, the mayor of Deventer, Andries Heidema, officially opened the new and improved office of Witteveen+Bos. The building, located on Leeuwenbrug in Deventer, had undergone renovation work for about a year. The mayor performed the opening together with Karin Sluis, Managing Director of Witteveen+Bos, by cutting a blue ribbon in the presence of the design and construction team. Thanks to the extensive renovation work, the energy efficiency of the building, which dates from 1975, has improved from an E to an A+++ label.

In his opening speech, Heidema expressed his admiration for the way in which Witteveen+Bos has realised the ‘greening’ of its office building by making use of the capabilities of its own staff: ‘Witteveen+Bos is a major global player in fields like water, infrastructure, environment and construction, rooted firmly here in Deventer. All of us at the local authority, including myself, are incredibly proud. We are very pleased because with this building and the investments made, Witteveen+Bos has shown once again that the company is strongly linked to the city of Deventer.’ The building’s sustainability has improved in a number of areas. The first is the innovative TripleAqua heat pump that uses heat released during cooling to provide heating, and that has internal heat and cold buffers. In addition, the office is now gasless, whereas in the past it used 55,000 cubic metres of gas every year. We have also installed 326 solar panels on the roof, which will generate about 66,000 kWh of electricity on an annual basis. Because the building now accommodates 350 workplaces instead of the previous 240, the average energy consumption per employee has dropped enormously. The result is a virtually energy-neutral building that anticipates the requirements imposed by the National Energy Agreement (‘Energieakkoord’).

Brainpower
Karin Sluis, Managing Director of Witteveen+Bos: ‘I am very proud of the results we have achieved here, and of the fact that we were able to use the expertise of our own colleagues for it. The building really is a prime example of the current possibilities for modernising old offices, and we like using it as an advert for sustainable and innovative office accommodation.’ To mark the occasion of the opening of the renovated office, and to say thanks to the city that has been so accommodating to Witteveen+Bos, the company is offering the residents of Deventer the brainpower of its staff and will address the energy transition and its consequences for the city together with stakeholders from the municipality.

Work of art
Artist Geert-Jan Hobijn, winner of the 2014 Witteveen+Bos Art+Technology Prize, created a sonic artwork especially for the festive opening event, together with the OHM artist collective. This work, which is called ‘Composed Office’, can be seen and heard in front of the renovated building until Saturday. A permanent work of art that has also been commissioned is the animation on the building’s facade, which explains to children in clear terms what the engineers in this building work on.

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