The roof of the fifty-year-old Forest National needed renovating. "It is not a completely new roof", begins Coralie Berael, Venue Director at Forest National. "The steel load-bearing structure has remained the same. The renovation took place on top of the existing roof structure as the isolation of the roof was no longer up to the job. There were also quite a lot of leaks."
Plans to replace the roof were initiated a year in advance by architectural firm abv+. "The timing was important. Because of the many concerts and shows, we only had a limited time frame in which to execute the works. We could only start after the last concert in June and the hard deadline was the end of August", explains Coralie.
"Polydak did a heroic job. Especially since we had extremely bad luck with the weather, as it rained almost non-stop during the works. Along with renovating the top part of the roof, Kingspan also replaced 42 smoke vents."
"With a price of approximately half a million euros, the renewal of 5.600m2 of roof surface is an important step in the energetic renovation of Forest National. The work progressed safely and there was a good accord between Kingspan and Polydak, despite the severe weather," says Jasper Plaetinck, Facility & Safety Manager at be•at.
Coralie Berael, Venue Director at Forest National
Better for the neighborhood, as well as the environment
With the renovation of the roof, Forest National kills two birds with one stone. On the one hand, it makes our energy management more sustainable. And on the other hand, the sound-damping layer will reduce the noise pollution in the neighborhood.
"A layer of acoustic isolation has been applied, which was not there before. On top of that lies a thick layer of thermic isolation", elucidates Coralie. "The roofing was black initially, but because of urban heat issues, we have now opted for a light grey roof covering. This way, the sunlight will no longer be absorbed and the temperature inside of the concert hall will be more easily regulated. This will ensure we can manage our energy usage more responsibly, both in summer and in winter."
Reporting our sustainable efforts
To follow up on the results of our sustainable investment in Forest National, we started a pilot project with start-up Circular Unity, to gather all available data on one platform. "For years we have been registering literally everything", smiles Coralie. "We count the number of bikes at each show, for example, and process the data from MIVB/STIB as well. Before and after each show, we take readings of the energy meters to examine how to make our energy consumption even more efficient. Each year, processing this data takes quite some effort."
"For that matter, we report yearly to the local government about the socio-economic and sustainable aspects of our operation, all the way since 2012", clarifies Coralie. "At this moment, the data we need for this report is spread across different sources. Each member of the team has their own spreadsheets, which we combine a few times a year. Working with Circular Unity, we are trying to determine how we could make this data digitally available on their platform. The most ideal scenario would be if I could consult the dashboard in the morning with a cup of coffee in hand, to follow up on our efforts regarding sustainability. To measure is to know. The result will help us reduce our ecological footprint even more", concludes Coralie Berael of Forest National.
Promoted by be•at
