Smart building full of connected technologies

As a specialist in multi-technical installations and technology, VMA's new head office serves as a true showcase. The company building in Sint-Martens-Latem is characterised by optimally connected building technologies and strong energy performance.

VMA called on general contractor Alheembouw to carry out the closed structural work. Around three quarters of the existing building was demolished. Only the offices at the front of the building – on the street side – were retained. “Initially, we wanted to renovate the steel structure of the existing hall. Gradually, it became clear that a lot of repair and modification work would be needed to achieve a sustainable result, so we demolished that too and replaced it with a new steel structure,” says Pieter Onraet of Alheembouw. “We demolished the concrete basement – with technical room and mainly parking – on site, as well as the stairwells. We then installed the columns, beams and vaults with prefabricated elements. The car park was also completely rebuilt. This gave us a lot of room to manoeuvre on and around the site.”

Watertight connections as a point of attention

The biggest challenge in constructing the shell was ensuring watertight connections between the concrete terraces and the canopies on the façade. The second floor is set back, creating space for pleasant terraces. “The complexity of this building lay in the many corners and edges, where accurate waterproofing is crucial. We neatly sealed all the connections with EPDM slabs,” explains Pieter Onraet. In total, Alheembouw realised around 1,900 square metres of office space and another 500 square metres of warehouse space. In September 2021, they delivered the building wind and watertight. In the meantime, the interior design has also been completed and the VMA team is working from its new base.

Smart Building Solution

VMA specialises in smart, connected building technologies. They have put this expertise to good use in their own head office. Magali Moreels from VMA: “We created a complete Smart Building Solution, with Human Centric Lighting, a Flexdesk, automatic monitoring of meeting room occupancy with presence detection, and so on. Intelligent cameras count how many people are present in our building.”

Reservations for the underground car park are made via a digital reservation system with IoT LoRa connection. In addition, all building users have access to a handy app that allows them to reserve meeting rooms and parking spaces, navigate through the building, use virtual remote room control via Bluetooth, integrate with Microsoft Exchange, access charging station management and consult the information portal for general information. “We even integrated the sandwich reservation system,” emphasises Magali Moreels. “Efficiency and ease of use were paramount. Exactly what we strive for with every customer.”