Sika Case Study: Trieste Airport Flooring Refurbishment, Italy

Company Sika
Date 07.01.2019

Project Description:

The project for the intermodal hub annexed to Trieste Airport is one of the most important objectives outlined by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region in its regional transport plan in recent years. It represents the desire to achieve a strategic location that integrates the local and suburban public transport system. The infrastructure is a public work, carried out with funds that derive from EU and regional funding, built to improve accessibility of the airport.

Given the importance of the construction of the new Intermodal Hub, Trieste airport was equally in need of major restyling and some refurbishment work. The customer’s request was first and foremost to replace most of the existing flooring made up of old tiles, with a continuous resinous flooring that, in addition to providing superior styling value, proved modern in its appearance, owing to the absence of any joints that would mean easy cleaning, mechanical strength, elasticity and low VOC emissions during installation. Initially the customer had thought of a solution involving coating the existing tiles with epoxy paint, but this type of solution would not have had the characteristics desired initially, since the system was not elastic and would have had limited resistance to surface scratches. The customer also wanted to perform several maintenance works in the airport (e.g. structural reinforcement of reinforced concrete pillars and beams, reinforcement of joints between beams and pillars, etc.).

Sika Solution:

Given the customer’s requests and the passage of about 2,500 people per day, Sika created a system consisting of colored and elastic polyurethane resins: Sika ComfortFloor® PS-23. Prior to installation of the actual resin flooring, the entire old tile flooring had to be removed. With shot blasting and sanding all the adhesive residue remaining on the substrate was entirely eliminated. Once all the dust was removed, the concrete substrate was primed with Sikafloor®-156 thickened with quartz sand. Once the primer hardened, a colored, elastic and low VOC emission two-component polyurethane resin was applied, namely Sikafloor®-330, with a total thickness of 2 mm. Since this product is self-leveling and easy to apply, it is perfect for applying over large surfaces in a short span of time.

The following day the flooring was protected by a finishing layer comprising a water-based, colored, matt polyurethane resin, i.e. Sikafloor®-305 W. Thanks to the low VOC emission levels of all the aforementioned products, the airport has been able to continue its normal activity without having to close or divert passengers to other gates due to the emissions of solvents that would normally be expected.

A full range of Sika products and systems were also specified for the Trieste airport floor refurbishment including:

  • Flooring in communal areas: Sika ComfortFloor® PS-23, consisting of Sikafloor®-156, Sikafloor®-330 and Sikafloor®-305 W
  • Flooring and wall tiling in toilet facilities: Sikafloor® Multidur ES-14, consisting of Sikafloor®-156 and Sikafloor®-264
  • Sealants: Ethafoam, Sika® Primer-3N, Sikaflex® PRO-3, Sikaflex® PRO-3SL and SikaHyflex®-250 Facade
  • Reinforcements: SikaDur®-30, SikaWrap®-300C, Sikadur®-330, Sikadur®-31, Sika AnchorFix®-3 and Sikadur®-52

In order to measure the sustainability of specified Sika solutions, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was done for this project. An LCA is a standardized method assessing the impact of a product or system on the environment, considering the partial life cycle (from cradle to gate) or the total life cycle (from cradle to grave). Read more about the LCA summary and conclusions in the linked case study below.

To view the full case study click here

Contact

Sika Services AG
Tueffenwies 16
Zürich
Switzerland
CH-8048
  • +44 (0) 7970 122274
  • +86 15000736892
  • +41 79 629 3561
  • +41 58 436 48 69