Light-weight pet core used in parts of the Banco Popular headquarters

The new Madrid corporate headquarters of Banco Popular Español, S.A., the fifth largest banking group in Spain, includes an auditorium with a special box for interpreters. Suspended from the ceiling of the auditorium, the box was designed using glass and PET core.

Advantageous composite solution when Carbures and Diab team up
The building is being constructed by Martifer, while the pieces for the interpreters’ box have been manufactured by Carbures. Founded in 1999 in El Puerto de Santa María, Spain, Carbures specializes in the manufacturing of composite parts and structures. With its own technological and manufacturing processes to produce composite structures, the company has worked together with Diab in other projects, for example the Norman Foster Foundation in Madrid, and is well aware of the advantageous properties of Diab’s core materials when it comes to weight reduction.

PET for light weight and fire safety
Using a PET core offers a series of competitive advantages, the main one being low weight with remained strength. Two cases were manufactured, one forming the ceiling of the box and the other the floor. Each was formed by three panels of GRP (Glass-Fiber Reinforced Plastics) of curved geometry and with a length of 7.50 m and a width of 1.10 m. The panels were made of Divinycell P 60 with a thickness of 55 and 12 mm using resin infusion technology. They weigh less than 120 kg and offer fire-retardant properties (BS2d0), meeting all FST (Fire, Smoke & Toxicity) requirements.