State-of-the-art systems make the Pillar Office Building in Angyalföld energy efficient

The 29,000 square metre Pillar Office Building at the intersection of Váci út and Dózsa György út in the 13th district of Váci út stands out from other modern office buildings in the district, not only because of its diverse design solutions, according to a statement by Siemens.

The building was constructed by KÉSZ Csoport, with ZDA – Zoboki Architectural Office responsible for the design. The civil engineering works were carried out by HBM Soletanche Bachy Kft., followed by structural work carried out by CLC-Construct Kft..

According to the announcement, the developer of the building, a subsidiary of GTC Magyarország Zrt., followed the principles of the built-to-suit (BTS) design from the outset, i.e. to adapt the building to the needs of future tenants.

This includes environmentally and health-conscious solutions, such as a green inner courtyard of almost 4,000 square metres, which will refresh the familiar urban environment. On the other hand, state-of-the-art, premium quality, sustainable technologies have been used for the interior design of the building. So it's no surprise that the office building has also been awarded one of the most prestigious green building certifications, the LEED Gold certification.

Over a thousand rooms with individually adjustable temperatures

The Siemens Zrt. was also a partner of Pillar Office in the design of the highly energy efficient operation. With the company's customised building automation solutions and building management system, the entire cooling and heating system of the office building can be precisely tuned, and the more than 1,000 office and retail spaces can be individually controlled to meet specific needs.

The GTC-owned maintenance company, based on a year and a half of experience, has found that this automated system also offers demonstrable energy benefits thanks to its fine-tunability and reliability.

The specific district heat consumption of the building, over the whole year, was measured at 4.5 kWh/m2/month, which is about half the average for non- or less automated office buildings. The specific electricity consumption, also measured for the whole year, was 10.5 kWh/m2/month.

The savings are partly due to time-programmed, mode-based equipment control. For example, the automatic system adjusts the temperature by +/-2 degrees Celsius at night after 18 hours compared to the default cooling/heating settings used during working hours on weekdays, and by +/-5 degrees Celsius at weekends when operating in ECO mode.

Cooling can be controlled according to real needs

Further savings can be made by using presence detectors in the building for comfort automation. These sensors can also be used to control heating and cooling on a presence basis. So, for example, in a meeting room that is not in use but has previously been heated or cooled above average, the system automatically returns to the default setting after a certain time. This also ensures optimal energy use.

It also saves energy that the cooling pumps installed on each level can be started not only simultaneously, but also separately. This way, they are not redundantly operated, but only according to the actual cooling demand, based on the data received by the digital sub-centres.

The automatic system also proves its worth during the summer heatwaves. It allows office spaces to be pre-cooled, i.e. the air handlers start up at night below 24°C atmospheric temperature, which means that no major cooling energy is required.

In addition to the automatic solutions, the Pillar Office Building also uses the Siemens fire alarm solutions," the release concludes.