Engineering feat for Scala College

The Scala College in Alphen aan den Rijn received a brand new building that houses the upper secondary school for vmbo and havo since October. It meets the requirements for Nearly Energy Neutral Buildings (BENG) and the strictest ventilation requirements. Homij Vianen provided the entire E, W and control technical installation.

The new building covers some 10,000 m2, half of which consists of the school section and the other half of a high-quality sports hall. Part of the existing building (2,000 m2) was gutted and refurbished. The result is a versatile school with theory and practical classrooms, including a laboratory space, barber chairs and a teaching kitchen.

Fine climate

The work for Homij also consisted of a diverse package with many sustainability measures: solar panels, three electric heat pumps, four air handling units, climate optimization and in each room a smart display that measures temperature, CO2 and presence. Sven Jakobsen, project manager at Homij Vianen, says: "It is a modular system, so each room has its own control. Users can adjust the temperature themselves, dim the lights and control the blinds. So the teachers are in charge of their own classroom."

Prefabricated plumbing

According to Jakobsen, these days it is not the sustainability requirements that make a project challenging. Sustainability has become standard. "I'm no longer surprised by solar panels or heat pumps. We heat and ventilate as needed, those are ways to make a building optimally sustainable. For us, that has become normal." For the plumbing, the installer decided to adopt a new methodology. Everything was delivered completely prefabricated. Even the taps were pre-assembled on the sinks and the seats on the toilets. Everything was delivered packaging-free. "The saved a lot of on-site handling. We liked this way of working so much that we will do this on subsequent projects," Jakobsen said. He is satisfied with the completed building and the cooperation that developed during the work: "It has become a technical masterpiece, very successful. This shows how important it is to work well together. Especially in today's difficult times."