VIP technology simplifies the energetic refurbishment of an office building built in the 1960s

The 50 years old office building of FrymaKoruma in Rheinfelden, Switzerland, was subject to a deep renovation process to improve the energy consumption. The renovation team refurbished the façade elements with 72 mm CALOSTAT®/VIP/CALOSTAT® heat insulation sandwiches which brought multiple benefits at once: reduced heating and cooling consumption; short renovation process with minimum disruption; re-use of existing pilaster strips; constant interior temperatures both in winter and in summer; fire retardant for more than 90 minutes; just to name some.

Besides, the installation caused little disruption and was done in a reasonable time frame and budget. The heating energy consumption of the 4,200 m³ large office building was hence reduced from 333,000 kWh/a to calculated 200,000 kWh/a by the façade and window refurbishment and by achieving an U value below 0.18 W/(m²∙K).

“This case study is another example of how vacuum insulation panels can contribute in various ways to the refurbishment of office buildings. This innovative space-saving technology is very versatile and can insulate up to five times better than conventional insulation materials of the same thickness,” stated Dr. Hark-Oluf Asbahr, Director Thermal Insulation within Evonik and Board Member of VIPA International.