A plan B for green working

A visit to an office building with a difference that is proving very popular.

These days most companies have a few recycling bins and, with luck, a printer capable of copying onto both sides of the paper. But the average office is hardly an advertisement for green working. Lights left on all night, ill-fitting windows and antiquated heating systems help to explain why two-fifths of Europe’s carbon emissions are generated by homes and offices.

Now a new office on the edge of Brussels’s European quarter is showing another way. Mundo-B has become home to many Belgian and Brussels-based environmental groups since opening earlier this year.

“B is for the second version, the alternative version of the world,” says Frédéric Ancion, managing director of Ethical Property Europe, the company that co-owns the building. The project has transformed two ordinary office blocks into a building that sets an environmental gold standard. (The fact that one of the buildings used to be a bank is seen by some current inhabitants as amplifying the improvement.). The €8 million renovation project was the idea of a dozen Belgian groups and was helped by €900,000 in grants from the Brussels Capital Region.

Everything at Mundo-B meets strict green standards. The building is fully insulated and has a double-flue ventilation system, meaning that hot air is recovered and used for heating. The boiler burns eco-friendly wood pellets, and solar panels are soon to go on the roof. All the building materials are ethically sourced and furniture is made by social businesses that help disabled and unemployed people get into the labour market. Power-hungry office equipment such as photocopiers is shared. Cleaners are not banished to the anti-social small hours, but work during the day.

Ethical and comfortable

Green groups have flocked to it: 25 environmental organisations are based there and half a dozen more are on a waiting-list. But don’t expect hessian carpets and pallid lighting. People who work at Mundo-B say they have everything they need to be comfortable. “It is a good office building as well; we haven’t made lots of sacrifices to come here,” says Dudley Curtis at Transport and Environment. Most of the building’s social and ethical credentials are not obvious, although the car park is a giveaway. On the drizzly day in November when European Voice visited, there was one car, but at least 50 bikes. Above the car park is a garden where wild flowers grow near a compost heap. The café is becoming an attraction in its own right: a cheery, open-plan room serving salads, freshly-baked cakes and fair-trade teas, coffees and juices. European Commission officials and MEPs have been spotted lunching there.

People who work in Mundo-B value the social experience as much as the green and ethical credentials. Every month there are get-togethers for staff, such as live music nights. The campaigners say they have the chance to exchange ideas over coffee.

Working in an environment of like-minded people is also an attraction, says Vanessa Bulkacz at Climate Action Network Europe. The group used to be based in a building next to Gucci and other glitzy names, which was an uncomfortable fit.

Teething troubles

Not everyone would be able to rent space in the building. Tenants have to be non-profit organisations working in the field of sustainable development. “We prefer organised lobbying, groups trying to change the system rather than an organisation that would only work in the field of repairing the problem,” says Ancion at Ethical Property.

Should they allow non-green trade associations and companies into the haven? Ancion responds that the building “was created by non-governmental organisations and this creates strong momentum and interests”. A request by one organisation to hold an event in the building was turned down, because it was deemed not to meet the values of Mundo-B.

Not everything has been easy. Building contractors had little experience of this type of renovation, and this caused delays. The local authority’s system of coloured recycling bags has taken some new residents a while to get used to, and there are still complaints that not everyone does their share of emptying the compost bins. An experiment with composting worms went awry when the worms were given a diet that was too rich in coffee grounds and large chunks of food waste. But despite the teething troubles, Mundo-B is attracting interest. Mundo-N is set to open in Namur in September 2010 and the organisers are investigating similar renovation projects in Ghent and Paris.

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