Sustainable housing

We recognise the following aspects of sustainable housing processes:

• Adequate housing
• Process support from definition to management and use
• Application of in-depth knowledge of buildings and trends

Adequate housing
The objective of ‘adequate housing’ is the development of housing that offers both the optimum size and the maximum possibilities for the user. Because both use and construction of housing present a strain on the environment, these are limited as far as possible in this approach. AT Osborne supports clients in defining the organisation’s housing requirements at present and in the future. This includes determining the level of ambition with respect to the sustainability, quality and appeal of the housing. Also, our financial experts translate these requirements into lifecycle costs, enabling requirements and costs to be weighed by the organisation.

Process support
The requirements for adequate housing alone are not enough to guarantee sustainable building development. To achieve this we support building development through the design and realisation stages up to completion and use. Our expertise stretches from the selection and contracting of designing and contracting parties, periodic inspection of products by these parties to the management of changes to the scope of the project. During the process AT Osborne uses tools such as BREEAM to make sure the building’s level of sustainability matches the requirements.

Knowledge and trends
Some trends that strongly affect sustainability are cloud computing, outsourcing of energy supplies and facility management. These trends meet developments such as workplace-independent working (The New Way of Working) and sustainable mobility. We translate these trends and developments into knowledge in order to maximise user options.

Some references

• TNT Green Office in Hoofddorp: a zero-emission new office building.
• AT Osborne Headquarters in Baarn: the first sustainable renovation of a listed building in the Netherlands that has been converted to a low-energy office.
• Provincial Office for Noord-Holland in Haarlem: CO2 policy made tangible in energy-efficient buildings.

Research programmes
The New Way of Working: What will office housing be like in the future in view of social, organisational and interpersonal changes to the way (office) work is carried out?

• DBFMORE: Which possibilities related to the development of buildings and their use lead to more sustainable building?
• SynEnergy: How can the building’s environment such as neighbouring buildings contribute to the energy efficiency of a single building?