European Patent Office, Austria

A sustainable renovation for a classic building

An icon of sustainable architectural heritage

Near the Belvedere Palace in Vienna, the European Patent Office (EPO) has undergone a 21st century facelift. Its goal: to make the building one of the most sustainable in Austria.

Holcim helped make it happen, providing its sustainable building solutions throughout the project. ECOPact low-carbon concrete with ECOCycle® inside helped reduce the building’s renovation emissions, while Elevate Isoguard™ insulation improved its energy efficiency.

The building’s renovation makes it fit for today’s modern workforce. A new atrium creates an open space with an inviting public area on the ground floor. The layout of the office spaces optimizes natural light, creating a better working environment and reducing energy demand.

lower emissions with ECOPact compared to traditional concrete

reduced emissions thanks to the reuse of the original concrete structure

1500

m³

of ECOPact concrete using ECOCycle®

Innovation

Green retrofitting for the future

To support the project’s sustainable vision, Holcim created bespoke innovative and low-carbon ECOPact concrete mixes for PORR Group. Thanks to this lower impact material and the building’s other highly efficient features, it has received the BREEAM “Outstanding” certification, with the highest rating of any project in Austria to date.

Sustainability

On-site resources and energy-efficient design

The EPO building’s redesign brings a new level of sustainability to the site through its use of renewable energy and energy recycling. Solar collectors generate more energy than the building consumes and surplus energy is fed back into the electricity grid. Geothermal probes connected to a heat pump provide heating to the building, which further improves energy efficiency. Additional energy demand will be met by the large-scale photovoltaic system and storage batteries.

180

MWh p.a.

of electricity generated with the building’s solar panels

less energy used by heat pumps than conventional systems

Materials

From foundations and walling to roofing and flooring

The project used ECOPact concrete mixes with ECOCycle ® inside to reduce emissions and drive circular construction. ECOCycle®, Holcim’s circularity technology, enables us to recycle construction demolition materials into new building solutions, reducing demand for primary materials.

Elevate Isoguard™ insulation leveled up the building’s energy efficiency, since the insulation boards will save over 100 times the energy used to produce them. The chosen roofing solution also enabled the installation of solar panels and a heat pump that fully meet the building’s energy needs.

1500

m³

of ECOPact with ECOCycle® inside

lower primary material use thanks to ECOCycle® recycled materials inside the concrete mixes

LEGACY

Future-proofing our architectural heritage

In 2019, a feasibility study recommended that the EPO redevelop its Vienna campus with an entirely new building. Instead, the EPO opted for a more sustainable approach: stripping the building back to its original concrete skeleton and rebuilding from the ground up.

This approach underlines a key lever that we can use to decarbonize the built environment. About 80% of Europe’s existing building stock is projected to still be in use by 2050, so renovating these buildings with green retrofit systems will be critical in enabling the European Union to reach its net-zero targets.

“We are pleased to create a spacious, sustainable home for the European Patent Office. Once the renovations are complete, the EPO will fulfill the criteria of the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification. Using low-carbon building materials is one of the ways in which these goals can be achieved.”

Karl-Heinz Strauss CEO at PORR Group

“I'm proud of Holcim's contribution to the renovation of the European Patent Office. Using ECOPact, ECOCycle® and Elevate, we are meeting customer needs and showing that sustainable building solutions can significantly improve performance.”

Markus Schenkl Managing Director, Holcim Beton Austria

LEARNING