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The Green House: experience circularity

Client R Creators
Country The Netherlands
Location Utrecht
Status Delivered

A fully reusable pavilion with circular business case and operation The municipality of Utrecht chooses phased development for the station area. As part of the Rijkskantoor De Knoop project, in the period of 3 months, consortium R Creators built a hospitality pavilion that can be totally reassembled. Reuse of materials and prefab elements enabled the rapid construction. The pavilion is the prime circular meeting place: reduce, reuse & recycle.

The Green House: a sustainable, circular property development project in the centre of Utrecht. For 15 years and a day!

The Green House is an impressive example of a project involving an integrated approach to a circular building with social circularity, materials, energy to business models.

Circular working means integrated collaboration, from design to operation

Inner city redevelopment

The municipality of Utrecht chooses phased development for the station area. On the site between Rabobank's head office and Rijkskantoor De Knoop, in 15 years' time a big apartment block or office will be constructed. City and government wanted to provide the site with a temporary function as soon as possible to liven up the area. Hospitality outlets were already included in the zoning plan. In addition, they wanted to further define ambitious sustainability goals.

R Creators (Strukton, Ballast Nedam and Facilicom) asked Albron to develop and operate a hospitality concept based on a circular philosophy. In the form of a cooperation agreement instead of a rental contract. Circular working means cooperation throughout the entire chain. That cooperation starts in the design phase. This means that all partners can look at what the building needs.

We test the (design) choices to be made on the degree of circularity, with the 'building circularity index' as the measuring staff. For example, the cladding panels that came from the De Knoop barracks, working with pay-for-use, whereby we pay suppliers for the use of products and the eye catcher: the internal greenhouse ‘the urban farm’.

Experience The Green House

The doors in Utrecht are open. Discover all, more than 50 circular stories behind The Green House. Taste this circular development. Take a virtual walk through The Green House and discover all sustainable stories.

The Green House as circular trendsetter Circularity is:
• Application of sustainable energy, bio-based or fully recyclable materials
• Usable materials and energy from waste or by-products
• Extend the lifecycle of products through repair, upgrading and resale
• Using sharing platforms, ensure an increase in the use of products
• Pay for use or result of a product (pay for use)
• Limit material use and energy consumption

As a meeting place for circularity, centrally located in the heart of Utrecht next to public transport hub Utrecht Central Station, The Green House aims to attract anyone who wants to enjoy or be inspired by the circular economy, either in a professional or private capacity. The pavilion aims to stimulate circular ideas with a special experience of hospitality, (flexible) workplaces, urban farm and innovations. Albron (Facilicom) will make the operation circular, based on reducing waste and energy and water consumption. Could we even achieve a 'plug-free' kitchen in the future?