MLOZ Headquarters in Brussels ABSTRACT of the PROJECT
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MLOZ Headquarters in Brussels ABSTRACT OF THE PROJECT 1 About MLOZ : The independent grouping of independent healthcare mutual societies MLOZ, recently made a major change to their office premises. They are now located on the Route de Lennik in Anderlecht, in the vicinity of the Erasmus hospital. To pilot this major evolution, MLOZ (Mutualités Libres / Onafhankelijk Ziekenfonds ) called on the services of real estate advisor Colliers International 2 At the end of the construction works, MLOZ asked also Colliers to take TECHNICAL PROJECT FILE charge of the interior design and fit- out of the new building but mandated also them to re-fit of the Address of the projet building opposite in a similar style, Lenniksebaan 788A its tenant having now been merged 1070 Brussels. into MLOZ. This work is ongoing, and includes the displacement of the Customer personnel as necessary in phases. Mut ualités Libres/Onafhankelijke Ziekenfondsen The two floors of the new building are characterised by a central ‘street’ Type of projet which acts as the main New construction communication channel. Four ‘wings’ NWOW project run off from this street, with open working areas, and each has a Final assignment of the building specific colour treatment. The colour Offices scheme is otherwise largely white, which gives a further feeling of Surface: NEW MLOZ openness to the entire complex. 8.900 sqm HEADQUARTERS IN The personnel now work according BRUSSELS to the ‘flex desk’ principle with ‘clean The process started by a ‘stay or desk’ policy. Meeting rooms of Establishment of the concept : leave’ analysis. The result was that different sizes enable private ABW (Activity Based Working) either they had to select another conversations, along with small building than their current location in ‘bubbles’ for one-to-one discussions, Brussels, located close to and coffee corners for informal Montgomery, or construct a new meetings Calendar building. The second option was Design : 2016 –2017 chosen, close to the Erasme hospital Construction : 2016 - 2017 opposite an existing building Connected workplace occupied by another service Missions COLLIERS BELGIUM : operating in the mutual societies Copy corners enable the members of Workplace Strategy domain. staff to print documents by logging Change & Communication in with their own badge, at Construction Management Colliers then set up an architectural whichever copy corner they select. Interior Architecture competition, looking for an overall The machine recognises the person Furniture and if, for example, it is a scan which team to include a study bureau, X has been requested, this is architect, engineers, acoustics… X automatically sent to the screen at These would be allied to a contractor X the workstation where the person and would be able to carry out the X has also logged in that morning. For entire construction process, without X a print, the member of staff can tell the interior fit-out. A team led by X the system at which printing BEAI architects and CFE/Herpain was X selected, and Colliers was asked to machine the document should be X act as project manager right up to printed. This is called ‘follow-me X delivery. On the environmental front, printing’. X the building is supplied with heat and The meeting rooms are equipped X cooling by a geo-thermal system with an electronic screen at the door, X with 23 probes reaching 57 metres showing the schedule for the day. All X down into the ground. This provides is controlled from an ‘Evoko’ central X 14°C of temperature which enables management system. And if, for X the energy needed for heating and example, a meeting room has been cooling to be significantly reduced. booked but is not used within ten The building is thus classified ‘Nearly minutes of the time, the reservation is automatically cancelled on the screen. Workplace design 3 Full involvement for the change brainstorming pushed to new management frontiers. Réginald de le Vingne details: “We asked them – what The Real Estate and Insurance would you like, how do you see your Manager at MLOZ, Réginald de le working environment, how do you Vingne, explains how the project was want to work, what do you think instigated internally. The desire was about what you have now, what do to enable the personnel to you think about the concept we are participate in the process as much as moving towards”? The final result possible. This was in large part was that the personnel were satisfied because the change in the working because a majority of their ideas had environment was likely to be been integrated – although quite substantial, and it was important clearly not every single one of them. that the personnel felt happy with the new arrangements. The previous In fact, MLOZ went through two building had to become too stages of evolution in one move. constraining, and was laid out in the They changed from closed offices to traditional manner, with a high flex-desk without passing through proportion of closed offices. So they the stage of traditional open space. started looking at what they needed “We had some open space before, on a daily basis, and asking the but badly laid out, and open space in personnel how they envisaged their name only!” Réginald de le Vingne working environment. states. In the new building, even if departments tend to base themselves in one or another of the Réginald de le Vingne “We really wings, people still go and sit in wanted to adopt the ‘New Way of another wing from time to time, Working’, which represents a major either because there is something to turning point for a mutual body such be done there, or because their ‘own’ as us. These bodies often have a wing is fully occupied. On this last rather dull image, a bit like a ministry point, MLOZ has adopted the current or civil service department, so we trend for flexible and shared wanted to bring a new stimulus, a workplaces of having fewer work new dynamic, to the whole of the stations than members of staff. In personnel”. MLOZ also realised that this case, the proportion is 70%. there was a great deal of interaction Some functions, of course, need to between departments, and this was be in a fixed location because of the not easy in the existing building. The sheer volume of work. new building enabled more collaboration between the different So what’s next? There are always services. It is clear that physical and teething problems with a new visual communication has been system, so MLOZ will anticipate encouraged through the use not only these and deal with them. Following of the wide open spaces, but by the this, the second building will be wide open plan staircases joining the completed, and as Thomas Simon two levels.. confirms, the objective is to achieve Responding to wishes the same working environment so that the two populations really are Along with the new office merged together, even though the arrangements, MLOZ introduced two buildings are different. The new working practices including mutual societies which make up different time schedules and home MLOZ are very happy with the working (up to 2 days a week). The outcome, and it may well be that personnel are very happy with the some of them follow a similar style new arrangements, especially as they when they re-fit their own offices, or played such a part in designing them. move. The management attempted to respond to as many of their wishes and desires as possible, and asked everyone to throw their ideas into the pot. This was a sort of 4 .