Whilst the Flemish government’s facility services agency (HFB) might not ring a bell with everyone, the Herman Teirlinck Building in Brussels usually does. This architectural gem houses almost 3,000 employees, including the 800 or so civil servants of the government’s facility management agency. The organization provides support services for the Flemish government. This ranges from catering to logistics to property management.

The office building of the facility management agency was designed entirely with a future-orientated working environment in mind. An award-winning architectural project that even has its own Wikipedia page, is bound to attract attention – and visitors. Upon completion of the project in 2015, the building – located at the redeveloped Tour & Taxis site – immediately turned into a popular destination for guided tours. Private individuals, schools and organizations: they all wanted to discover some insight into the possibilities of a new way of working at this low-energy building.

To cope with the increasing number of requests for visits, the agency commissioned a virtual tour within the first few months of the official opening. This took significant pressure off the on-site visits. In addition, we created a hybrid digital experience (combining AR, VR and 3D animation) for the Company Discovery Day, celebrated annually across the Flemish region.

The coronavirus pandemic proved to be a catalyst for further development of the virtual tour concept. The facility management agency called on our Poppr team to expand its potential, with additional images and a fresh, transparent website look. Our photographers went to work on location to shoot new, improved, high-resolution 360-degree photos that would clearly demonstrate all innovative aspects of the building.

The project was also an excellent opportunity to expand the virtual tour with an additional visitor path. Our team designed this to be a separate, unique tour that would focus on potential new employees. This way, new hires can see for themselves what their new workplace would look like. In this second tour, the existing panoramic images are supplemented with relevant information for interested candidates. This helps to make a stronger impression, in turn helping the agency’s employer branding for recruitment purposes.

• Virtual tour in four languages.
• Two visitor paths: one for the general public and one for future employees.
• Integration of content frames, hotspots and grid navigation.
• 360-degree photos in high resolution.
• Custom website tailored to the agency’s corporate identity.

The new, extended tour is now a fully-fledged online counterpart to on-site guided visits – without any of the inconveniences that an on-site tour would cause to employees. Employees can work undisturbed, whilst the agency reaches a larger audience than ever before. In addition, the new, alternative visitor path is a powerful tool for recruitment.