Mr. Peyrud began by introducing the company and its current strategy. The Saint-Gobain company was founded 350 years ago as a royal manufacturer of mirrors at the court of Louis XIV. Now its products are glass, thermal insulation, gypsum boards, dry building mixtures, sound insulation systems. In 2018, the company's turnover amounted to more than 41 billion euros. Sustainability is at the heart of the company's strategy. Fighting climate change is fundamental to Saint-Gobain's strategy and responsibility. The group has officially announced that it has a goal of becoming a carbon neutral company by 2050. Our task is to contribute to limiting global warming by 1.5 degrees. The production of building materials is very energy intensive, accounting for 40% of the total CO2 emissions. Urbanization is causing irreparable harm to the environment, the number of urban residents is growing rapidly, and the urban population will double by 2050. Already, Saint-Gobain is making a significant contribution by supplying solutions that improve the energy efficiency of buildings, the comfort of living spaces, by producing lightweight structures, thereby reducing energy and resource consumption. We are helping to transform markets towards low carbon solutions, an approach that shows our respect for the planet and our full focus on the welfare of humankind.
Therefore, Saint-Gobain's goal is to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero. Over the last period, CO2 emissions at factories have been reduced by 25%, and water consumption by 84%. There are three main focuses: 1) the production of environmentally friendly building materials (see below in an interview with Antoine Peyrude); 2) reduction of CO2 emissions in production and through the construction of green buildings; 3) Recycling of raw materials such as glass, gypsum boards and other materials. Antoine Peyrude talked about an experimental "Home with positive energy use" that produces more energy than it consumes. He gave an example of the successful renovation of a 1960s library in Moscow, which became the innovative building of the Saint-Gobain Academy, and the building itself became an example of green building (see the interview for details). Antoine Peyrude emphasized that sustainability is about comfort. It is important how people feel in the building. Studies were carried out on this topic, and it turned out that, from the point of view of comfort, in the first place is the cleanliness of the air, in the second - the acoustics, the absence of noise, in the third - the temperature regime. All these tasks can be solved by using Saint-Gobain materials and solutions. “Sustainability is part of Saint-Gobain's strategy because we want to build a comfortable living environment. Our goal is to respond to global challenges not only of today, but of tomorrow as well,”summed up Antoine Peyrud.
A separate presentation of Saint-Gobain specialists Alexei Archakov and Nikolai Ilyinsky took place on acoustics. They presented eloquent medical data. Doctors see noise pollution as a source of senile hearing loss, and reducing noise by 10% reduces heart disease and prolongs human life. 67% of houses under construction in Russia do not meet acoustic standards, because there are cracks in panel houses, and in monolithic houses, noise propagates through rigid connections. It is painful to hear neighbors quarreling for years in an apartment building. Wall panels and acoustic ceilings "Saint-Gobain" with sound-absorbing material solve the problem: they reduce the level of noise passing through the structures. And in offices, sound attenuation is facilitated by Ecophon partitions.
At the BIM session, the head of the Saint-Gobain multi-comfort solutions technical group, Max Kobyshev, spoke about the upcoming application for building materials and asked the architects in the hall - future users - to inform about their needs for data transfer. It turned out that ready-made sets of materials such as "Comfort", "Premium", "Economy" are not needed, but a library of materials with quantitative characteristics is needed so that you can compose your own sets of them for a specific project, and so that the application is integrated into common architectural programs.
Interview with Antoine Peyrude
CEO Saint-Gobain in Russia, Ukraine and CIS countries
Archi.ru:
Architects are fans of innovative materials. Let's talk about materials from the point of view of their environmental friendliness and aesthetics. Let's start with glass
Antoine Peyrude:
Yes, architects love to have as much glass as possible in buildings, because it's beautiful. I am very familiar with the technology of glass production, as I have been working in this field for 12 years. The manufacturing process has evolved a lot in recent years. The Saint-Gobain company produces energy efficient glass. We apply silver atoms to the glass - this invisible layer reflects heat radiation, prevents indoor heating in hot countries and prevents heat loss in cold regions. Thanks to these properties, we can talk about a reduction in energy consumption for heating and air conditioning in the building, and therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions. You know that a mirror is glass coated with silver, with the silver reflecting all the light. In our glass, a layer of silver filters infrared rays and ultraviolet rays, but allows visible light to pass through. Spraying the surface reflects the coolness and keeps it indoors on a hot day. For example, COOL-LITE is our brand, a triplex with three layers of silver. If you live in the south, this model will suit you. If you live in a northern country, you need to keep the heat in the room, then you are more interested in glass with a low silver content. You can also combine different types of glass.
Saint-Gobain has worked with such architectural stars as Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel. What buildings were Saint-Gobain products used in?
Yes, we have worked a lot with famous architects, for example with Frank Gehry during the construction of the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. The sgg COOL-LITE SKN 172 glass, which I mentioned above, is just used there. They also used sgg DIAMANT glass, which is absolutely transparent, hence the name "Almaz" (as you know, normally the cut glass is green, and this is white). For architects, the transparency of the glass is of fundamental importance from an aesthetic point of view. So, in the Louis Vuitton Foundation, it allows a person in a building to completely immerse themselves in the park environment.
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zooming 1/3 Arch. Frank Gehry. Louis Vuitton Foundation © 2014 Todd Eberle
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zooming 2/3 Arch. Frank Gehry. Louis Vuitton Foundation © 2014 Todd Eberle
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zooming 3/3 Arch. Frank Gehry. Louis Vuitton Foundation © 2014 Todd Eberle
We also collaborated with such outstanding architects as Jean Nouvel, Kengo Kuma, Jean-Michel Vilmot. Nouvel designed a museum in Qatar using our products,
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zooming 1/3 Arch. Jean Nouvel. National Museum of Qatar Photo © Iwan Baan
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zooming 2/3 Arch. Jean Nouvel. National Museum of Qatar Photo © Iwan Baan
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zooming 3/3 Arch. Jean Nouvel. National Museum of Qatar Photo © Danica O. Kus
and Kengo Kuma is the Victoria and Albert Museum in Dundee. Both buildings were included in Time Magazine's 2019 Best Projects List.
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zooming 1/3 Kengo Kuma Associates. Dundee Branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum © Hufton + Crow
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zooming 2/3 Kengo Kuma Associates. Dundee Branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum © Hufton + Crow
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zooming 3/3 Kengo Kuma Associates Victoria and Albert Museum Dundee © Hufton + Crow
What other types of innovative glass are used in architecture?
There are many of them: noise-insulating glass, wind-resistant glass. For example, the Saint-Gobain headquarters in the La Defense district in Paris, the Oko tower in Moscow City, and the Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg have a completely glass shell. Since these are skyscrapers, and Lakhta Center is the tallest building in Europe, the wind is very strong at the top, and the glass has special characteristics to withstand wind loads.
In the same Louis Vuitton in Paris, we used fireproof glass that can withstand fire for 90 minutes. We are working to increase the light transmission of glass, but to reduce heat transfer. We have the COOL-LITE XTREME 60/28 and 70/33 brand, which combines two parameters: light transmission is high, 70%, and energy transmission is low, 33%.
Saint-Gobain also produces heated glass, which is used in the glass ceiling of atriums to melt snow. The principle is the same as in glass for cars, but the electric field is created not by wires, but by silver atoms on the surface. It is enough to press a button, and after three seconds the glass heats up and frees from the ice. There are even laminated heated glass radiators, but they are very expensive.
In your talk, you talked about Saint-Gobain's environmental strategy and, in particular, about the construction of green buildings. Please provide specific examples
Our new headquarters in the Défense district of Paris, Saint-Gobain Tower, claims three environmental certifications at once: the international LEED and BREEAM and the French HQE. It is actually a glass greenhouse with lots of plants and daylight. It creates an exceptionally comfortable and healthy environment for employees.
As far as I know, until now, the composition of building and finishing materials included harmful volatile compounds such as phenol or formaldehyde. I read that Saint-Gobain specialists replaced formaldehyde with sugar. Can I get more details?
Yes, we have such developments. One of the latest innovations is the use of bioorganics for thermal insulation. Formaldehyde is harmful to health and causes allergic diseases. We not only reduced its content in the binder for thermal insulation, but completely replaced it with a bioorganic substance - a variant of corn sugar.
Tell us about your “Modular Home with Positive Energy”. In Russia, they usually say "active home", but a house with positive energy sounds better, adds a new semantic shade
The Saint-Gobain Modular Positive Energy House, built near Angers in France, produces more energy (61 kW / m2 / year) than it consumes (39 kW / m2 / year). It uses 15 Saint-Gobain brands: glass, acoustic partitions, thermal insulation, gypsum boards, dry mixes and so on. The house has exceptionally clean air, since our finishing materials do not contain harmful substances, optimal thermal insulation, the maximum potential of sunlight and heat is used. Geothermal heating based on the temperature difference in the depth of the earth and the air, solar panels and solar water heaters turn this home into an energy-producing device.
In Russia, green architecture is not very developed, since gas and electricity are relatively cheap here. Have Saint-Gobain are there ecological buildings in Russia?
Yes, this is the Saint-Gobain Academy in Moscow. It demonstrates another area of Saint-Gobain's commitment to sustainability - building renovation, an important architectural trend of our time. Renovation of old buildings is always aimed at aesthetic and functional improvements. Academy "Saint-Gobain" - reconstruction of a typical district library in 1961. We wrapped a two-story brick building with an energy-efficient shell, installed energy-efficient windows, insulated the roof and installed solar panels. Heating savings were 85%. On top of the two layers of brickwork, we added two layers of Isover Optima GW (270mm) and Isover Vent Façade Top (30mm). The walls are so thick that no batteries are needed. Heating and cooling is provided by ceiling systems. And the lift, going down, even produces energy! Touch-sensitive lighting saves electricity: the lamps turn off when no one is in the room. Roof tanks collect water, which is heated through vacuum tubes. Thus, we save energy through thermal insulation, as well as through computer systems that monitor the processes in the building. Since the Saint-Gobain Academy trains specialists, this is a real ecological smart house both in form and in content.
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zooming 1/3 Saint-Gobain Academy in Moscow © Courtesy of Saint-Gobain
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zooming 2/3 Saint-Gobain Academy in Moscow © Courtesy of Saint-Gobain
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zooming 3/3 Saint-Gobain Academy in Moscow © Courtesy of Saint-Gobain
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg argues that sustainable development requires all sorts of hardships for us: switch from a car to a bicycle, stop flying on airplanes, become a vegetarian. You spoke in your report about the connection between sustainable development and comfort. Is there a contradiction here?
We produce materials for buildings and must provide a healthy environment for people in them. There is no contradiction with ecology here. As I said in the report, the first place, in terms of comfort, is the cleanliness of the air, and we have eliminated harmful volatile compounds from our materials. Noise pollution is in second place in importance, and even in first in Europe: 80 million Europeans believe that noise is the source of the greatest discomfort. And we created the “Quiet House” brand with noise-absorbing insulation. Our acoustic panels absorb sound waves, the windows, laminated with a special film, prevent sounds from outside from entering the room. Thermal comfort is also important, and thermal insulation and other Saint-Gobain products provide this, saving energy for heating and cooling. It is quite possible, while preserving and increasing human comfort, to conserve the resources of the planet.
