Usquare.brussels: geothermal test drilling in progress at the initiative of ULB and VUB

Two weeks of geothermal test drilling began on the Usquare.brussels site on Thursday 12 March. The drilling is an initiative of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), in the context of the repurposing of several buildings of the former Fritz Toussaint barracks on Avenue de la Couronne and Boulevard Général Jacques.

As well as housing and local amenities, the future Usquare.brussels district to be created on the 3.85 hectare site of the former gendarmerie school under the coordination of the Urban Development Corporation (SAU) will include an academic facility for ULB and VUB. This aspect of the Usquare.brussels project is being managed by the two universities; they have received financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), whose award criteria include a component linked to the energy performance of buildings.

To meet the energy needs (heating and cooling) of their future facility, in particular for the IT equipment (servers, computers, etc.) which will be present, the two universities wish to assess whether it would be feasible and appropriate to set up a geothermal system which will meet their cooling needs in particular. This technique involves drilling into the ground, installing piles and connecting them to a pump in order to capture the heat or coolness stored at depth and make them usable to heat or cool the premises as required.

The newly launched test phase aims to determine the potential of such a system on the Usquare.brussels site. An initial drill to a depth of 30 metres began on Thursday 12 March. The tests will take several weeks and involve drilling to a depth of up to 250 metres. The system’s performance will then be studied over a period of two months in order to determine how much energy can be recovered, whether the bedrock is suitable for the system and what impact its installation would have on the future flooring of the former barracks.

The results of the universities’ test will feed into the broader study that the SAU will shortly commence to define the overall energy strategy to be implemented across the entire Usquare.brussels site.