How do you make a business park 100 percent circular?
Although industrial estates are often located on the edge of the city, they are places where residents spend a lot of time. This also applies to Ambachtsezoom in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht. The municipality has the ambition to develop this new industrial estate in an energy-neutral and circular way in a nature-inclusive and pleasant working and living environment. Urban planner Judit Gaasbeek Janzen of OD205 and Vincent Alberts, Sales Manager Benelux at Hydro Pole Products, explain how they contribute to this.
The ambition to create a sustainable and circular business park, Ambachtsezoom, arose early in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht. The municipality has recorded its sustainable and circular wishes in the manual for circularity. This is done through eight goals that must be taken into account by the companies in the public space and on the lots: water, air, soil, energy, green, people, materials, and profit. These principles should be reflected everywhere in the park, such as in the paving, the greenery, the furniture, the bridges, and of course, the lighting.
What is circular then?
“The only question was, what does circular mean? There are a hundred different definitions of that,” says Gaasbeek Janzen, involved from the start of the project. A visit to Park 2020 in Hoofddorp, a green business park built on healthy and sustainable principles, gave a push in the right direction. This is how the municipality came into contact with the cradle-to-cradle principle, which became a guideline to continue on.
The ambitions have been translated into concrete measures for the public space and the lots. For example, buildings must generate their own sustainable energy and provide roofs with greenery and/or solar panels. Furthermore, entrepreneurs must build their buildings circularly: the municipality demands that all materials are sustainable, reused, and can be completely disassembled after their service life.
Pioneering and discussing
It leads to discussions here and there, Gaasbeek Janzen gives examples: from a jetty at a water feature where the question is what is more circular: a composite decking board made from recycled plastic or wood that has a longer lifespan. And whether the biobased paving stones, made from a mix of elephant grass and concrete, are strong enough for heavy traffic. And is that elephant grass indigenous and sustainable?
She continues: “We are pioneering, as the municipality also says. As far as I'm concerned, a hundred percent circular is only if you add nothing, so then you make a design in which you try to add as little as possible and then look for suppliers at an early stage with the question of how circular their product is.”
Circular masts
Gaasbeek Janzen, responsible for the lighting in the park, ended up at Hydro Pole Products. “We got involved right at the beginning, in the design phase. That was nice,” says Vincent Alberts, sales manager at Hydro. “We were given the principles and frameworks and, for example, that ecology was also very important.” Alberts tells the urban planner that sustainability has been a priority from the start at Hydro. “The Hydro location in Drunen, in addition to the Pole production location, also has its own recycling unit and extrusion presses. This unique combination ensures that Hydro can literally offer everything under one roof: from scrap (an old light pole with a life already behind it) to a new end product (a new light pole with a life ahead of it).”
The light poles, Cradle to Cradle Certified® Silver from Hydro, fit seamlessly with the circular economy wishes of the business park. “Our masts consist mainly of recycled aluminum. In 2013, we introduced a return system so that we can take in old masts from our customers, disassemble them, and reuse them as new raw material. This enables us to close the chain together with our customers. We design our masts with reuse in mind. Over the years, we have taken more and more steps in this direction, and that fits in nicely with the starting points of this project."
Sustainable goals
Gaasbeek Janzen asks Alberts to help with the lighting as well. He involves his partners, with Schréder producing the luminaires and delivering the lighting plan. Ecology is a key criterion here, with the design and amber lighting taken into account. It improves the quality of life and ties in with the municipality's other wish to create a pleasant environment for people, plants, and animals.
She wants to use an experience square and walking routes to encourage users to enjoy the outdoor space. To ensure the intended quality of life, the municipality carries out measurements. “The air quality is monitored, and only sustainable energy is generated. We have drawn up a number of criteria for which baseline measurements have been taken and which are reviewed every five years. For example, biodiversity is now higher in the business park than when it was still a polder area.”
Article published in Straatbeeld
Editor: Mark Bos
Photographer: Marcella Tenlima