Belgrade gets the first green facade building - Stattwerk is preparing Beobanka building rehabilitation (PHOTO)

Since after five attempts in November 2016 former Beobanka building on Zeleni venac finally found a buyer, the public wondered what new purpose this object would be. In August this year, this dilemma seems to have disappeared.

New owner of the building, Belgrade-based branch office of Stattwerk from Stuttgart, has recently published that the building is not going to become a five-star hotel as previously announced but office-residential building.

What distinguishes this building from other ones in Belgrade is the idea of ​​Stattwerk for entire building from the outside to wrap with plants so Serbian capital could get the first building with green facades.

According to company's website, their objective is to offer "different," greener" vision of working and living space, as well as urban planning of the city". As they say, "they want each of their projects to be thoroughly ecological and to contribute to raising the environmental awareness of people and local communities."

The plan is to find a sales salon for electric vehicles in the building, as well as office space for green companies, start-ups and organizations.

For the time being, it can be found out at their website, in cooperation with Gras Garden from Belgrade, a test "green wall" was installed that will enable efficient use of water necessary for maintenance of greenery in the first building with green facades in Serbia.

This "green wall" is made of light panels produced in line with the latest technology from the finest polycarbonate materials resistant to UV radiation. To maintain green wall, Smart Garden Hub - smart irrigation system of Israeli company GreenIQ was used, it uses Internet through application to control time and schedule of irrigation by using local weather information and thus saving up to 50% water consumption for irrigation.

The building will also have a rainwater collection system which will later be used as technical water, as well as solar panels and wind turbines with vertical axis of rotation for the production of electricity. There will also be piezoelectric floors, which will convert kinetic energy into electricity.

The company claims there is a need for construction to be rebuilt and additionally engaged on horizontal impacts in order to meet modern regulations. For this reason, on site testing of conditions and characteristics of existing construction, embedded concrete and reinforcement has been carried out.

Apart from that, in cooperation with Geomehanika from Belgrade, field works on construction of geo-mechanical wells have been completed, which should provide data on load capacity and soil spill in the further design process.

Deadlines and more precise details of this project, implementation remain unknown.

- Every project Stattwerk works on is going through process of long-term and complex planning. Until this process is fully completed, we will not go into public with project details – the company said for eKapija.

Stattwerk, which deals with change of purpose of former plants and warehouses into residential and office space, paid EUR 4,25 m for Beobanka building.

This building dates back to 1960 and was built for the needs of Energoprojekt. Later, it went into possession of Beobanka, which went bankrupt in 2002. Its present condition dates since 2007, when façade and building were stripped to construction. Attempts to sell it at tender began in 2009 and the new owner, despite an exceptional location, came six years later.

Sarajevo should also get soon green facade, and it is expected that plants decorate other facilities in other towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina.