Wärtsilä Headquarters
Helsinki, FinlandAchieving BREEAM Certification at Wärtsilä HQ with Helvar’s Wireless Lighting Control
Wärtsilä, a global leader in smart technologies, envisioned a new headquarters that would reflect its forward-thinking identity. The goal for the 11,000 m² campus renovation in Helsinki was twofold: to achieve top-tier sustainability and to create an outstanding, people-centric work environment for its 530 employees.
With a tight renovation schedule, the project required a state-of-the-art, data-driven solution that was fast to deploy, highly energy-efficient, and supported human-centric lighting. The project’s success would be measured by its ability to secure a BREEAM Very Good environmental rating and enhance employee wellbeing in a new, flexible open-plan environment.
The Solution: Fast, Flexible, and Integrated
To meet these ambitious goals on a tight schedule, Wärtsilä chose a powerful hybrid lighting solution from Helvar.
The core of the installation is Helvar ActiveAhead, an intelligent and adaptive wireless solution. Its self-learning capabilities ensure lighting is always perfectly matched to the usage of the space, while the wireless mesh network was ideal for the fast-paced renovation, dramatically simplifying installation.
The solution seamlessly combined over 1,300 ActiveAhead-ready wireless luminaires with DALI luminaires, which were easily integrated into the mesh network using the ActiveAhead Control Unit DALI. In key public spaces, Helvar’s Imagine DALI lighting control solution was also used, creating a single, unified, and robust control system. For staff, wireless control panels in meeting rooms provide simple, intuitive scene control.
The Result: A Smart, Responsive, and Future-Proof Building
The new system delivers significant benefits beyond lighting. In a key smart-building integration, the ActiveAhead solution is connected to the building’s HVAC system on each floor. Occupancy data from the lighting network is used to intelligently control the HVAC, ensuring it runs only when a floor is in use. This single integration provides substantial energy savings and increases occupant comfort, especially during non-standard working hours.
The adaptive nature of ActiveAhead provides exceptional energy savings – estimated at 10-30% more than traditional presence-control systems. The final result is a workspace that is not only highly efficient, contributing to its BREEAM Very Good rating, but is also responsive to the needs of its people and future-proofed for further smart-building integrations.
“As we wanted all building systems to have state-of-the-art technology available, we selected Helvar’s wireless, self-learning and future-proof lighting control solution ActiveAhead.” Thomas Hollfast, Real Estate Director, Wärtsilä
Key Features:
- ~1,300 ActiveAhead wireless luminaires and sensors
- Smart integration with floor-level HVAC system
- Hybrid control of DALI luminaires via ActiveAhead Control Unit
- Wireless control panels for meeting room scene control
