Office Geelen Counterflow

For their new office building, Geelen Counterflow in Haelen The Netherlands wished for a sustainable building. At least it should be zero-energy building. After completion this had resulted into a building which produces 60% more than it consumes and a BREEAM-score of 99,94%. At that time this BREEAM-score was the highest in the world for an office building. An important contribution to this high score is made by the carefull selection of used materials. The main loadbearing structure is made of timber. Large parts of this timber structure are constructed from

laminated timber without the use of glue. The structural facades, walls, floors and even the elevator shaft are constructed in Nur-Holz. Nur-Holz is an application of cross laminated timber (CLT), where all planks are connected not by glue but by the use of wooden dowels. This way a glue-free CLT is obtained. Of all possible building materials, glue-free CLT has got the lowest environmental impact and the lowest CO2-footprint. In some parts where Nur Holz was not suitable Glulam beams and columns are used.