Campus Sint-Lucas

Project study

Sint-Lukas School is a mixed construction project in Schaerbeek. The project includes creating two new buildings and renovating older wings that no longer meet current standards. The client's ambition is to modernise the entire site while redesigning traffic flow around a new red-brick central building. The project study soon revealed constraints relating to access problems, pollutants present in the soil and buildings, as well as the need to secure users and manage a project on a site that had to remain in use during the works.

Structural works

The project began with the demolition of a building that formerly connected two wings (front and rear) and another building facing the street on rue Verte. The cleared space allowed the construction equipment and materials to be brought in to start constructing the central building and a playground. However, this first step was complicated by finding large amounts of asbestos for which a new permit was required. Creating the foundations of the future central building posed another problem involving the excavation of 2000 m³ of sand polluted by the printing house formerly present on the site. This logistical challenge required co-ordinating dozens of trucks in narrow access roads.

To deepen the foundations of an existing building, the teams created a substructure reinforcement: after excavating vertical strips of earth, concrete-block shoring was inserted to support the foundations.  It was essential to execute this perfectly because of the location of the new central building whose foundations would pose a risk to the adjacent building.

Finishing

The site of Sint-Lukas school today consists of 5 buildings: two new red and grey buildings and three renovated buildings, the old printing house, the white building and the beige building.  For the new five-storey block core structure, a rough concrete finish was chosen along with visible techniques. Particular attention was given to acoustics, especially in the dining hall and gym located on the top floor that was built at double height. Since the classrooms are directly below, a noise-abating floor was installed to ensure acoustic comfort. 

In terms of renovations, the outer and inner envelopes of the buildings were improved, spaces were redeveloped (especially in the old printing house) and a new high-voltage cabinet was created. The work also included a focus on sustainability with the fitting of insulating panels, double-glazed windows, a green roof and in particular a 100,000-litre rainwater recycling tank for use in the toilets.