Valstar Simonis helped VolkerWesselsHaga with the design and advised on achieving this beautiful BREEAM Excellent result. Below is a message from the Dutch Green Building Council.
Haga Hospital in The Hague is the first hospital in the Netherlands to receive the BREEAM-NL Excellent delivery certificate for the recently completed new hospital. In the 37.500 m2 large building, the Juliana Children's Hospital, the birth hotel, the Ronald McDonald house and a number of operating rooms and outpatient clinics have found their new home. “We consider the BREEAM-NL quality mark to be the icing on the Haga cake,” said Chiel Huffmeijer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Reinier Haga Group. During the day the DGBC Seminar Health in Buildings in 2025 on May 18, the certificate is officially issued.
Patient and employee central
BREEAM-NL is the quality mark in the Netherlands for assessing the sustainable performance of buildings. Many offices have such a certificate for the building. The Haga Hospital is now the first hospital to be BREEAM-NL certified. Piet van Hoeven, Director of VolkerWessels Construction & Property Development, responsible for the design, development and construction: “Sustainability has played an important role from the start of the project. The patient and employee were central to the design of the building. In a healthy, pleasant and comfortable environment, patients recover faster and it is more pleasant for employees to work. During the design of the building, there was intensive consultation with all parties involved.”
Sustainable and flexible building
The use of, for example, a heat pump, a good ventilation system and LED lighting has resulted in a healthy, comfortable and energy-efficient building. The construction and placement of installations ensure that future changes in the building are relatively easy to make. This prepares the hospital for the future. Sustainable materials were also used for the new construction. The rainwater is collected and used for watering the plants in the garden, which has been landscaped with great attention to flora and fauna. All these measures have resulted in a BREEAM-NL score of 70,63% (Excellent).
Custom Made
Customization was required for Haga Hospital's certification. This is because no hospital has ever been assessed with BREEAM-NL. This was nevertheless successful with a so-called Bespoke procedure. It also led to specific sustainability requirements for hospitals. For example, the principles of PlaneTree. This care concept is an innovative way of care in which the patient is central. The care concept focuses mainly on the human side of care, such as friendly treatment, a lot of service and freedom of choice. A healing environment according to Planetree is a reflection of community values and culture. Recognition of the Haga values Care, Innovation and Collaboration in the way care is provided is supported by an accessible, light and comfortable building, for patients and visitors as well as for employees.
Roberto Meyer MVSA architects: “To facilitate both PlaneTree and BREEAM-NL, we really had to get under the skin of the user. This has led to the use of warm colours, rounded corners and smooth, soft transitions from outside to inside and beautiful, light, central covered courtyards. All rooms have as much daylight as possible, directly on the facade or indirectly through the glass-roofed atrium.”
Innovative project
The development of the new Haga Hospital building took place in a very short time. The new hospital was completed in four years. The new construction of the Haga Hospital is a unique and innovative project in several respects. The trust of the banking combination BNG and Rabobank was won for the financing. A phased approach was chosen, whereby funding was requested for each phase. “We have made a good business case for this, which we have also realized,” says Chiel Huffmeijer, chairman of the board of the Reinier Haga Group, of which the Haga Hospital is part. The VolkerWesselsHaga consortium was set up for the new building, based on the principles of design, build, maintain, whereby a maintenance contract for twenty years was concluded. This had never been seen before in the hospital world. “We wanted to build quickly, but also control the life cycle of the building. By making the construction organization jointly responsible for maintenance, there is a good basis for cooperation from day one. As a player in healthcare, we also find it important that the building is sustainable. We therefore consider the BREEAM-NL quality mark to be the icing on the Haga cake,” says Huffmeijer. We opted for private financing. That has resulted in speed. We have also based the project on other starting points. Not only social responsibility, but also a private interest on return on investment.”
Durable, also during construction
In the adjacent hospital, care continued during the new construction. “By involving our employees, subcontractors and suppliers in the process, they know what is happening and awareness is also stimulated. Accessible manuals and introductory films made it clear to construction site employees what was and was not allowed," says Piet van Hoeven of VolkerWesselsHaga. Attention to vibrations, noise and dust were therefore of great importance. In combination with waste separation, limiting energy and water consumption and environmental management, this has led to a sustainable construction period.
Link to core activity
Annemarie van Doorn, director of the Dutch Green Building Council, manager of the BREEAM-NL quality mark: “HagaZiekenhuis pays attention to the sustainability and health of the building, thereby establishing a direct link with its core activity: making people better. The building is an example for other medical centers. Hopefully more hospitals will follow suit.”
