The Sint-Jan campus in Genk, part of the Hospital Oost-Limburg (ZOL), today consists of approximately 100,000m² of floor space. In time, the hospital plans several more expansions. Several new buildings including a parking building, a new critical block, a new energy building, a new nursing block, ... will be added to the site.
This expansion provides a new spatial vision of the (future) site. With this new approach, ZOL seizes the opportunity to critically assess the utility infrastructure and adapt it to the future situation. The existing hospital will also be integrated into this new approach. Especially the heat, cold and steam production and distribution will be an important part of this.
Currently, ZOL already has a historic, but innovative, central heat production plant. Back then, this was put on the basis of large central heat pumps. Today, however, a significant part of heating and hot water production is still produced on the basis of fossil fuels. This is often still the case in most hospitals in Belgium.
In order for utilities to meet the future needs and desires of the site, a concrete and phased master plan vision for heat and cold generation and distribution on campus was developed. The premise of the master plan is to provide a sustainable and energy-efficient energy infrastructure. This means an infrastructure based entirely on renewable sources that can be consistently applied in all new and existing buildings. The rollout of this infrastructure in the existing hospital will take place in phases and will make the hospital and the entire site sustainable step by step. Ultimately, the hospital will be able to abandon its current partly fossil-based heat production.
During the development of this master plan, great attention was also paid to the operational security of the hospital. Design guidelines for the building designers were drawn up so that each subproject, both of the new buildings and the planned renovation projects, can be consistently included in the overall energy master plan for heating and cooling.
Would you like more information about a possible master plan for your building or site? Feel free to contact our expert Joris Dedecker at joris.dedecker@ingenium.be or 050 40 45 30.
