Germany (Ludwigshafen) | Industry & Life Science | norament® 926 grano, norament® 928 grano ed

BASF SE’s DGNB-certified research building

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.

Data and facts

Building BASF SE’s DGNBcertified research building
Owner BASF SE, Ludwigshafen
Market Segment Industry & Life Science
Products norament® 926 grano, norament® 928 grano ed
Architect ASPLAN Architekten BDA, Kaiserslautern
Installation Year 2016
Photographer BASF SE
BASF
BASF
BASF

Products

norament® 926 grano

Rubber flooring for extremely heavy traffic areas, with a granular design rich in contrast and hammerblow surface or cubic structure.

norament® 928 grano ed

Electrostatically dissipative “ed” floorings for optimum ESD protection of electronic devices and equipment. Protect against electrical shock, resist most oils and greases and are suitable for forklift truck areas.

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