Food Centre goes 100% circular with QbiQ modular walls

Food Centre in The Hague is going to move and will not only move the organisation, but also the modular walls. In addition, several new walls made of “waste glass” will be supplied on the basis of usufruct instead of purchased. This way, Food Centre wants to offer its contribution to the circular economy.

Modular walls move too

In the circular economy discarded products are converted into raw material so new products can be made. The Food Centre takes things a step further, and does this by moving the modular walls from the present building to the new location.

In cooperation with LIAG architects and building consultants from The Hague, QbiQ carried out extensive research to determine how the existing walls could best be repositioned. “The greatest challenge is ensuring that the height of the existing wall didn’t form an obstruction for placement in the new office” says Kim Zandbergen, managing director of QbiQ.  “After all, we cannot simply change the height of the existing wall.”

By entirely reusing modular walls this way, not only the environment is unburdened, it also saves a lot of costs.

Walls made of “waste glass”

The moved walls didn’t suffice to furnish the new location. New glass walls need to be added.

In order to ensure that the new glass walls are as circular as possible, the decision was made to make them out of “waste glass”. During the production of glass modular walls, glass panels are cut from so-called jumbo windows. Strips of glass always remain. These strips are the cutting waste. The cutting waste is usually offered for recycling for the manufacture of new glass. In this project it was decided to make the new walls using cutting waste glass. The wall will consist of several glass panels with varying colours, transparency and width.

100% circular

Circular entrepreneurship is a major issue for QbiQ. QbiQ has been Cradle to Cradle certified for more than two years. This certificate indicates undisputedly that no toxic substances are used in coatings and that the materials used can be efficiently reused.

QbiQ introduced a new concept to stimulate the reuse of the modular walls. In this concept QbiQ remains the owner of the glass and modular walls and after use, for instance after seven years, it can dismantle the walls and recycle them. This enables QbiQ to guarantee that the walls are reused 100%. “This is what the ultimate circular economy looks like”, says Kim. “We manufacture the modular walls and eventually ensure that they are transformed into new raw material. It simply doesn’t get any better.”

Modular walls based on usufruct

For the user of the glass and modular walls this concept offers an important additional advantage and that is that the walls can be bought on the basis of “usufruct”. Instead of placing the walls immediately and paying for them in full, an annual amount is charged for their use. This is done for a predetermined period. After this period it is decided in consultation whether the use should continue or whether the walls will be recycled.

Do you also want a 100% circular system wall on the basis of usufruct? Then contact us by phone on +31 88 5010500 or e-mail info@qbiq.nl