Sustainable rubber flooring for the “green building”
Recognized for sustainability: Just one year after
commissioning, BASF’s B 7 research building in
Ludwigshafen received the Gold certificate from the
German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) in the
summer of 2016. Based on 40 criteria, the DGNB
system evaluates the sustainability of buildings and
neighborhoods across the entire lifecycle - from project
development to operation and disassembly.
For certification, the building has to use healthy and
environmentally friendly as well as durable products -
such as the innovative construction materials from BASF
and the norament grano rubber flooring from nora
systems, covering over 3,600 square meters of floor
space in the new research building.
Wear-resistant and durable
Since July 2015, the B7 laboratory and office building
has been the workplace of approximately 200
employees of the Advanced Materials & Systems
research area, who had previously been working in
separate buildings. The new seven-story building is
connected to two neighboring buildings via a groundlevel
entrance and a bridge. The spatial proximity not
only shortens the physical distances, according to
BASF. The bridge also symbolizes the close
cooperation within the research areas.
When the time came to select the flooring for the
laboratories with the adjacent office workstations, the
architectural firm and lab design specialist Asplan, in
consultation with the client, opted for flooring from
nora systems. After all, it is not only low-emission and
environmentally-friendly, but also extremely durable,
thus contributing to the sustainability of the research
building in multiple ways. “As the building was slated
to become DGNB-certified, rubber was our only
option for this application area,” says Kjan Yazdi, the
responsible project manager at Asplan.
Thanks to their extremely dense surface, nora floor
systems are extremely wear resistant. “The resilience of
rubber flooring was a very important criterion for us,”
stressed architect Bernd Junker, Technical Services
nora® flooring systems in BASF SE’s DGNB certified
research building
Ludwigshafen, who coordinated and supervised the
construction project on the part of BASF.
At the same time, the dense surface of nora floors
allows for easy and efficient cleaning. That is why they
still look as good as new even after many years of
heavy usage. And the less often a floor needs to be
replaced, the better its ecological balance. Another
plus: The rubber flooring does not contain any phthalate plasticizers or halogens. They also contribute to a healthy indoor air.
Permanent ESD protection
To protect employees and equipment in the
laboratories against electrostatic discharges and avoid
false measured values, the flooring had to be
dissipative. Just the right job for norament 928 grano
ed.
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Like all nora floors, it does not have to be coated,
which means it permanently retains its conductivity. This
is an enormous advantage over other floors, whose
coatings not only affect the reliability of conductivity,
but also require regular replacement.
An additional advantage: The rubber flooring is
available in the same design for various requirements.
The ESD-protected areas in B7 were thus designed to
match the appearance of the adjacent office areas.
“This allowed us to implement an overarching design
solution in the building,” says architect Yazdi.
High ergonomic comfort
The rubber flooring’s ergonomics was also important
for BASF: Its permanent elasticity facilitates walking
and standing - as it is easy on the back and joints, the
body does not tire as quickly as on harder surfaces.
“The comfort provided by nora floors was extremely
important for us; after all, our employees spend a long
time standing in the labs,” continues Junker.
Resilient, durable, high quality and functional: nora
flooring systems are not only a good choice in terms
of sustainability. Their ecological and ergonomic
features also contribute to the well-being of the
building’s occupants.
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