RubberGard EPDM chosen to waterproof Eastern Europe’s largest CLT passive office building 

The project was commissioned by Gabriel Ciordaș, CEO and founder of Romanian IT company Smartware. They urgently needed a new office building that could accommodate at least 250 employees in Saldabagiu de Munte, near the city of Oradea.

The main challenge was to design and build the new offices in a sustainable way and in less than one year. The new office space also had to foster communication and interaction between employees and be energy efficient, while offering a high level of comfort to its occupants.

The concept of passive housing was therefore chosen for this project. When applying passive housing principles, a building’s energy consumption can be reduced two to three times without compromising on comfort. The inside temperature remains comfortable the whole year, never getting too cold, too hot or too humid.

Romanian architecture agency VERTICAL STUDIO ORADEA was behind the concept. INGINERIE CREATIVA, an engineering office specialized in wooden passive buildings, made the energy efficiency design according to Passive House standards and designed the Cross-Laminated Panels (CLT) structure, which was entirely prefabricated and assembled in less than 50 days.

On the flat roof of the new offices, a vapor barrier with an Sd value of more than 1,500 m was placed over the CLT roof deck panels, followed by 200 mm of rigid insulation boards. Elevate RubberGard EPDM roofing membrane with a thickness of 1.5 mm was chosen for its outstanding durability and flame-free installation. A green roof system was added on top, completing the roofing system.

The new Smartware offices are currently the only low energy certified office building in Eastern Europe.

EPDM is the most future-proof roofing solution when it comes to sustainability, performance and design freedom. Learn more about the role it played within this project and many others by discovering its benefits.