The passive building, located on Ligocka 103 Street, is equipped with technologies powered by renewable energy sources, which makes it an example of “energy perpetual motion machine.” As far as energy consumption is concerned, the building is eight times more efficient than traditional buildings, and to warm up a room it uses only 15 kWh/sq.m per year.
In May 2013, the building, constructed within the frames of Science and Technology Park Euro-Centrum, received the Green Building award, given by the European Commission to the most ecological buildings in Europe.
Almost 200 people were present at the opening ceremony, and these include, among others, Tomasz Tomczykiewicz, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economy; Adam Zdziebło, State Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development; Leszek Piechota, Senator of the Republic of Poland; Andrzej Gościniak, the President of the Regional Council; Arkadiusz Chęciński, Member of the Board of Directors of the Silesian Voivodeship and Piotr Uszok, the President of Katowice. The guests were welcomed by President Roman Trzaskalik. The building was consecrated by the Archbishop Wiktor Skworc.
Solutions used in the building include ground source heat pumps, which draw heat from the ground, provided by geothermal probe and photovoltaic panels. In the building, there are also laboratories and ageing ovens. Ultimately, the building will include: laboratory of processes in energy-efficient construction, laboratory of thermal properties of buildings, and laboratory of smart energy networks.
The building was designed by Msc Eng. architect Sławomir Kostuch.
The investment was made within the frames of the project “Development of Science and Technology Park - development and application of new technologies in the field of energy conservation and renewables,” co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.