The project aims at consolidating a series of sites previously located in several cities in Belgium and in The Netherlands. The location along the Albert water canal (and the E313 Motorway) and not far away from Antwerp, Europe’s second-largest seaport, was a major decision in orderto reach energy-neutrality for the completed phase one and a project creating more energy than used for the second phase still under progress.
NIKE European Logistics Campus offers a wide variety of sustainable features of which one of the most visually spectacular one is the 1.3-km long green serpentine along the west façade. Probably, the world's longest such hanging green façade, it provides 3,000 sqm of green façade which integrate useable spaces for the people, sun protection and hidden emergency routes. The overall design has been based on three focus points: fossil-free operations, closed loop flows and a healthy and biodiverse environment and thus creating an example of sustainability.
The use of the sun, the wind, the water, the land and the biomass energy through sun panels (photovoltaic and heat), wind turbine, hydro power station, KWO (geothermal) and biomass power station as well as innovative uses of metal and cement combined with an overall design which integrates natural elements along the façade as a "natural" extension of a newly built landscaped park has created a logistics center which is now the benchmark within the NIKE group and all the NIKE logistics centers being currently designed anywhere in the world should be looking at as example to follow.
The project is LEED GOLD-certified. The overall design has been based on three focus points: Fossil-free operations, closed loop flows and a healthy and biodiverse environment and thus creating a shining example of sustainability.
Use of sun, wind, water, land and biomass energy.
Through sun panels (photovoltaic and heat), wind turbine, hydro power station, KWO (geothermal) and biomass power station. -Use of Blast furnace cement -Green façades and green roofs fully integrated in the environment. The green façade is used as external meeting point, sun protection and includes hidden emergency routes. -Creation of a park located next-door structured by analogy with the surrounding landscape (patterns of plot lines and fields, canals, rows of trees and paths).
Innovative use materials.
Clad racking: less steel, more savings. The Lowbay building and the conveyor zone are simple structures. The Lowbay is a fully prefabricated concrete structure. The conveyor zone – 162 x 21 x 26 meters – consists mainly of steel. It is above all the steel technique of the high bays that attracts attention. The design team applies the clad racking principle there. Such a clad rack consists of a flat concrete slab where a complete rack structure made of galvanized, cold-formed steel is built. It is used as a storage space and as a structure on which to place the façade.
Water efficiency
A Closed loop water system is installed on site. An integrated closed loop water strategy focuses both on water-efficiency and storm, discharge water buffering, infiltration and recycling. All rain water from non-vegetated roofs is recuperated into water tanks. This water will be reused after filtration and disinfection for toilet flushing, irrigation and truck wash. All water from roads and car parks gets first through a HC separator and will then together with the rainwater from the vegetated roofs infiltrate in ponds and wadis. The use of water is also minimalized by using low flow water taps, showers, etc. Toilets and urinals are also equipped with low flow flush installation and dual for toilets.
Occupant health & safety.
All buildings are ventilated, naturally for the Highbay were no people are working (only storage). In the Lowbay and Offices all ventilation is done air handling units who are equipped with F7 and F9 filters, heating and cooling batteries (connected to KWO), with heat energy recuperation unit, with humidification and dehumidification to obtain a humidity control between 40 and 70%. The air rates are also calculated to obtain an IDA class 1 (highest classification). To ameliorate the air quality and the energy consumption, the air intakes are orientated towards the main wind directions. All exhaust air is located at more than 12m of each intake and in the opposite direction of the main wind direction. For the future, 50% of the land is to remain free of any construction in order to allow the newly built landscaped park to grow as scheduled and remain a useful amenity for all the NIKE employees.
The building is a perfect translation of Nike’s philosophy. Waste and material use have been reduced on all fronts. Thus, the metal stack construction of the storage racks in the highest component of the building (the “Highbay”) bears both the roof and the facade. The cranes that ride to and from the immense hall are hybrid: the braking energy is converted into driving force. The presence of the Albert Canal is put to optimal use: 99% of the goods containers are brought to the site by barging. The logistics is to serve Europe up to Moscow and from the start the project has been designed to become the "NIKE flagship logistics center" which now stands as standard to follow when designing/implementing new NIKE logistics center all over the world.
