Viabuild pioneers with site office powered by solar-energy

Sustainability is central to us during the works on the bicycle highway between Antwerp and Lier.

We are building a safe and green connection between the two cities, the bicycle highway F11 commissioned by the Province of Antwerp, while our team on the site is committed to sustainable solutions during the works. The local press came to discover our site office earlier this week, which only needs sunlight to provide electricity for the works.

Other site offices use a diesel generator for lack of mains power. But such power groups are very inefficient, as they often run for long periods of time, for only a fraction of their power. They emit an unnecessary amount of CO2 and soot. In addition, they are very noisy, which is disturbing for local residents. Our innovative site office, which was equipped with solar panels and a battery pack by Locquet Power & Light, solves these problems in one go. At night the electricity comes from the silent batteries, and during the day directly from the sun. This site shed is therefore completely autonomous, 24 hours a day, without the use of fossil fuels. And that is a first for Flanders.

Watch the RTV interview with Steven Thijs, head of the Civil Engineering department, here (in Dutch):

At Viabuild, we are most proud of the fact that the idea for the green site office came from our employees themselves. Every year we organize a competition to put sustainability in the spotlight: the solar-energy construction site office was the winning proposal of 2020.

Read more about this unique project (in Dutch) on Made In, Het Laatste Nieuws, Het Nieuwsblad and more