What's up

Since the very beginning of its transformation into Belgium’s largest industrial and technological hub, our project has also stood out for its environmental ambition. From the earliest design stages, its designer, IGRETEC’s engineering consultancy, placed energy efficiency and carbon footprint reduction at the heart of the project.

Among the solutions selected is the use of water from the Sambre River to heat and cool the site. This technology is expected to make A6K & E6K - and Charleroi - home to the largest aquathermal installation in Belgium!

With the Sambre running right alongside the site, the answer was right there with 1,200 kW of installed capacity, powered entirely by the river.

The result is a large-scale energy system that heats the campus in winter, cools it in summer and demonstrates how innovation and environmental performance can work hand in hand.

Aquathermics in a nutshell

Aquathermics harnesses the thermal energy naturally contained in bodies of water. Even in winter, a river maintains a stable temperature that can be utilized through high-power heat pumps.

The principle is as simple as it is robust. Sambre water never enters the installations directly. A submerged pump draws from the river, transfers heat through a plate heat exchanger into a closed glycol circuit, and two water-to-water heat pumps of 600 kW each take over to feed the internal network. The result, heating in winter, cooling in summer, all in one single system.

Structural choice

For a place bringing together start-ups, labs, offices, collaboration spaces, and cutting-edge equipment., running a site of this scale on renewable energy goes beyond symbolism. It's an operational challenge that aquathermics solves with an efficiency few systems can match.

Where conventional solutions would have locked us into a dependence on gas or grid electricity, the aquathermic installation delivers a local, stable, and permanent energy source. The river doesn't stop, nor does it fluctuate with energy markets, and its performance far exceeds that of traditional systems.

It's also a matter of consistency. A hub that supports industrial innovation and the energy transition had to walk the talk within its own walls.

Ambitions beyond the site

With its new aquathermic installation, A6K & E6K is home to the first pilot project of its kind in Charleroi, designed to demonstrate how the thermal energy of the Sambre can be harnessed at urban scale.

The ambition goes further than heating and cooling two buildings. This pilot project could pave the way for a future district heating network across Charleroi, turning the Sambre into a local energy resource for a much wider part of the city.

From a single site to an entire neighborhood, A6K & E6K are helping explore what the next generation of urban energy systems could look like.

What it delivers, concretely

• Local resource available year-round
  Energy is drawn directly from the Sambre, just a few meters from the buildings.
• Reduced reliance on fossil fuels
  Heating and cooling can be provided without relying primarily on conventional systems powered by gas or heating oil.
• High energy efficiency
  Water-to-water heat pumps benefit from the river’s relatively stable temperature to operate efficiently.
• Reduced CO₂ emissions
  Reducing fossil fuel consumption helps lower the carbon footprint associated with heating and cooling the site.
• Heating and cooling with a single system
  The reversible system provides heat in winter and helps maintain comfortable indoor temperatures in summer.
• Seamless integration into the urban environment
  The main equipment is submerged, underground, or housed in technical rooms. This limits the need for outdoor equipment and the visual or noise impacts associated with it.
• Controlled impact on the aquatic environment
  The installation was designed with the preservation of the Sambre and its biodiversity in mind, including measures to limit disruption caused by water intake and discharge.

Designed by Igretec and delivered with specialized companies

As the engineering consultancy behind the project, IGRETEC developed and designed the aquathermal system integrated into the A6K & E6K. Its implementation on site then relies on collaboration with specialized companies; Cegelec-VMA and KARNO; to bring the technical choices defined during the design phase to life and ensure the installation of the systems.

Designing for low carbon from day one

IGRETEC designed the entire architectural project, carried out the technical studies and managed the procurement of the construction works. From the design stage onwards, its teams sought to reduce the buildings’ environmental impact through several key measures, preserving existing structures, reusing materials, incorporating bio-based materials, integrating greenery, and implementing a low-carbon energy mix.

This comprehensive approach makes A6K-E6K the most advanced and ambitious low-carbon project designed to date by IGRETEC’s engineering consultancy.

It also complies with the European DNSH (Do No Significant Harm) principle, which requires projects supported by European funding to ensure that they do not cause significant harm to environmental objectives.