Smart, efficient and healthy building

The business center of the future. This description perhaps best honors what builder Camino has accomplished with his In The Yard . More than just office space, it feels like a vibrant place, like a home away from home. Indeed, by pursuing the highest level of WELL certification, maximum commitment has been made to the well-being of all future users. The SmartKit, the smart building management system developed by ATS in collaboration with Luminus, helps to ensure that.

In The Yard in Drongen has 5,200 square meters of office space spread over five floors, with an underground parking garage underneath. More important perhaps is what builder Camino has planted around it. Although the E40 motorway is only a stone's throw away and we are in an industrial area, the entire site is bathed in greenery. The highlight is the roof garden that invites you to enjoy every ray of sunshine. "Cross-pollination is what we had in mind. To create an environment where the companies that settle here feel like getting to know each other. So many great things can come out of that," says Camino project manager Finnegan De Vuyst.

Customer needs first

The name Camino may not ring a bell with everyone. It is a family-owned business group born out of property developer Durabrik. "We have grown from that story by adding new specializations each time, allowing us to go further and further in providing innovative building solutions. Always from one motivation, unburdening our customer as much as possible. Each company does that with its own strengths and expertise," De Vuyst explains. And although techniques are also part of the portfolio, they still chose ATS as a partner in the development of In The Yard. "Because of the size of the building," laughs De Vuyst. "In every project we tackle, the client's needs come first and we choose the partners who can best meet them. Even when we build for ourselves. ATS knows our way of working, our buildings. We knew we were in the right place."

Fossil-free thanks to climate ceilings and heat pumps

So Camino had set the bar high for In The Yard . "We are building but we are also going to operate the building afterwards. This allowed us to look beyond the initial investment and charge for the full cost." At the top of the wish list: to be fossil-free. A story that started from the building envelope that provides excellent insulation and runs further in techniques. Naessens HVAC, subsidiary of ATS, signed for a solution with climate ceilings and heat pumps. "Choices that allowed us to work fossil-free, but at the same time improve comfort. After all, we use radiant heat and draft-free cooling," clarifies Michiel Degezelle, project manager for Naessens. "An energetically very efficient system. Just go and feel in the central technical area. It never gets too hot or too cold there."

Techniques invisible and communicative

Second box to check off: control the techniques invisibly and as energy-efficiently as possible. Filip De Bruyne, BU Manager Electrical Solutions: "Flexibility was paramount in the building Camino wanted to create. For example, the walls are demountable so that everyone from a small start-up to an established company can find a tailored office space here. Therefore, the techniques also had to be equally flexible. Because all the techniques were with us, we were able to optimize the separate installations and build them more efficiently. An eye for detail and preparation in BIM, such as using each other's supports for both cable routes and HVAC lines, lead to a more compact solution for the customer." In addition, the techniques had to be communicative enough. "Each vendor uses their own protocols like that, but you have to make them all speak the same language to bring together in a building management system. That was our task," De Bruyne said.

Everything together on one platform

The rest is then taken care of by ATS' SmartKit. "All techniques come together on one platform for a perfect overview: HVAC, (emergency) lighting, solar shading, energy monitoring, charging stations, access control ... you name it," says Cedric Claeys, Application Manager Smart Building Solutions at ATS. "Central to this story is a WAGO controller, a robust industrial solution that brings all the data together and sends it via a secure connection to the SmartKit cloud platform. So you get the best of both worlds." But all the parameters that contribute to a healthy indoor climate are also monitored with the SmartKit. "The Well sensors, two per platform, capture data on temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, light and noise levels, particulate matter and VOC and convert that into a percentage. That too is read in, tracked and makes reporting from the platform easy," adds De Vuyst.

Getting smarter and smarter

It makes In The Yard a smart multi-tenant building. Depending on occupancy - the SmartKit is linked to In The Yard 's reservation system - everything is controlled to perfection. Lighting and heating adjust automatically, resulting in significant energy savings. Claeys: "If the user wants things to be a little different, there are the nine control panels where they can adjust the heating, lighting or outdoor screens as they wish. However, everything is reset every evening so that we can start the new day as efficiently as possible." The SmartKit is also a modular system; users can choose what they need. In The Yard was initially limited to energy monitoring and data logging. With the arrival of 80 charging points, load balancing also proved an interesting addition. "To distribute the available energy as efficiently as possible." The beauty of the SmartKit is that the system does this better and better. The integrated artificial intelligence allows the building to learn from historical data and user behavior.

Advanced operation, easy to use

De Vuyst praises the collaboration with ATS. "We sat down together early in the process to see what was possible to realize our ambitions. The possibilities of the SmartKit really opened our eyes. We as operators are not technical specialists and yet it is very easy to control this building with all its advanced technology and tick off our goals in terms of energy efficiency and well-being. In addition, ATS emphatically casts itself in this project as a multi-technical partner with both electro and HVAC. In a project of this size, that is an undeniable asset. Everything was in one hand." In addition to the Electrical Solutions & Smart Building Solutions business units of ATS and Naessens HVAC, sister company Luc De Jonge was on site for fire protection.