During the Gala of the Dutch Building Sector on Wednesday evening February 11th 2009, DUO² BV were awarded the Dutch Construction Award 2009 in the category Integrated Design and Construction with their public-private partnership project ‘PPP Housing IB-Groep and Regional Tax Office in Groningen’. The Construction Award is granted every two years to a process, service, product or project that has made a special contribution the quality of construction. Key for the construction sector is the innovative character or the sustainable appearance of the project.
DUO² is a consortium consisting of Strukton, Ballast Nedam and John Laing. The architect is UNStudio from Amsterdam. Subcontractors are the landscape architects firm Lodewijk Baljon Landschapsarchitecten, ISS and YNNO. Arup and Studio Linse have had an important input as a consultant.
The comment from the jury was as follows: “The jury appreciates this design, because it is a perfect example of integrated designing seen from three dimensions: the integration of disciplines (1) has been shaped by letting all experts involved take part in the design process right from the start. The integration of abstractions (2), in which form, function and structure are viewed on the basis of their connectivity, has resulted in overall solutions. The innovative façade concept is just one example. The integration throughout the lifetime (3) has been put into practice by a life cycle approach, in which the stage of usage has been expressly incorporated into the design process, not only seen from the perspective of maintenance but also in view of future scenarios for reuse.”
The project comprises the design, construction and financing of the new office of the Informatie Beheer Groep and the Tax Office (47,000 m²), including the management and maintenance of the building and the provision of support services for a period of 20 years. The building provides room for approximately 2500 workstations and will have parking facilities for 1500 bicycles and 675 cars, which will be accommodated for the main part in an underground parking. This will be covered by a large public city garden with fountains and ponds and a multifunctional pavilion for commercial purposes.
In March 2008 consortium DUO² was selected as preferred bidder in the European tender for this project. The Dutch Government Buildings Agency was the Tendering Department. The building was put out to tender in the form of a public private participation (PPP), and it is expected that this integrated contract form will lead to a more effective use of public funds.
Sustainability plays a major role, which is why it was integrated into the design as a whole. The façade, the choice of materials, the finishing and integration of installations are geared to a high degree of sustainability and a minimum of environmental impact. Apart from this, the residual energy of the offices and the data centre of the Informatie Beheer Groep can be used in due course for the heating of homes to be realized in the future at the edge of the project premises. The building was also designed such that it can be converted for residential purposes without requiring any far-reaching adjustments to the building construction. This is why careful thought has been given at an early stage to, for instance, the location of elevators, installations, and staircases. As a result of all this, the building will become one of the most sustainable office buildings in the Netherlands.
These results are possible because during the assessment the principal has also given weight to qualitative criteria apart from the price. Project director Kees van Oosteren of DUO²: “We knew that we could only win with an unparalleled design, but the budget was also tight. This has forced us to match the design as a whole with the cost of use and maintenance, in order to keep the costs as low as possible throughout the lifetime of the project. During the selection, the State has shown the ability of attaching great importance to quality as well as to the price. This was an opportunity that we could not afford to miss as a consortium.”
Cees van Vliet, project director of the Dutch Government Buildings Agency adds: "In this PPP project the State has focused as much as possible on overall quality that was limited by a maximum. DUO² has seen this as a real opportunity and went that extra mile to get the job done. We are pleased with this splendid result."
The building will be delivered in March 2011, and subsequently a start will be made with the demolition of the current office towers of the Informatie Beheer Groep and Tax Authority at Kempkensberg, as well as the construction of the underground parking, the city garden and the pavilion.
More information: PPP Housing IB Groep and Regional Tax Office Groningen.