The Water Wall: a bio-inspired thermoregulative facade system

Modern office buildings commonly have fully glazed façades in order to reflect a luxurious appearance while maximizing the daylight penetration to the interior space. Though glass façades provide plentiful natural light, the amount of energy needed to maintain indoor thermal comfort poses a great challenge to the designers with the cost of what...

The incorporation of sustainability into the real estate investment portfolio

Does sustainability influence the financial performance of office buildings in the Netherlands? Are sustainable certification systems helping the commercial real estate market to move forward? Through providing the necessary rules and protocols, they enable the investors to be more connected with their assets. When considering newly constructed...

Prefab Bathroom: A sanitation facility for a temporary conversion

Since 2000, vacancy in office buildings in the Netherlands rose to nearly 15% (over seven million square meters) of the total amount of office space. In comparison, the regular vacancy rate in a healthy office space market fluctuates around 5%. A certain amount of the vacant office space is structural, meaning it has been available for three or...

Energy Performance Contracting for Existing Office Buildings: Developing and testing a business case model

An investment model was developed that brings together contracts and technologies to provide output on the performance indicators of the relevant stakeholders.

Sustainable retrofit potential in lower quality office stock in the central business district

Given the relationship between energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, the built environment has significant potential to lessen overall emissions. With around half of all greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the built environment; it has a significant role to play in mitigating global warming. With large percentages...

Performance of office buildings from a user's perspective

In the field of environmental psychology a long tradition exists in Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) or building-in-use studies. Nowadays facility managers and real estate managers seem to show a growing interest in ex post evaluation of buildings, too, particularly in connection to ex ante assessments in the briefing and design phase. The aim of...