Partner in the spotlight

The right partner for innovation in air treatment.

The Dutch-based company 4Some technisch beheer is a specialist in management and maintenance of technical and building-related installations. Responsible for HVAC & facility-related issues of the New Amsterdam building they guided our 2023 pilot with immense experience and strong experience.

4Some is the right partner for investors, managers and users. As a property investor, you want to be assured of proper maintenance of the technical installations in your building(s). Your property needs to achieve at least its technical lifespan at the lowest possible cost. With high-quality management and maintenance, your installations are guaranteed to last longer and remain in optimum condition. As the fourth party in the chain, they take into account the wishes, needs and interests of all parties involved. In doing so, you benefit from a Single Point Of Contact (SPOC): a single contact person for all management and maintenance activities they may perform for you.

The next steps for our Biosperic Air Treatment

TakeAir's foundation has always been innovation for air treatment and creating more balanced "microbial enriched" spaces. Today the evolution of our technology has more to offer: The scope of operations for TakeAir's Biospheric Air Treatment has grown to help asset management companies reduce energy consumption and cut down GHG emissions derived from the HVAC system.

Biotechnology research for the indoor environment offers CEOs and board of directors to have a direct investment path in ESG-related themes and strengthens their Paris-proof commitment, Article 9 investments and manages risks for their CSRD reports. The first results are clear in the Nieuw Amsterdam pilot. With help from our partners, we offer qualitative and measurable definitions and topics to create a better tomorrow.

In the following update, we present the English article posted on the 4Some website on 24/08/23

Innovation in air treatment

As 4Some, they believe it is important that the users of the buildings they manage can work and live comfortably and safely. Sustainability and respect for the environment and climate are important values here. they gladly embrace innovations in this area, which is why last year they collaborated on a pilot project in the field of innovative air treatment. Initiated by Hans Staal, technical manager on behalf of CBRE Investment Management, and Jo Pannecouke, CEO of TakeAir, the Nieuw Amsterdam Building on the Hoekenrode in Amsterdam was renamed the pilot case. A behind-the-scenes look at this special project.

Photo: Jo Pannecouke TakeAir, Hans Staal CBRE en Ivo Fledderus 4Some

More natural indoor climate through the use of biotechnology

Since 2016, TakeAir has been conducting biotechnological research into improving air quality within buildings in urban areas. Meanwhile, the company offers an innovative air treatment technology for a balanced and more natural indoor climate using, among other things, beneficial micro-organisms and a special filtering technique. Interesting for office environments, for example, as scientific research shows that higher air quality is directly related to better focus and productivity.

Early adapters

Hans Staal of CBRE Investment Management is one of the 'early adapters' who believes in TakeAir's vision and technology.

Hans: 'TakeAir's product aligns with our ESG goals and our vision to ensure buildings are not only 'paris proof', but also provide a safe and pleasant working and living environment for our tenants. Research has long shown that clean outdoor air has a positive effect on people's well-being and productivity. Hence, we were keen to test this technique in one of our buildings and rolled out a pilot case. The choice finally fell on the Nieuw Amsterdam Building. We are very happy that 4Some, as technical manager of, among other things, the climate installations in this building, facilitated this case and provided its cooperation.'

The choice of the Nieuw Amsterdam Building

Jo: 'Together with CBRE, we deliberately chose the Nieuw Amsterdam Building because the building is close to a highway junction, the central station and a busy event location (Bijlmer Arena). As a result, the composition of the air lends itself well to testing our air treatment technology.'

'With this pilot we wanted to show that with TakeAir you can provide a more natural and cleaner indoor climate than the 'traditional' way of air treatment. In many office environments, the outside air is filtered so strictly that many good particles are also destroyed. This creates an unnatural climate, as it were, which in turn favours the viruses and fungi already present in the room, which can make people ill. Our technology not only filters, but also adds natural micro-organisms (probiotics) to the filtered air with which you bring back those good particles, so to speak, and bring the air back into balance.'

The pilot

TakeAir R&D Manager Sylwia Jezierska: 'we worked in this pilot with one test site (block G) and 2 reference sites (blocks F and I). The test site benefited from our special technology. At the other two blocks, we did not change anything about the plant.' 'For the test site, we first installed our special 'Flow Gate'; an intermediate piece with blades that is placed in the pulse channel after the air handling unit. With this, we optimise the recirculation of the air by accelerating and redirecting it. The citric acid on the blades traps and eliminates virus particles, among other things. You can compare this to a filter, only our Flow Gate is recyclable and saves energy because of the wing effect.

You now have filtered air with a very low biomass that is then enriched in the so-called BioRemediation module with an automatically set mix of natural micro-organisms. This air is then blown into the room. The quality of the air is visible in real time via sensors and a digital dashboard. This makes it easy to make adjustments.'

'With TakeAir, we simulate a favourable forest air, as it were. This gives potential pathogens such as fungi (which are often present in buildings) less chance to develop and spread. In addition, it is known that a more varied and stable 'indoor microbiome' is more beneficial for our immune system.'

Encouraging results

The pilot showed that it is indeed possible to achieve a more natural indoor climate with TakeAir's technology and that the concentration of these so-called probiomes can be controlled. The positive effect of the probiotics is already visible 10 days after activation of the system.

The role of 4Some technisch beheer

Jo: 'We are of course extremely happy that 4Some was willing to support us in this pilot. Both technical advisor Ivo Fledderus and object technician Theo Bakker were positive and curious about this development and cooperated fully.'

Sylwia: 'Theo personally ensured that our technology was applied in the desired way. He supported us with the installation, measuring through the air quality and, of course, he ensured that our reference blocks have run through in a normal way through. As a result, we can look back on a successful pilot.'

Theo: 'As a climate engineer, I am always curious about innovations and in this case, we as 4Some had the opportunity to have a front row seat to this pilot. Before the introduction to TakeAir I had never heard of air treatment with micro-organisms, but that has has since changed. To make the translation of data into building-specific parameters (RH, Co2, temperature, air changes) together, I found especially fun to do. It requires 'out of the box' thinking. And that, of course, is how innovation often starts.'

Photo: Theo Bakker 4Some and dr. Sylwia Jezierska TakeAir

The future of air treatment

Sustainable air, that's what it's all about. Yes it is true, populations living in forested environments, without industry and other unnatural micro-organisms have a longer life expectancy, better health and a better 'state of mind' as populations in polluting urban environments. Are we shooting through with the conventional way of air filtration that also filters out the 'good' organisms? TakeAir has a good story to tell; there is a lot of data available. So all in all, an interesting and instructive project. As 4Some, we are happy to have been able to contribute to perhaps the new way of air treatment.