The new digital banking group BBVA headquarters building in Madrid, designed by architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, is kept cooler using composite sun panels, an integral part of the contemporary new building façade.
Summer temperatures in Madrid can reach over 30oC by midday, so having innovative, environmentally-friendly ways to minimise air-conditioning energy usage inside its new head office was high on the agenda for BBVA, with its strong commitment to using renewable energy and buildings with the highest environmental certification.
A total of 1,600 sun panels, in sizes ranging from 1.5m up to 4m, were supplied and fitted to complete the façade of the new head office building. To meet the required UNE-EN 13501-1 fire standard for the building, the composite panels were vacuum infused, using Scott Bader’s matched fire-retardant laminate system, comprising of Crestapol 1212 high-performance urethane acrylate resin with intumescent in-mould spray Crystic FIREGUARD 75PA (IMS) EXCEL fire protection gelcoat.
TRACK RECORD
All of the panels were produced by Innova Composite, a leading Spanish composite parts manufacturer. Innova has a long established track record in supplying custom-designed composite parts for construction infrastructure projects, as well as to other sectors including naval, aviation, automotive, rail and wind energy. The sun panel composite design specification was developed by the external specialist composites consultant José Cristos, who worked closely with the Innova Composite production team, as well as technical support personnel from Scott Bader, which provided both materials selection and processing advice.
