During the construction of the €300 million Vodafone Village in Milan, the telecommunication giant’s largest real estate investment in the world, the main contractor had the formidable task of protecting the substructure from the presence of groundwater. A robust, durable and proven waterproofing solution was sought and the answer was found in Preprufe® waterproofing membrane from worldwide leader in the construction products industry Grace, which has provided an impregnable seal to the concrete structure.

Designed by Architects Gantes and Morisi and built by main contractor Ediltecno Restauri Srl, Vodafone Village comprises four buildings and has been built to be environmentally sustainable. The 67,000m2 development has brought together over 3000 Vodafone staff from across the region under one roof.

With this sustainable office development having made use of a disused industrial area, the main contractor discovered that the ground water level was high in several places which necessitated a proven below ground waterproofing system to keep water on the outside. The result was the specification of over 33000m2 of Preprufe® 300R membrane.

Preprufe® is an advanced membrane system which offered the specialist waterproofing contractor Imperedil the safest and most reliable waterproofing option. Designed with synthetic adhesive layers, Grace’s patented Advanced Bond Technology™ enables concrete to aggressively adhere to Preprufe®. It then forms a unique intimate seal which creates micro-compartments to prevent any water migration between the waterproofing and the structure.

‘Having met with the Grace technical team on site, it was clear that Preprufe® was a fully bonded waterproofing system that would protect the substructure from water migration,’ commented Mr. Sergio Garavaglia of Imperedil. ‘Preprufe® offered our team an adaptable and secure solution despite the complexities of the construction and number of penetrations.”

No other system on the market protects a substructure from the harmful effects of water, vapour and gas than Preprufe®. It can also be applied on wet concrete and is immediately trafficable after installation without protective layers, which makes for fast and easy installation.
With the presence of many columns on the site as well as several different levels to waterproof, the Preprufe® system also showed its versatility in areas which are potentially vulnerable to water ingress. To achieve an effective seal between the membrane and these penetrations, the specialist contractor applied over 1100 litres of Bituthene® LM to further protect the structure from the damaging effects of water.

For more than 30 years, Grace Construction Products has been a leader in the advancement of waterproofing technologies and solutions. Grace combines innovative technologies and time-tested products to provide reliable waterproofing solutions for virtually all above-ground and below-ground applications. Today, billions of square metres of Grace membranes have been installed worldwide.