With 4 Fonteinen, Matexi is realizing a new green urban neighborhood in Vilvoorde. The use of geothermal energy and free cooling in the residential and commercial project Waterzicht, stands out the most.
Waterview
Waterzicht is being built on a narrow strip of land between the Zenne and the Brussels-Willebroek Canal, right across domain 3 Fonteinen and close to the Vilvoorde Viaduct. It is part of the 75,000 m2 project site 4 Fonteinen. With its large terraces, Waterzicht is architecturally the most striking building on the site. It includes 66 apartments, 4 houses and 8 spaces for commercial exploitation. The building is built around a central courtyard garden, and is partially open along the side of the Zenne.
Geothermal and Free Cooling
Hot water for the apartments is generated centrally through two condensing gas boilers of 225 kW each. To make the project more sustainable, we supplemented this with a BTES of 12 boreholes feeding a 50 kW water-water heat pump. In the off-seasons, the heat pump heats the return water so that the gas boilers consume less energy.
For the sake of central production, each apartment has a floor station that provides underfloor heating and domestic hot water. In the upper floor apartments, the cooler ground water is the source of free cooling in summer via the underfloor heating, which to this day remains an exceptional asset in a residential project.
Ventilation also contributes to energy efficiency. Each apartment has its own system D for pulsation and extraction. By recovering heat from the air blown out, the air blown in is preheated, which also increases the comfort level.
From PV to Wadi
A PV installation will be installed on the roof. Depending on the calculation of the EPB, each apartment will have 2 to a maximum of 8 PV panels providing a power of 500 to 2,200 watts. Another sustainable asset of the project is the wadi in the publicly accessible inner garden, which will provide a pond effect. Rainwater is first collected in sumps, which overflow into the wadi. When even the wadi is full, the excess water flows into the adjacent Zenne River.
Want to know more about how Ingenium can make your residential project more sustainable? Contact Bart Delgouffe at 050 40 45 30 or bart.delgouffe@industrium.be.
