Regeneration and Sustainability

URBAN REGENERATION: The former fruit and vegetable market in Genoa, a story of rebirth

Urban regeneration is a crucial component in the sustainable development of contemporary cities. Through targeted interventions, disused and degraded areas can be transformed into vibrant and functional spaces, meeting the needs of an ever-evolving society. An exemplary case of such transformation is the renovation of the former fruit and vegetable market in Genoa.

Urban regeneration extends beyond mere building restoration; it encompasses the redevelopment of entire neighbourhoods, enhancing the quality of life for residents, promoting environmental sustainability, and stimulating the local economy. This process may include the rehabilitation of historic buildings, the creation of new public spaces, the improvement of infrastructure, and the promotion of sustainable mobility. One of the most effective approaches in urban regeneration is public-private collaboration, which combines resources and expertise to realise ambitious and impactful projects.

 

The Redevelopment of the Former Fruit and Vegetable Market in Genoa

The former fruit and vegetable market in Genoa serves as an ideal case study for understanding the significance of urban regeneration. Situated in a strategic location within the city, this space had languished in neglect for several years, becoming a symbol of decay. Thanks to an ambitious redevelopment and reuse project, the area has undergone a radical transformation, emerging as a hub of attraction that fosters greater social cohesion. The design of this new multifunctional space has preserved the historical memory of the complex, creating a large park for the community and commercial spaces for local businesses.

U-Boot® Beton: Technology at the Service of Regeneration

A distinctive feature of this project was the utilisation of U-Boot® Beton, a recycled plastic formwork for voided biaxial slabs, offering several advantages:

  • Reduction in Structural Weight: By unburdening the floor, it was possible to reduce the load on the bearing structures, facilitating renovation without compromising stability.
  • Environmental Sustainability: U-Boot® Beton contributed to reducing the environmental impact of the project, thanks to the significant savings in concrete and steel.
  • Design Flexibility: The versatility of U-Boot® Beton allowed for easy adaptation to specific project requirements, as it is ideal for buildings with complex geometries.

Urban regeneration is a complex yet indispensable process to reintegrate disused or abandoned areas into our cities. Investing in urban regeneration means building a better future for the community, transforming forgotten spaces into places of opportunity and growth.

     

U-Bahn® Beton - RIVM + CBG in Utrecht

Building with Recycled Plastic Products: Lightweight Slabs with U-Bahn® Beton for Sustainable Construction

In contemporary construction, the quest for innovative and sustainable solutions is increasingly paramount. Within this context, lightweight slabs with U-Bahn® Beton emerge as a high-performance and environmentally conscious choice.
Crafted from recycled plastic, U-Bahn® Beton modular formwork exemplifies the principles of the circular economy.
The advantages of this technology extend beyond environmental benefits, offering tangible improvements in construction efficiency.

Why Choose U-Bahn® Beton for One-Way Lightweight Floor Slabs?

As a lightweight and stackable void former, U-Bahn® Beton provides exceptional design flexibility. Unlike brick piñatas and polystyrene formers, it facilitates the creation of cavities for the passage of cables and installations.

PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGES

Maximum Versatility: U-Bahn® Beton is ideal for the production of precast slabs, significantly reducing construction time and labour costs.
High Precision and Uniformity: The U-Bahn® Beton void former ensures perfect concrete rib geometry, enhancing structural performance.
Improved Site Cleanliness: Its compact and modular design minimises waste and debris on site, promoting a cleaner and safer working environment.
Enhanced Seismic Performance: The presence of a double reinforced concrete shell imparts greater rigidity and seismic resistance to U-Bahn® Beton slabs, making them ideal for areas with high seismic risk.

APPLICATIONS

U-Bahn® Beton is the optimal solution for lightweight one-way slabs in a diverse range of buildings, including residential, commercial, office, industrial structures, and public buildings such as schools and hospitals. It is particularly suited for applications that require one-way slabs and floors where minimizing structural loads is essential.
This system not only reduces the need for concrete and steel but also significantly lowers the building’s embodied carbon footprint.

A notable application is in underground construction using the “top-down” technique. Unlike traditional open-air construction that progresses from the bottom up, this method involves constructing load-bearing slabs from the top down, alternating slab construction with the excavation of lower levels.
This technique is often employed in the development of underground car parks in historic city centres, where the presence of adjacent buildings and the necessity for rapid road system restoration pose significant constraints.

Stormwater management

Atlantis System: An Innovative Solution for Effective Rainwater Management

Continuous cementation and increasing settlement densities, although necessary for human development, are causing significant changes in surface and groundwater regimes. Additionally, climate change and rising temperatures are altering weather patterns. The most obvious effects of this climatic trend are more intense and concentrated rainfall, followed by extended periods of drought. These extreme weather phenomena significantly increase the likelihood of flooding due to severe and sudden deluges.

Soil sealing prevents rainwater from being absorbed into the ground, shortening runoff time and causing water to reach receiving bodies much more abruptly. This leads to several problems:

  • Reduction in Water Reserves: Less rainwater is absorbed, lowering aquifers and risking their depletion.
  • Sewer Overload: A sudden increase in the volume of water can jeopardize system functionality, resulting in flooding and associated social costs.
  • Water Quality: As water flows through urban areas, it becomes increasingly polluted, leading to greater wastage of drinking water.
  • Flood Risk: On a larger scale, river basins can collapse, causing flooding with potentially tragic consequences.

Stormwater storage tank

In a context where hydraulic invariance is a standard in new construction, the Atlantis System offers a practical and effective solution for creating water harvesting and lamination tanks. Utilizing the Atlantis System, it is possible to construct rainwater harvesting tanks, dispersion tanks, and water recycling greenhouses. These reinforced concrete tanks, consisting of a bottom slab, perimeter walls, and a top slab supported by columns, are engineered to support a range of loads, including pedestrian walkways, landscaped areas, and car parks.

These tanks can be installed under forecourts, roads, and commercial or industrial car parks to mitigate the effects of flooding caused by exceptional meteorological events. This approach restores the drainage capacity of the ground lost to concrete, without any visual or environmental impact.

Legislation on water protection emphasizes the need for constructing catchment and dispersion basins to prevent flooding and highlights the growing importance of sustainable land transformation. Public authorities can benefit significantly from constructing rainwater dispersion basins. This not only recharges rather than depletes the groundwater table but also eliminates the need to oversize sewer networks as cities expand. Additionally, a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis for an area – be it a municipality, province, or river basin – can facilitate the implementation of a complete hydro-geological rehabilitation plan, thereby significantly reducing the risk of flooding.

Uboot Beton per solai alleggeriti

VOIDED SLABS FOR EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE

U-Boot® Beton allows for a reduction in mass of up to 30% compared to a solid concrete slab, resulting in an overall reduction in load of between 10% and 20%.

The devastating force of an earthquake, causing damage to buildings and people, is an unpredictable natural event that can challenge our safety and stability. Therefore, it is important to proactively address the challenge of earthquakes through a combination of preparedness, scientific understanding and preventive action.

THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

One of the objectives of civil engineering is to ensure maximum resistance of structures to the effects of earthquakes, protecting human life and minimising structural damage to buildings. In this sense, all the most advanced technical standards that are the reference for designers, such as Eurocode 8 EN 1998-1, refer to two primary performance principles that must be satisfied: the protection of human life in the case of seismic events of infrequent intensity and the limitation of damage to structures in the case of seismic events that may occur with some frequency.

International standards for the design of horizontal slabs allow this type of deck to be considered not only as horizontally rigid, but also as a structure capable of dissipating seismic energy.
As a result of numerous experimental campaigns, it appears that the behaviour of slabs subjected to horizontal actions also allows these systems to be studied as primary in terms of seismic resistance.
Similar results are reported in the technical notebook developed by the Politecnico di Milano entitled “Reinforced concrete voided slabs subjected to gravity and seismic actions”- D.Coronelli, L. Martinelli, F. Foti – 2016. In the near future there will be a real revolution in the seismic analysis of buildings, which will give further impetus to the use of slabs in general and, consequently, to lightweight slabs.

Uboot Beton solai a piastra alleggeriti

A VOID FORMER MADE OF RECYCLED PLASTIC

During a seismic event, the force acting on the structural system is directly proportional to the mass of the building and the acceleration of the underlying ground. It is therefore obvious that if you want to reduce the actions involved, you can act on the mass of the building.

With a view to increasing the sustainability of buildings, the Daliform Group has developed a technological, practical and effective solution for creating voided biaxial slabs using U-Boot® Beton, a recycled plastic void former certified to the Second Life Plastic (PSV) standard by IPPR, the Institute for the Promotion of Recycled Plastics.

Although the use of slabs is not the only way to design a seismically resistant building, the choice of a two-way slab becomes the most usual when it is necessary, from an architectural point of view, to create structures with no regularity in the plan.

PROJECT FOCUS

A concrete example of the result of the above points is the new university campus in Milan, home to the SDA Bocconi School of Management.
An urban redevelopment project on the site of the former “Centrale del Latte”, designed by architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the Japanese studio Sanaa, covering an area of 36,000 square metres.

The decision to use U-Boot® Beton in this project enabled the creation of a sinuous and curved floor plan, deviating from typical designs and perfectly meeting high-performance standards. This approach resulted in a more slender load-bearing structure, even vertically. Compared to a solid slab of the same thickness, using U-Boot® Beton allows for a mass reduction of up to 30%, leading to an overall load reduction of between 10% and 20%.

Cassero in plastica riciclata Uboot Daliform

Recycled plastic formwork

IPPR Second Life Plastic Certification, another milestone for Daliform Group!

We are pleased to announce that we have obtained the IPPR Second Life Plastic certification for our products. This important recognition attests to the company’s commitment to using a minimum of 95% recycled plastic.

Commitment to innovation and sustainability

Daliform Group has always been committed to innovation with the aim of significantly improving the way we build, and obtaining this certification represents a further step in this direction. The company’s core values include the pursuit of lasting growth and respect for the environment and sustainability.

The certified products, which will help reduce the building industry’s impact, are:

– Iglù®, the formwork of excellence in the construction industry.
– Atlantis System, an evolved solution suitable for multiple building types.
– U-Boot® Beton, an ideal formwork for bidirectional lightened slabs.
– U-Bahn® Beton, designed for one-way slabs.

Find out more in our PRODUCTS section.

Radon, an invisible health hazard

Radon is a gas of natural origin that is odourless, colourless and tasteless, and therefore cannot be perceived by our senses. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), prolonged exposure to this gas can cause serious health damage, increasing the risk of developing lung cancer.

The European Union has urged Italy to prepare a plan ‘against Radon gas’ applicable by 2031, which envisages the measurement of concentration levels in the territory of the gas and the subsequent evaluation of measures to intervene. Since the early 1990s, Daliform Group Srl has been developing and patenting its products based on the regulations of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, precisely to counteract the rise of Radon gas in new and renovated residential buildings.

Building an aerated under-floor cavity with the Iglù® disposable formwork is an effective solution to counteract the rise of Radon. Indeed, the system, exploits the principle of natural ventilation to allow air to circulate: by connecting the under-floor cavity to the outside using special pipes, a flow of air is created which facilitates the dispersion of Radon and humidity from the cavity below the ground floor.

These are the main advantages of choosing an air cavity made with Iglù®:

Effectiveness
It significantly reduces the concentration of Radon in rooms.

Health
It improves indoor air quality and eliminates excess humidity, preventing mould and condensation.

Durability
Durable and long-lasting system.

Sustainability
Made of recycled plastic, it contributes to environmental protection.

Iglu' Barrier Daliform Group per pareti

Iglu’® Barrier: the protection system for retaining walls

Superior performance and durability, Iglu’® Barrier is a recycled plastic panel created to protect the waterproof layer in the walls against the ground.

Thanks to its technical specifications, it guarantees excellent compressive strength by creating a ventilated cavity and avoids contact between the ground and the waterproofing of the retaining wall.

Walls against the ground are exposed to humidity due to capillary action, to which can be added the possible condensation of humid air as a consequence of inadequate thermal insulation.
This situation can lead to the formation of mould, unpleasant odours and above all compromise the durability of the structure.
Iglù® Barrier finds application in various areas, protecting against water infiltration and rising damp.
Ideal for underground areas such as garages, cellars and other underground areas.

Among the several benefits, some peculiar aspects might be highlighted as follows:
Comfort
The resulting air chamber that is created protects from temperature changes, reducing the “cold wall” effect. Thus, heat loss may be reduced, contributing to energy savings.
Superior protection and resistance
Made of high-strength materials, Iglu’® Barrier acts as a barrier for foundations against penetrating damp, condensation and other atmospheric agents, preserving the structural integrity of buildings.
Sustainability
Daliform Group, who plays an active role in sustainability issues, collaborates with professionals and institutions to spread environmentally friendly construction practices. Iglu’® Barrier is one of them, providing projects with environmentally friendly perimeter protection.
Ease of installation
The modular and intuitive design allows for quick and simple installation, reducing construction time and costs, as well as increased safety in the excavation covering process due to excellent compressive strength.
Versatile applications
Iglu’® Barrier adapts to different foundation configurations and soil types, making it ideal for both residential and commercial buildings.

IGLU' Green Roof

GREEN ROOF – Much more than a trend: a great way to help the environment

The projects that integrate green spaces in buildings are steadily increasing, thanks also to the archistars who have been able to turn the spotlight on solutions that combine aesthetics and sustainability.
Green roofs play the leading role for projects around the world with the aim of bringing nature back to the city. This could be pursued, for example, by transforming roofs/rooftops into green spaces that can lend a distinctive character to buildings, while contributing to the fight against progressive cementification.

Green roofing is a valuable solution to the traditional system and it is now a solution adopted by many designers, both for aesthetic reasons and especially for the improvement of building performance. They are linked to the theme of Smart Cities, which embraces concepts intertwined with a new way of seeing the urban reality, based on citizens’ well-being and energy efficiency. Green roofs are permeable spaces that can counteract pollution and promote countless environmental benefits, contributing to energy savings. In some cases, the latter is as much as 10% compared to a building with a traditional roofing system.

These gardens, placed on top of a wide variety of building types, are divided into two types: extensive or intensive – depending on the thickness of the substrate. The extensive green roof is suitable for stratigraphies with reduced thickness, it is generally not usable and requires little maintenance throughout the year. The intensive, on the other hand, is the most traditional solution and allows a great variety of plants, shrubs, and trees – thanks to a stratigraphy with greater thickness.
IGLU’® GREEN ROOF, produced by Daliform Group and made of recycled plastic material, is the solution for creating a green roof that can guarantee:

  • high capacity to retain and store water, facilitating more gradual drainage in case of heavy rainfall and avoiding the disappearance of vegetation due to a lack or excess of water.
  • environmental sustainability through the improvement of the macro- and micro-climate and of air quality.
  • sound insulation, mitigating the action of acoustic waves and reducing propagation to the underlying environments by some decibels, resulting in improved comfort inside the building.
  • thermal insulation, with less heat loss in winter and natural cooling in summer.

In the pictures the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj, with the terraces staggered to create large green spaces, designed by studio 3LHD.
   

New accessory for the IGLU’® product

Daliform Group presents PROLUNGA (EXTENSION), the new accessory of the range IGLU’®

Outcome of studies by the R&D office of the company, the new accessory “Prolunga (extension)” encloses all the technical know-how of Daliform Group.

Available for Iglu’® from height 14 to 80 cm, the accessory “Prolunga (extension)” permits to adapt the laying of the crawl space to non-multiple dimensions of Iglu’® formwork and to block the passage of concrete inside the cavity.

The new product, made of recycled and recycable plastic, permits the development of a ventilated slab of any shape and dimension, allowing the simoultaneous casting of curbs, beams, foundation walls and slab, with a considerable reduction in time taken to shutter, lay and cast

Daliform Group supports FAI – The Italian Fund for the Environment

Daliform Group supports FAI – The Italian Fund for the Environment. FAI’s mission aims to promote and protect Italian culture, nature, art, history and traditions.
Daliform Group is a company that bases its business on the values of transparency, fairness and support for local territory.
It’s for this reason that we decided to join Corporate Golden Donor, FAI’s support program for companies.

This is a farsighted and responsible choice, a concrete gesture to value the Corporate Social Responsibility of our company.
Art, culture and landscape are important resources and constitute the ideal sphere where sharing valuable experiences.
Joining the program means even being able to involve employees and clients in initiatives and special occasions inside the heritage protected by FAI.