Projects

Competition to design the new headquarters for the IREC

2011 - Campus Diagonal Besos

Net zero energy building (NZEB)

In 2011, the IREC announced a competition to design projects for its new headquarters that were to be located on the Besòs Campus of the UPC. The rules of the competition outlined the objective of making this the first Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) to be constructed in Spain.

A NZEB building is “… a building with a high level of energy efficiency, in which the already reduced amount of energy required should be obtained from renewable sources so as to achieve a zero energy balance”.

The concept originated from the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU)”, which urges EU member states to ensure that from 31^st December 2020 (and as of 2018, in the case of buildings constructed by public administrations), all the new buildings constructed in the EU are NZEBs.

The competition had to be suspended several days before proposals were presented due to budgetary problems suffered by the institution.