First circular daycare centre

Since 2016, all new daycare centres in Gladsaxe Municipality have been constructed as Nordic Swan Ecolabelled buildings. Now the municipality has also built the world’s first circular daycare centre using upcycled materials from Gladsaxe school.

Børnehuset Svanen is a true pioneer project designed to lead the way and inspire others, clients as well as architects. The reuse of building materials is fraught with challenges, but also raises our awareness of new and sustainable approaches in construction, changing our views on the potential and design of materials.

Bricks and tiles as well as wooden rafters and 6,000 tonnes of concrete were harvested from Gladsaxe school, which was located on the same site. There was also an emphasis on reusing elements such as old school washbasins, bicycle racks and the dome, adding substance to the story of the recycled school.

The new building consists of a series of juxtaposed buildings with a central orangery as the entrance. The recycled roof and facade materials are architectural features that lend a special collage-like aesthetic to the building. Indoors, the impression is also of little houses with vaulted ceilings.

Troldtekt natural wood has been used on all the ceilings, ensuring excellent acoustic properties, while also satisfying the requirements for Nordic Swan Ecolabelled construction. The panels are Cradle to Cradle-certified (Gold).

No manual  

Recycling such huge volumes of local materials saves carbon, resources and workflows. Shortly after opening, the building also received the Sustainability Award at the Building Awards 2022. Architect Helen Glindvad Kristensen from Gladsaxe Municipality describes the process as exciting, and many decisions had to be made along the way to optimise how the materials were recycled. Such a process requires, above all, good dialogue.

Since 2016, all new daycare centres in Gladsaxe Municipality have been Nordic Swan Ecolabelled. Projects include the first Nordic Swan Ecolabelled refurbishment project, which converted a former teacher training college into Børnehuset Paletten.

Grønnegården and Egedammen were built using CLT elements and recycled bricks for the facade. The Nordic Swan Ecolabelling of the daycare centres implies a strong focus on the indoor climate and, therefore, also on sustainable materials and limiting energy consumption. Troldtekt has been chosen for all these new daycare centres.

Facts: Troldtekt is registered in the Nordic Swan Ecolabel database of materials for use in Nordic Swan Ecolabelled construction.