Starting in 2023, the Antwerp Police Zone will be housed in a brand new Master Building. The very diverse function make the building quite complex. Ingenium guides and advises AG Vespa on all (complex) technical issues in the building.
© Stéphane Beel Architects - Jaspers-Eyers & Partners
The Master Building will be constructed on the corner of the Borsbeekse bridge with the Binnensingel in Berchem. The total floor area of 78,000 m² is divided between 10 above-ground levels (divided between 2 'towers' and a 'pedestal') and 4 underground building levels (including extensive parking facilities). From 2023, more than 2,000 police employees will be working there, and the umbrella services of the Antwerp Police Zone will be centralized there.
In addition to a comprehensive and flexible office environment, the building will also house specific police spaces (such as interview and interrogation rooms, an arrestee area, sports and training rooms and a telecommand room), as well as a restaurant adjacent to a large atrium space. Because of the very diverse functions, the building is quite complex. Naturally, great attention is also paid to comfort and a pleasant working environment on the one hand, but also to the extensive security provisions required by the specific nature of the building.
The building is being executed within a DBFM agreement by Post X LPA NV, which is designing, constructing, financing and maintaining the master building. AG Vespa acts as principal and contracting authority for the City of Antwerp and the Antwerp Police Zone, and leases the complex to the police.
Ingenium's role in this project is that of technical consultant for AG Vespa, together with our colleagues from Freestone for the architectural part. Ingenium guides and advises AG Vespa on all (complex) technical issues in the building. We do this from the design phase (with the co-evaluation of technical design choices and their elaboration), in the current implementation phase (with control of the technical quality and degree of finishing of the installations) and later with an extensive commissioning process in which the proper functioning of the installations will be tested and assessed, in order to be able to monitor the comfort of use for the police afterwards.
