Fun is cultivated here! At the new head office

Fun is cultivated here!

Does that ring a bell? It’s the well-known slogan of Aveve, a company that has around 200 stores in Belgium. Aveve is a strong brand of Arvesta, the full service provider for farmers and gardeners both at home and abroad. In late 2023, the agriculture expert opened its new head office in Leuven in the presence of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Mayor of Leuven Mohamed Ridouani.

Panel. BMS. Smart building.

Commissioned by Heatco, we handled the distribution panels and the BMS. “In total, we integrated twenty-four area adjustments for the forty-seven rooms. This mainly took place in the
meeting rooms, so the temperature can be adjusted separately in each room. The heating itself uses a combination of heat pumps and fan convectors. The heat pumps generate heat, and the fan convectors distribute it”, explains Kurt. “You can also use the touchscreen to monitor the air quality. Each screen displays three possible colour codes: green, yellow and red. The touchscreens can also be used to adjust the air quantity controllers and temperature. We connected each area controller to the central control unit in the technical area using bus communication.”

Schneider Electric came out on top when it came to the building management system. “We brought them to the table to help us draw up the design and translate the consultancy firm’s needs into practice, each using our own expertise. By working together, we could be sure that we exploited all the opportunities the system offered. And that we arrived at the best solution.” Schneider also ranked top for the panels. “We designed and assembled a large main panel that controlled everything from one place: heat pumps, ventilation, circulation  pumps, and so on. We also built twenty-four distribution panels, one for each area. We also paid particular attention to maintenance. The main panel features a touchscreen that displays all the core data. That means you don’t have to connect your laptop – everything you need to know can be read off immediately. Or adjusted on site if needed”, says Kurt. “Secondly, everything can be measured. How much energy are we consuming and where? How  many hours is the circulation pump running for? We’ve made it so it can be measured and offers
insights with the right sensors.” “For this building, we had to design and assemble the panels as well as plan and integrate the BMS. About the building That was a huge added value. If you outsource that to two parties, someone always has to be the gobetween. That’s because you need to make sure the machines, the inputs and outputs, the controls and so on are  aligned with each other. We draw up the programming and commissioning diagrams down to the last detail. If you have to hand all that over to the panel builder and whoever they  engage for the cabling, something will get lost somewhere along the line”, concludes Kurt. “Now, we have everything in one place. And Heatco has a single point of contact.”•