Brussels, 24 April 2020 – For the last five years, SPIE Belgium, the Belgian subsidiary of SPIE, the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of energy and communications, has been responsible for providing maintenance and intervention services at KU Leuven (Catholic University of Louvain). All eyes are now on the Rega Institute for Medical Research, where work is underway to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. And SPIE Belgium is also doing its bit.
For the past five years, SPIE Belgium’s Services Geel business unit has been operating in many of KU Leuven’s buildings, with around twenty employees deployed to the university. The main focus of the services provided on site is maintenance and work on the cooling, heating, steam, air treatment and compressed air systems.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, all eyes have been on the Rega Institute for Medical Research, where SPIE Belgium plays a crucial role. The team from the Services Geel business unit is responsible for ensuring all the technical installations (cooling, heating, steam, air treatment and compressed air) are able to operate optimally and for providing continuous monitoring via the building management system. In addition, SPIE also ensures the data centres – the driving force behind the work conducted by the research departments, especially during this period – are monitored and operated optimally.
As Johan van der Struijk, Contract Manager at SPIE Belgium, explains: “Working in a research centre is a very special responsibility. Our team is required to ensure continuous monitoring across the board and to make sure the various installations are operating optimally. In these difficult times that we are all going through, it is more important than ever to ensure that scientists are able to do their work in the best possible conditions and that they are able to rely on perfect equipment. We are proud to be able to contribute to their efforts.”
