Innovation

WAVE is a 100% VINCI technology showcase building that houses VINCI Energies’ Hauts-de-France regional office.

The goal was to create a building that fully harnesses the potential of the Smart Building to provide adaptability, connectivity, comfort and energy performance.

Mission accomplished, as Smart Building Energies Business Unit Manager Frédéric Thouot explains in discussing the colossal project, which has just been completed.

How did the WAVE project come about?

The WAVE building is part of the EuraTechnologies site in Greater Lille, a former textile mill that was converted in 2009 into a space dedicated to new information and communication technologies and the digital sector. EuraTechnologies now encompasses 150 companies, 3,500 jobs, 100 incubation projects every year and France’s leading startup accelerator.

It was strategically important for VINCI Energies to be located on this FrenchTech campus. VINCI Immobilier’s “TRIPTIC” programme, initiated in 2017, provided an opportunity to invest in one of the three office buildings planned at the site.

The idea, instigated by Eric Plumey, Managing Director of VINCI Energies France Tertiaire Nord Est & Sécurité Incendie (TNESI), was to dedicate the space to smart building discussion and synergy.

That was the origin of the WAVE concept. “We Are VINCI Energies” now involves functional teams from the TNESI pole, together with regional VINCI Energies business units working in the digital sector: Smart Building Energies, Citeos Ingénierie Nord, Axians Communication & Systems Arras-Lille and Axians Cloud Builder.

WAVE’s 1,700 sq. metre premises offer about 100 workstations, 30 parking spaces and a wide variety of innovative services.

How did you go about designing the building?

Very early on, we worked with all the stakeholders to get them on board and ensure the installation of the full range of communicating smart building equipment (BAS, IoT, BIM, etc.).

We had two priority objectives:

The first was to design a pleasant building supporting the new uses to which it was to be put. We stressed “natural” comfort, with optimum lighting and acoustics, as well as smart coordination of parking, management of lighting and heating depending on space occupancy, optimisation of workspaces depending on the number of people present, modern and artistic interior decoration, a 100% renewable energy system to support self-consumption and charging stations for electric vehicles and bicycles.

The second objective was to provide a building management system that delivers information on the building’s operation and evolution. We looked over the commercially available tools and were unable to find what we wanted. There was no simple interface to merge automation and IT systems. We therefore decided to develop our own tool in partnership with Microsoft AZURE – a web platform compatible with Group tools. We gave it the same name as the building: “Wave“.

Could you tell us more about the platform’s functionalities and benefits?

The Wave platform was designed to give each resident access to the full range of the building’s service functionalities in just a few clicks:

• Access to parking spaces,
• Lighting adjustment,
• Temperature adjustment,
• Meeting room reservation,
• Electric vehicle charging status,
• Bicycle reservation from the company bicycle fleet, etc.

It also enables the site manager to configure all the technical equipment in the back office, decide which equipment should operate in which area, and transfer commands directly to the PLCs. The interface also makes it possible to report the full range of information in real time and to draw up a building “health status report” to improve the building’s energy performance.

Where do you go from here?

We have begun the first demonstrations and feedback has been very positive. We are also launching a series of visits every two weeks for a targeted group of customers. Leading by example is the best way to persuade users to come on board.

And why not go further and start working with LEONARD on other innovative ecosystems? The possibilities are boundless and the field is fascinating!

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Find out more:

♦  About the WAVE building: contact David Desablence: david.desablence@vinci-energies.com

♦  About the Wave platform: contact Frederic Thouot: frederic.thouot@smart-building-energies.com

For further information:

♦  Consult the Smart Building Energies website: https://www.smart-building-energies.com/en/wave/

♦  Check out the “did you know” video here below :