EPO BUILDING IN THE HAGUE

On June 27th 2018, the European Patent Office (EPO) inaugurated the new main building on its site in Rijswijk, near The Hague, in the presence of His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands during a ceremony hosted by the then EPO President Benoît Battistelli. Designed by renowned architects Ateliers Jean Nouvel (Paris) and Dam & Partners Architecten (Amsterdam), the landmark building unites bold contemporary architecture with a modern, sophisticated infrastructure. It has been constructed by a Dutch consortium from the Group TBI, composed of the companies J.P. van Eesteren and Croonwolter&dros.

Measuring 107 metres in height, 156 metres in length, and 24.7metres in width, the creation of Jean Nouvel and Diederik Dam is elegant, slim and transparent, with a facade that reflects the sky and blends seamlessly into the Dutch countryside.

The building is the largest steel structure ever constructed in the Netherlands with a design that draws upon the natural landscape of Holland, with its semi-reflective glass surface that mirrors the sky, land and water. The construction is pure and serene and, in the right weather, the top floors even seem to merge with the sky. The slender shape of the 27-storey building allows the light to pass through, inducing a sense of transparency as it appears to float effortlessly.

Facts And Figures About The New Building

• Period of construction: 2014-2018

• Budget: €205 million, self-financed

• Dimensions: 156m long, 107 metres high, 24.7 metres wide

• Gross floor area: 85 000m2

• Materials: Built using 100 000m2 of glass and 10 000 tonnes of steel

• Capacity for some 2 000 workspaces

• Environment: To ensure sustainability, a mix of criteria from the Netherland’s BREEAM-NL and the German BNB methods of environmental assessment were included in the requirements for the building

• Solar panels on the roof will supply a source of renewable energy

• 16 000 LED light features will save approximately 430 000 kilowatt hours per year

• An aquifer thermal energy storage system will reduce primary energy consumption and related CO2 emissions.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by some 350 local and international guests, among them members of the diplomatic corps, the then 38 EPO member states, international institutions and high-level representatives from local and national institutions and authorities. In a symbolic act to mark the opening of the premises, His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands signed the golden guest book of the EPO.

Financed entirely from the EPO’s own resources and built in four years, the new building represents the organisation’s largest single investment in its 45-year history in the Netherlands.

Commenting on the inauguration, architect Jean Nouvel said on June 2018: “I’m delighted to see the completion of the New Main, a building that was created with a shared common vision for innovation. Despite the challenges of constructing a building of this size, today we stand before you in The Hague with this goal achieved, thanks to the amazing efforts of our teams”.

Ex- EPO President Benoît Battistelli , Diederik Dam, architect, Jean Nouvel, architect, EPO's new building ©Frank van Beek for the European Patent Office - June 2018

Architect Diederik Dam added “Our mission for the New Main was to combine modern architecture and environmental sustainability. Four years after we laid the first stone, I am honored to see this building become a reality. Every detail of the new building has been taken into account in terms of energy efficient technologies to reuse resources and reduce consumption. In fact, we considered natural components such as plants, water, and light as essentials”.

The building has many special features:

It has a double glass facade that plays an essential part of the building’s climate concept and houses hanging gardens containing 300 different varieties of plants. Vast arrays of photovoltaic solar panels on the roof sky garden provide/serve as a source of renewable electric energy to the main power supply to be distributed throughout the building, and an aquifer thermal energy storage system will reduce primary energy consumption and related CO2 emissions.

The building provides workspace for some 2 000 staff and is equipped with the necessary facilities to host the entire state-of-the-art technical infrastructure needed to implement the European patent grant process.

With nearly 6300 staff, the European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the largest public service institutions in Europe. Headquartered in Munich with offices in Berlin, Brussels, The Hague and Vienna, the EPO was founded with the aim of strengthening co-operation on patents in Europe. Through the EPO’s centralised patent granting procedure, inventors are able to obtain high-quality patent protection in up to 44 countries, covering a market of some 700 million people. The EPO is also the world’s leading authority in patent information and patent searching.

With nearly 6300 staff, the European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the largest public service institutions in Europe. Headquartered in Munich with offices in Berlin, Brussels, The Hague and Vienna

EPO Headquarters in Munich

Last December, the EPO’s headquarter building in Munich was recognised by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments so as a listed building, it is under protection. The EPO Headquarters was one of the first buildings built by the well-known firm gmp.