An exemplary logistics organisation for a high-security building: even more than the use of the cutting-edge technologies that were employed, it was the sheer scale of this 250,000m² project that was the real challenge.

The new NATO headquarters is one of the largest building projects constructed in Belgium in recent years. Cegelec, along with its sister companies from VINCI Energies Belgium, ITB and Televic AV, handled the HVAC technologies, the technical management of the building, the electricity, the audiovisual installation and the data network cabling. This 250,000m² building, designed by American, British and Belgian architects and engineers from SOM-ASAR and VK Engineering, has been erected by BAM Alliance under the management of the Ministry of Defense, that also provided the site of more than 40 hectares.

The new NATO headquarters can accommodate 4,000 to 4,500 employees. In addition to the 120,000m² of offices, there is a conference centre, press rooms, meeting rooms, restaurants, a bank, shops, working areas, sports facilities, staff facilities and a technical building for the energy supply where the focus is on sustainability.

As part of our electricity scope, we set up the high-voltage and low-voltage installations. We also dealt with the low-current installations, for, among other things, the telemetry of the entire site. Another considerable task we managed was the installation of a passive network infrastructure, from the server room to the user’s computer. This is what is known as ‘fibre to the desk’.

For the HVAC, in addition to the production and distribution of heat and cold, we also contributed to the building management system, which comprises several hardware devices and a bundle of software which integrates all of the associated central technical systems, such as the status of the lighting in each room, the triggering of alarms and the regulations for the HVAC installations.