Circular City Heating at WOS Hakfort in Amsterdam

Circular City Heating at WOS Hakfort in Amsterdam

Reducing CO2 with City Heating

Vattenfall, one of the larger energy suppliers in the Netherlands, has a clear goal: to enable fossil-free living within one generation. We were approached by architect Willem Schutter when he was designing a circular heat substation in Amsterdam.

The Hakfort Heat Transfer Station (Warmteoverdrachtstation Hakfort, or short: WOS Hakfort) in Amsterdam Zuidoost (Southeast) is part of the district heating network of the city of Amsterdam.

District heating is comfortable and environmentally friendly heat coming from a combined heat and power plant. The heat is released when electricity is generated and can be reused for heating residential areas and industrial estates. This way of heating requires almost no extra gas.

Residents and companies with district heating and sustainable cooling achieved 55% less CO2 emissions in 2020 in the southeastern part of Amsterdam, compared to gas-fired central heating systems. This will improve further in the coming years by using new, sustainable heat sources.

Location
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Client
Vattenfall
Construction
J.P. Van Eesteren
Application
Facades

Impact

Waste upcycled with this project 104.656 kg
StoneCycling WasteBasedBricks® - Orange Raw
Orange Raw WasteBasedBricks
Circular City Heating at WOS Hakfort in Amsterdam || StoneCycling
Render: Willem Schutter Architect

Specks of Beautiful Waste

Circularity is very important to energy company Vattenfall. The heat distribution station has therefore been constructed as circular as possible with reusable steel construction and reusable wooden beams. The roof of the building is covered with grasses.

Construction waste has also been processed in the bricks themselves. FRONT® (formerly StoneCycling) supplied WasteBasedBricks and WasteBasedSlips in Orange and Nougat, with Raw & Sliced finishes for this project. In the sliced bricks, you can see the construction waste beautifully in the form of light speckles.

The combination of different textures and layers, presented in a lively orange facade with a (5%) touch of Nougat, resulted not only in a functional but also an aesthetically pleasing building.

StoneCycling WasteBasedBricks® - Nougat Shade
Nougat Raw WasteBasedBricks
Circular City Heating at WOS Hakfort in Amsterdam
Circular City Heating at WOS Hakfort in Amsterdam

The local residents' preference for brick, the circularity, my wish to construct a building as much as possible from one material, all these aspects come together in a functional building that derives its character from this special stone, unprocessed or cleverly sawn, as a grid detailed, added in colour in a fixed pattern.

Willem Schutter, Architect

We are pleased that sustainable construction is becoming an increasingly important precondition for construction projects such as this heat transfer station by Vattenfall. Debris from construction, demolition and industrial processes is one of the largest waste streams in the world and the construction sector is also responsible for a third of all CO2 emissions in Europe. That is why we are proud that these parties are leading the way with us on the road to circular construction.

Ward Massa, CEO StoneCycling