Belgium’s rain clouds help flush Berlaymont toilets

By Martin Banks

Date: 14/10/04

THE Berlaymont, the European Commission's newly refurbished headquarters, features some state-of-the-art methods of energy conservation.

The 3,000 staff, including 25 commissioners, who are now moving back into the star-shaped building, can look forward to enjoying some unusual environmental features as part of its estimated €670 million makeover.

The water collectors running under the building and some of the incoming rainwater are used to flush the toilets and urinals.

Rainwater is also channelled to the system for watering the plants on the esplanade and in the lobby gardens.

The lighting system is designed with energy efficiency in mind. A light sensor automatically adjusts the level of artificial lighting in line with the intensity of the natural illumination.

Another sensor detects when the office is empty and automatically turns the lights off. The 240,000 m2 building has an environmentally friendly air conditioning system too.

The amount of air delivered is controlled by a thermostat, which reacts to the thermal load. According to André Mambourg, the Commission's assistant director for infrastructures, the system can save a great deal of energy because the rate at which the air is supplied is no higher than strictly necessary.

EU rules require new buildings of this size to have an energy efficiency certification. The Commission says that the energy certification of the Berlaymont will not be decided until the new year.

A highly innovative design when it was built in 1967, the Berlaymont had to be evacuated in 1991 because of the asbestos used to insulate it against fire.

Not everyone has been enamoured with the building's environmental credentials, however, with environmentalists claiming that illegally logged wood was used in its refurbishment.

Greenpeace complained that the contractors used Indonesian plywood and declared that the huge building was a "forest crime scene".

The Commission denies the allegations.

The Berlaymont, the European Commission's newly refurbished headquarters, features some state-of-the-art methods of energy conservation, including water collectors systems.