Ighor Van De Vyver
Policy advisor on the topic of fossil-free heat and leader of the heat strategy at the Climate team
"Team Climate is part of the Strategy & ICT department of the City of Mechelen. We helped draw up the city's Climate Action Plan, which stipulates that we want to be climate-neutral by 2050, and are also involved in numerous European projects, including on energy-efficient housing renovations and on renewable energy. The latter includes the SHIFFT project on renewable heat. These projects enable the city to achieve its ambition. This is how team climate grew into a team with more than ten colleagues."
"I got to know Ingenium when we initiated studies for a heating strategy. The central question: how can we heat all buildings in Mechelen without fuel oil or gas by 2050? In the fall of 2020, we sought technical support and expertise to map the heat demand and the possible sources of renewable heat. That assignment was carried out by Ingenium, which worked with participation expert Annick Vanhove (for Levuur, and since August 2021 for Contutti) for that purpose. For us, it was a first step towards a local heat policy, which we are still working out. The study provided a lot of map material, and a basis for heat zoning. That way we know for each zone what the most desirable technical solution is - renovation with a heat pump or a heat network - and what the social cost of that is. Meanwhile, that task has also been extended: Ingenium and Contutti are going to set up workshops with local experts in order to effectively move from vision formation to concrete action plans and a realistic policy plan to realize our ambition."
"A second study for which Ingenium was selected concerns Ragheno: a former brownfield site behind the train station. With 2,500 homes and over 100,000 m2 of office space, it is the largest urban development project in Mechelen. Together with Sumaqua and Opus 25, Ingenium submitted a proposal for a large-scale energy concept based on sustainable heat. This is now being investigated further. A third study concerns the Climate District - Mechelen Vesten. In the summer we were selected by Labo Ruimte (Department of Environment + Team Flemish Master Builder) of the Flemish government as 1 of 3 pilot projects for a climate district. We want to investigate whether a heat network is possible along our Mechelen Vesten, including the collective renovation of apartment buildings along that route. To do that research, we were looking for a very multidisciplinary team. The proposal from consortium consisting of Ingenium, Levuur, Atelier Horizon, Bureau Bouwtechniek and Meta Advocaten was successful, and the report has since been delivered. They are 3 very ambitious studies, and certainly the last one is very important and strategic. Because building a heat network in existing urban fabric is not obvious. But because the Vesten will become a one-way street, that redevelopment project is a great opportunity to see if a heat grid can't go into the ground with that."
"In such projects, we as a city are looking for expertise. Unlike, for example, Roeselare or Bruges, which have many decades of experience with heat networks, this is very new territory for us. So we did feel uncertain, and sought expert advice. Ingenium's knowledge about heat networks is enormous. They are also very present in this field. We are now taking our first steps in working groups that are shaping the policy of the higher authorities, and there too we keep running into Ingenium's experts. It gives confidence that they know what they are talking about. If you ask a question, you always get a very well-founded answer."
"What also struck me is how well they know the Mechelen context. They had previously worked on energy and sustainability projects around the Komet site, the new urban district Keerdok, the Sint-Maartens Hospital and the Kantvelde residential development, among others. I found that very important."
"What is unique about Ingenium is that they always start from a multidisciplinary approach. For each of the three projects we have set up over the past two years, they were each time able to assess very well which partners with complementary expertise would be the most suitable to achieve the best result. That ability to work in a multidisciplinary context was definitely an added value. Moreover, I always had the feeling that we worked together and formed a team rather than a client/borrower relationship. These are very complex issues. Then it is nice to take on these assignments together and to feel that this is a good fit, and that they also appreciated working with us. We find it important that whoever works with us, does so gladly." (laughs)
"Our studies were started in the corona era. So they were not easy circumstances. I only saw Joris from Ingenium a few times since the startup in 2020, in the fall of 2022. So it was mostly remote and digital, but it worked out. We had a good rapport. And if ever there was something sensitive, we took the phone to clear that up. There was an openness to hear each other's views, both them to us, and vice versa."
"So the cooperation with Ingenium has certainly always proved an added value for us so far. In fact, we are now considering applying together for a European project. So it's nice that we also find each other for the future."
