Over 100 years old and located on a busy street in central Milan, this beautiful building on the Viale Murillo took advantage of national renovation incentives to become more energy efficient. It’s a mixed neighbour- hood in the very heart of the city, with banks, offices, restaurants, shops and residential buildings mingling together. No.10 Viale Murillo is a residential building, housing nine units over five floors.

The challenge

Built in about 1905, this apartment building craved a deep renovation to reduce its energy use and limit the noise levels stemming from the bustling city outside.

Classified as ‘G’ – the lowest energy class – the building used inefficient and expensive kerosene-fired heating and guzzled 175kW/m2 per year – most of which escaped through the aging roof and floors. The renovation needed to respect its historic façade – and take place while the occupants continued to live in their apartments without disturbance by the construction workers.

The solution

In support of incentives made available by the Municipality of Milan to promote the benefits of energy renovation, ROCKWOOL Italy partnered with Enel X,  an energy transformation services company, and Teicos Group, a Milanese construction company, to completely transform the building on Viale Murillo.

Reducing energy consumption and utility bills

A key challenge throughout the renovation was to preserve the historical character of the building. This was achieved by a very detailed survey of the classic façade combined with the application of a customised external insulation system that could accurately and flexibly follow the original mouldings on the building. The project team identified the ROCKWOOL REDArt thermal insulation system as being the perfect fit, pre- serving the old design of the building while improving energy efficiency and guaranteeing high level perfor- mance over time. REDArt proved to be an ideal choice, as the system offers excellent, lasting thermal properties as well as securing fire protection. As the building is located in a very vibrant part of the city, the insulation system also secured welcome relief from external noise pollution, boosting the acoustic comfort within the building. The ROCKWOOL technical support  team were on hand to advise throughout the renovation and ensure the system exceeded expectations.

“By selecting a versatile material such as stone wool for the realisation of the exterior thermal insulation layer, it was possible to obtain multiple advantages,” says Paolo Migliavacca , Business Unit Director of ROCKWOOL Italia S.p.A. “These ranged from the improvement of insulation with a consequent reduction in energy consumption to the achievement of more comfortable environments, with enhanced sound insulation and fire safety.”

The renovation focused heavily on the addition of effective thermal insulation, with a goal to help increase internal comfort and reduce consumption and operating costs. The outdated heating system was also replaced with an efficient gas-fired heat pump. By combining effective insulation with a modern heating system, the building’s energy class jumped from G to C. In turn, this reduced energy consumption by a whopping 74 percent, the equivalent of 48kW/m2, and utility bills were reduced by 80 percent!