The latest ING bank office in Rotterdam achieves a Building Circularity Index of 69% thanks to 108 sustainable initiatives. Additionally, the carbon footprint is 64% lower than the last ING bank office (the regular concept).

The collaboration between Creneau and ING started about 10 years ago. At that time, Creneau designed 'the bank office of the future' for ING. The entire design is based on a thorough analysis of customer and employee journeys. It became an open house with a coffee bar, seating area, and a warm welcome, all inspired by the hospitality sector.

After a partnership of 10 years and 75 bank offices of the future, Creneau International gained ING's trust to design the most sustainable 'bank office of the future' ever. To achieve this, we had to think and design in a circular manner, a different process than we are used to. Circular design is fundamentally a concept of system thinking that takes into account cycles of any size and speed. Whereas in the design process, there used to be no consideration for what happens to products when they break down or are no longer desired, we now need to think about what will happen after use in order to close the loop, contributing as little as possible to the waste pile. The value of products, components, and used materials and resources is preserved for as long as possible, while also maintaining the highest possible value.

How sustainable is a sustainable design? We worked together with Phi Factory to analyze every material we (re)used, and they gave us a sustainability score (BCI). This way, our design was not based on gut feeling but on numbers.

Everything in this ING bank office has a story. Whether it's about a wooden floor recovered from a bankrupt sports store in Breda, a resin floor made with old orange ING pens and plastic fished from the Maas River, a rack that once stored winter tires, or cabinets and walls made from old ING service points.

We're not big fans of suspended ceilings. But we do love to reuse them. Initially, we wanted to use them as acoustic walls. However, since private conversations often take place at ING, they weren't acoustically strong enough. But they were good strong enough to place in between the toilets.

We constantly sought for solutions and opportunities. Because you might design a wooden floor, but at that moment, you don't know where you'll harvest it from. Ultimately, we were able to recover the floor from a bankrupt sports store in Breda, sand it down, and install it floating. If they ever move, they can simply take it with them.

Compared to the previous design, this new circular design approach has led to a 64% reduction in carbon footprint. The BCI score has increased from 21% (previous ING bank office) to 69% (ING Rotterdam), nearing the maximum achievable score of 75-80% with current market solutions.