Saint-Gobain: Interior is a part of a living environment

–Saint-Gobain has been present for years in the domestic market and has so far worked on over 5,000 projects, including some of the biggest and most significant in the country. Some of them relate to individual facilities such as residential units, outlets, hospitality establishments, clinics, structures of particular importance, facilities protected by the state as well as education, entertainment, cultural and commercial facilities. It`s impossible to choose the most significant ones because they are all equally important to us. Some are more complex because of their size, others because of their value or the need for alternative solutions or specific visual demands or because of different functional requirements. There are many standards by which we could define the significance of these projects. Our teams work as a whole on these projects so there is also subjectivity and variety of affinities towards these facilities.

Since we`re on the subject of interior design, and we also mentioned The Saint-Gobain International Trophy, there are a few projects that were acknowledged on this prestigious competition. One of them is a school in Novi Sad where Saint-Gobain innovative materials were used. Another one is a residential-office complex within Porto Montenegro, Regent Pool Club Residences (Baia)

You are continually working on sustainable development, taking care of the present and the future and focused on reduced consumption of natural resources.

– We aim to contribute to reduction of CO emissions and the Group`s goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The Group sets aside EUR 75 for every tonne of CO2 for the Carbon Fund project budget. This money is invested into realizing projects for reducing emissions of harmful gasses. We are recycling and reusing glass and plaster worldwide. For years we have been a part of Carbon Disclosure Projects and we are intensely working on reducing energy consumption and the amount of the harmful greenhouse gasses produced. Our development projects focused on sustainability aim to use renewable energy sources reducing the emission of CO2 throughout the entire life cycle of a product. By 2025 our plan is to reduce the CO2 emissions by 20%, non-recyclable waste by 50% and waste waters by 80% whereas by 2030 we are planning changes in the mix of energy sources,product innovations, recycling, etc.

How does that impact the facilities you are working on?

– The facilities we are building are low-carbon, they conserve energy and the company`s goal for the future is for our activities to have less impact on the environment. Saint-Gobain will soon open the first carbon neutral plasterboard factory in the world in Norway. In that way we will eliminate over 20,000 tonne of CO2 per year and conserve energy. We believe that the concept of net zero carbon plants will expand to other Saint-Gobain locations. At the moment, we are preserving 80,000 t of raw materials through recycling in the Czech Republic and in Romania we are partnering with Engie on the construction of the largest photovoltaic park for production of renewable energy, which will completely cover our energy consumption needs.

Does that include dry construction as well?

– The Group is dedicated to innovative materials, top quality lightweight construction materials, renewable energy sources, electrification of production processes and we rely on green and sustainable energy. When it comes to dry construction, those materials are the future. Their application improves environmental protection, energy efficiency, acoustic performance in interiors, easier and faster installation, durability and conservation.

This year, you installed solar panels on one of your factories...

– We have finished installing solar panels that produce direct current with a power inverter in our factory in Topola. Estimates show that 212,000 kWh of electricity will be produced annually. We expect many benefits from this project like eliminating around 170 t of CO2 per year, avoiding over-consumption which will result in reduced costs. We are supposed to acquire the status of a prosumer soon meaning we will deliver the excess electricity produced to EPS. Our calculations indicate that we will have a return on investment in 6 to 8 years. This is just a part of our social responsibility plan. Another one is the Eco-Municipality project, where we give support to local municipal governments in raising awareness about energy efficiency in residential and commercial facilities, preserving water sources and waste management.