Complete new installation for former State Mint building

'We carefully vetted the whole system to see where we could make savings'

Installation company Putman provides the former Rijksmunt building 'De Munt' in Utrecht with new installations for heating, cooling, air treatment, plumbing and control technology.

The monumental building will be repurposed. While the exterior of the building will remain largely intact, the interior will be tackled: there will be conference rooms, an office function, a sports building and a catering area. 

The installation company works with about sixty employees for various customers: from small projects for individuals to large projects. Within installation company Putman, project leader Henk Zwaan is mainly responsible for utility projects, both new construction and renovation. "The former Rijksmunt building will be a multifunctional building with very diverse functions. We were involved in this by construction contractor Jurriëns Bouw, with whom we have been doing business for years, mostly in construction team constructions."

Complete system including control technology

Putman provides the monumental building with a completely new heating system, cooling system, sanitary system, air treatment system and control technology including building management system. "Basically, all the mechanical installations you can think of are coming in. In the monumental part there will be mainly ventilation convectors, in the offices and the restaurant underfloor heating and cooling. The sports section will have a separate air handling unit on the roof, which will be connected to district heating and a separate cooling system. We are developing the building management system in-house."

Energetic high-performance system

The installer is now well over halfway through the project. In April 2024 started in the basement, where the generation will be located: both the distributors of the district heating and cooling system and the chiller itself. Underneath the entire building is the main central heating and cooling network, from which pipes will be brought up to the respective building section for each building section. The air handling units with WWT function are distributed in the basement, on the roof and in other technology areas. "This is how we realize an energetically high-quality air treatment system here. The large hr chiller has a cooling capacity of 480 kW and is equipped with a special refrigerant to keep the GWP value (<1) as low as possible. This makes the system very environmentally friendly."

Power capacity insufficient for now

Each room in the building will have a CO2 control system. Depending on the occupancy of the building, the air quality is measured and the ventilation adjusted accordingly. In short: the more people are present, the harder the air conditioning system has to work.

"What makes this work tricky is that we have too little power capacity for the entire building at least until 2028. That's why we looked closely at the whole system to see where we could make additional savings." For example, water-saving measures in accordance with BREEAM have also been implemented so that no water is wasted. Zwaan is satisfied with the progress of the project so far. "We monitor progress by meeting weekly. This also involves the client: after all, he has to make the decisions for the finishing touches. For example, where grilles should be placed and what is a convenient place for the thermostat. In between, tenant wishes are added; we also take those into account as much as possible."