Introduction

Environment, technology and development.  This is the lifemotif of the several activities supervised by the Environment Park of Turin.
From the energy theme, with the Observatory that gives advice to enterprises and authorities, to the theme of hydrogen, with the centre of excellence on HySy Lab technologies.
Environment Park was built on the initiative of Regione Piemonte, City of Turin and European Union, it represents an innovative experience in Europe because it is the first Technological and Scientific Park dedicated to the environmental technologies.

Objectives and target audience

The first objective of the Park is to promote the development of the applied research to favour the integration of the environmental principle on the production and on the consumption process through the support to the technological innovation and to the development of the environmental business
Environment Park pursues this objective by the making of a cluster dedicated to the research activity and the environmental development, where research enterprises and authorities could to carry out their activities using the spaces with facilities and the base services, and also to benefit from exchange and comparison opportunity with different experiences.
The Technologic Park has also the task of facilitate the cooperation of little and middle enterprises with the research world: with the projected settling of Authorities like the University of Turin, Applied-science faculties of Turin and CNR, Environment Park represents an ideal solution for the development of technological innovation and scientific research.
The Park wants also to promote the creation of innovative enterprises in the sectors linked to environment and to the sustainable development, giving technical managerial and financial supports in the start-up period of the new enterprises.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

SHAREHOLDERS    N. SHARES    CAPITAL    %
Comune di Torino    1454    479.820,00    11,20 %
Provincia di Torino    1454    479.820,00    11,20 %
Finpiemonte S.p.A.    3737    1.233.210,00    28,79 %
C.C.I.A.A. di Torino    1779    587.070,00    13,71%
AAM S.p.A.    1759    580.470,00    13,55%
AMIAT S.p.A.    1778    586.740,00    13,70 %
IRIDE Energia S.p.A.    419    138.270,00    3,23%
SMAT S.p.A.    419    138.270,00    3,23%
Unione Industriale di Torino    161    53.130,00    1,24%
Università degli studi di Torino    19    6.270,00    0,15%
Totale    12979    4.283.070,00    100,00%

Process

Environment Park was built in 1996 on the initiative of Regione Piemonte, Provincia of Turin, of the Municipality of Turin and European Union and represents an original experience in the panorama of Technologic and Scientific Parks in Europe, for the connection of technological innovation and eco-efficiency.  Environment Park building complex has 30.000 squared meters with laboratories, offices, service centres in a building contest characterized from low environmental impact solutions.
The area is about two million of squared metres (named “Spina 3”) that the Regulating Plan indicates as an area of transformation, destined to put out gradually the maxim urban concentration of services, research and advanced production (the EuroTorino complex). The Spina 3 urban retraining process requires the environmental reclamation and recover of abandoned and often polluted areas, particularly rediscovery of the Dora sides, as a central value for the reconstruction of urban landscape
For the area of Environment Park the Regulating Plan suggests the realisation of a river park on the two sides.
The complex of Environment Park is composed by two compact groups of buildings, built on three levels (levels 0, 1, 2): particularly the level 1 is structured as a big platform, which covers the carparks, upon which several buildings rest. In fact, several buildings are built as a compact whole and present themselves as totally covered by extensive lawns, usable as public park, and separated by the wide split of the green valley.
The architectonic project of Environment Park pursues a strong, technical and symbolic, relation among the greenness and the new architectures.  The roofs covered with ecological lawn, the links by embankment, the low settling density, the insertion of nature in several parts of the built complex and, overall, the wide use also of sperimental techniques of energetic saving, are some points considered more qualifying.  The idea which comes from is the construction of a united landscape able to link river, garden and Technological Park in a system of land architecture with a vocation deeply ecological and environmental.  The rivers of the Dora become integrating and qualifying part of the park and of the landscape of Environment Park.  A band of respect of 70 meters signs the limit of suitability for building: the front built follow exactly the bend of the river.  The idea is to minimize the artificial sign: it is the sign of the river which build the form of the town.
The entire complex, all covered by the greenness, seems to the citizenship as a real public park, completely exploitable by the people who live in the neighbourhood and by who attend the Environment Park.
The distribution of the volumes pursue this logic of redistribution of density of the buildings. This allow to dilute, dissolve the buildings built in the nature, in the landscape: particularly: the buildings for office are low, levelled out in the greenness of the park.
In the complex, there is the unique system in Europe which enable to produce hydrogen transforming the wastes of cheese, milk and sausages production.  The process exploits the natural and simple fermentation actuated by anaerobic bacteriums which metabolising the organic substance which is in the wastes produce the hydrogen which could be used according to the necessities.  These bacteria come from the sludge of depuration of the Complex “Po Sangone”.  With this system it is possible exploit the 80% of the potential energy of biomass.
Environment Park is moreover the first former industrial district in Europe completely carbon-free.  On July 2008, a hydroelectric plant was finished, it during the day furnishes electrical clean energy to all the scientific technological park (70 enterprises and the office of Envipark for a total of 45.000 squared meters); during the night, on the contrary, when the demand of energy is limited, serve a plant of hydrogen production.

Results

The general reduction of energetically consumptions and those of the environmental impact, the use of sustainable resources, the adoption of natural techniques of administration of the buildings, the choose of no polluting or recyclable materials are some principles of green architecture pursuing with coherence by the project.  The wide use of technological and plant engineering innovations, supported by the constructive production and verified by applied research, conduce the building system towards those results.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The ecological architecture of Environment Park express a environmental sentiment expressed by:

• The green roof: the wide use of ecological covering enable to reduce the cost of realisation of buildings and that of administration of the complex – because of the good winter and summer isolation – and overall the total consumption of energy. However also other environmental advantages are evident: the improvement of microclimate, the filtration of polluting dusts of the air and of the rain waters, the reduction of urban acoustic pollution (the lawn is a no reflecting surface).
• The Blue Building system: the southner fronts of office, turn on the street and therefore representative of the technological and environmental vocation of the Environment Park, are realised with the Blue Building system: the system based on the interactive front and on the ceiling of panels heating, produce two results apparently opposing: a wide improvement of internal comfort and a wide control of the energetic consumptions.  The interactive front uses the glasses completely transparent ( an external double glass and a internal window) which allow to have the maxim natural illumination in the internal rooms. When it is necessary screen the direct solar rays, a tend follows down automatically in the cavity between the two windows.  The empty space is constantly aired by the air extracted from the rooms which absorbs the solar heat accumulated by the fins of the tend.  The mechanism offers on that way notable environmental increments: a improved acoustic isolation from the outside; a energy saving both for the air-conditioning (the solar heat doesn’t come in) and for the artificial illumination (thank the augmentation of the diffusion of the natural light); a better internal comfort: the glass and the walls remain near to the room temperature.  The ceiling of panels water heating operated in the same direction, assuring an high environmental comfort and an high energetic saving of functioning.
• The wood chips: about the 85% of the heating power of the Environment Park is produced by wood chips boiler (wastes product of the pruning the tree-lined roads), energetic sustainable resource for excellence and moreover wide disposable in Turin.  The adoption of an absorbing machine allows to use the energy of the wood chip boiler to refresh the Environment Park consuming almost only the vegetal waste of the gardens and of the tree-lined roads in Turin.  The saving is evident: both economic (for the cost of the fuel) and ecological ( for the consistent reduction of the waste mass that have to be disposed in the tips.
• The building material: in the choose of the building material the productions and manufactures that don’t imply polluting activities and procedures in the production, in the placing, in the disposal, or that could be recyclable and reusable at the end of the life cycle of the buildings had the priority.
• The basin of phytodepuration: in the system of water games of the green valley two basins of still waters are installed for the purification by solar raids of the rain waters and of the grey waters with a low content of B.O.D.