Zero carbon for Poolhouse

From 1 January 2023, all new buildings must meet the new NZEB energy classification. This means that they will have very high energy performance and almost zero energy consumption covered significantly by on-site renewable energy production.

As environmental friendliness and energy savings are central to our concerns and those of our clients, we have chosen to go beyond these requirements for our new 'Poolhouse' office building and realise a 'Zero Emission Building' (ZEmB).

Unlike the NZEB, the ZEmB is a higher standard that characterises a building with very high energy performance, whose low energy consumption is entirely covered by locally produced renewable energy and without carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

This in-house expertise is made possible by the diversity of our professions, which enables us to offer high-quality projects to a clientele that is increasingly aware of these issues.

Thermal envelope, slab thickness, orientation and glazed surface are all parameters in the design of the building itself that have been analysed, as well as the techniques that influence the energy consumption of the premises, such as ventilation systems, lighting, heating and air conditioning.

Optimising energy performance

"We analysed 11 options for building envelope and technical features. The aim was to optimise the building's energy performance while ensuring the well-being of the occupants and keeping to the budget," explains our Development and Urban Planning department project manager. For example, we studied the reduction of glazed surfaces from 40% to 30% or 20%, the absence of false ceilings, variable ventilation depending on occupancy, the optimisation of lighting and the use of geocooling and geothermal energy.

Our teams selected :

• the use of an active tile;
• lighting in the offices with intelligent 150 lum/W free-standing luminaires that allow savings of 30 to 35%;
• high efficiency heat pumps;
• 1,400m² of photovoltaic panels on the roof, compared to the 750m² planned in the NZEB version.

Studies are underway to reduce the carbon footprint of Poolhouse. It could thus become the first office building in Luxembourg to be classified as Zero Emission and zero carbon footprint.