The Palacio de Congresos Europa (Europa Conference and Exhibition Centre) in Vitoria, Spain recently underwent a significant renovation to boost the building’s environmental credentials and expand its capacity.

Originally built in 1989, renovation work began on the centre in 2011 involving the use of sustainable building materials including Accoya.

Accoya distributors Elaborados y Fabricados Gámiz specified the use of Accoya to City Hall Municipal Architects and IDOM-ACXT Arquitectos as it met their environmental requirements.

The environmental renovation of the centre was developed to create a carbon neutral building that is efficient in its use of resources, including building materials, water and energy use.

29m3 of 45x25mm planed Accoya sections were used as cladding for the Europa Conference Centre in three vertical sections of increasing density. Accoya was also specified to cover a round staircase in the conference centre’s main entrance.

The building’s façade also features a living installation that uses more than 33,000 plants of 70 different species growing on a total surface area of 1,492 m2.

The entire façade was coated with a grey Cettol WF 771 – Sikkens AkzoNobel coating.