Flexible design process circular centre: ‘build with the bricks you have’

The design process of the circular centre in Heerde is approaching the DO phase. At least, as far as the normal phases apply to this special, highly circular project. “We have to be flexible, but at the same time also 'build with the 'Lego bricks' that are available”. And those building blocks come from Prinsenhof A, the former provincial government building in Gelderland, which was mined circularly. For this project, the province of Gelderland won a Circular Public Award yesterday.
understanding each other

understanding each other
From the beginning of the project, cepezed and client Lagemaat worked closely together. Understanding each other and being flexible are important in this challenging process, emphasises project architect Jasper Manders of cepezed. After all, they are designing with reclaimed materials. “We started designing while the elements were taken from the Prinsenhof (the former Gelderland Provincial House) by Lagemaat.”

what blocks?
Unlike a traditional design process with new materials, the design team has to constantly ask questions like: “What are these blocks? What can we do with them? We're all doing research on the materials. We talk to former producers, do all sorts of studies. Also, in collaboration with TNO and TU Eindhoven, we commission research on all precast concrete elements, such as pressure tests and load tests.”

compression tests
“Pressure tests on the reclaimed hollow-core slabs from Prinsenhof show that these 40-year-old floors are well within the current standard,” says Joost Puttenstein, project manager at Lagemaat. "The hollow-core slabs even turn out to be twice as strong as what they were originally recorded for,” adds Lagemaat director Gerd Jan Jongerman.

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details
The functions of all elements are considered in the design. “Floors, for example, remain floors,” Manders says. “Lagemaat very carefully took apart the Prinsenhof A building in Arnhem. But the challenge remains to use them as they are. We can't really change anything major about the elements. Fortunately, Lagemaat does have all the manpower and resources in house to adjust the details.”

circularity as the focal point
Only after the final design (DO) is in state, impressions of this circular centre in Heerde will be shared. “It will be very beautiful,” Jongerman says proudly. “And the nice thing about this project is that reuse is the focal point for all parties involved,” says Manders. The size of the building covers some 10,000 m² GFA (gross floor area), of which some 6,000 m² is office space. It also includes a social workshop (1,000 m²) and a hall (2,700 m²).

circular award 2023
The old office building of the province of Gelderland has been dismantled by Lagemaat in a sustainable way and very carefully. As a result, no less than 92% of the materials from this old building will be given a second life in the new building. Much of this will be used in the construction of the Circular Centre in Heerde. “An example of Re-use on the R-ladder! The CO² gain is huge because concrete is a very polluting material. In addition, it is a scalable project and a very solid business case”, jury president Jaqueline Cramer (professor of sustaibable innovation at Utrecht University) commented on the Cicular Public Award for the Prinsenhof project: “Everyone should do it like this!”