Hospitality Buildings

Hospitality Buildings

Saint-Gobain Africa puts its expertise at the service of tourism to remedy the market distortion in the hotel market caused by rising demand and limited supply in African cities.

THERMAL COMFORT

Hotels are often complex buildings designed to accommodate a wide range of activities. Maintaining optimum temperature and internal climate is an essential element in supporting the living environment.
 
Optimising a building’s energy efficiency means rethinking the building envelope in its entirety for energy consumption reduction and a greater respect for the environment. This not only aims at ensuring thermal insulation and air tightness performance but also at benefiting from solar heat and light gain.
 

Saint-Gobain Africa provides tailored solutions for the construction and renovation of hospitality buildings with a view to reducing energy consumption by two or three levels. These include: 

  • Drywall systems that provide enhanced thermal performance to the building envelope, which supports the thermal comfort of the occupants. The thermal conductivity of plasterboard is up to four times less than that of brickwork.
  • Solar control glass and window films that can either let sun radiation enter the building or block it out.
  • Interior and exterior insulation materials, such as mineral wools, which help to reduce heat losses or gains.
  • ETICS systems that provide active insulation by minimising heat flow through walls and around windows, doors and other openings while cutting energy consumption and CO² emissions from heating and cooling.
  • Vapour control membranes that prevent humidity from entering the building.
  • Renders that help reduce humidity transfer from the outside and improve thermal comfort.
  • Bituminous waterproofing roof solutions with heat reflective properties.
  • Tile adhesives, primers, grouts, and cementitious finishes to prevent heat flow.
  • Warm edge spacer bars that improve the thermal performance of glazing units.

ACOUSTIC COMFORT

Hotels are inherently noisy environments, with guests talking and moving around in corridors or enjoying the gym, noisy restaurants, busy conference rooms and people on the telephone. 

In hotels, noise is the nuisance most frequently mentioned by guests, well before hygiene, quality of service or bedding. In a place where people come to sleep, acoustic comfort is anything but optional.

The acoustic quality of a hotel depends on the following parameters:

  • Insulation between rooms reduces the disturbance caused by neighbouring conversations, televisions, etc.
  • Insulation from technical equipment (lift movement, HVAC systems).
  • Insulation from external noise (road and air transport).
  • Absorption of excessive noise within spaces.


Saint-Gobain Africa provides various solutions that provide privacy for users and contribute to the quality of their sleep. These include: 

  • Materials that provide sound insulation from external noise, such as glass in windows and facades.
  • Insulating materials that can effectively attenuate noise, such as specially designed plasterboards and drywall systems, acoustic ceilings and glasswool insulation that help to reduce airborne and impact noises inside the building.
  • Absorbing materials reduce reverberation within a space and enhance acoustic ambience. This can be achieved through Saint-Gobain acoustic ceilings or wall panels, or a combination of the two.
  • External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS) that improve thermal insulation and acoustic values as an alternative to conventional building systems.
  • Acoustic drainage systems that dampen the sound of drainage water and transit.
  • Duct insulation solutions that reduce noise from heating, venting and cooling (HVAC) systems.
  • Felts for floating floors that reduce impact sound from floor traffic.

INDOOR AIR QUALITY COMFORT

Several studies show that the air we breathe can be more polluted inside our living spaces than outside. The degradation of indoor air quality can cause symptoms such as headache, tiredness, irritation or dizziness. That is why the quality of indoor air is an essential concern in building design.

To optimise the indoor air quality, it is essential to meet the following prerequisites:

  • Limit emissions of pollutants at their source by choosing the right building materials and low-emission furniture or assets.
  • Remove pollutants by suitable ventilation while treating airtightness. These unwanted air leaks affect the quality and efficiency of planned air exchange and alter the health quality of the frame (condensation and mould).
  • For hotel establishments, the quality of indoor air can be a differentiator.

Saint-Gobain Africa offers a range of solutions to improve indoor air quality. These include: 

  • Lightweight systems for wall, ceiling and floors, specifically tailored to prevent moisture retention in moisture-prone hospitality spaces such as wet rooms and kitchens.
  • Plasterboards and wall coverings that help purify indoor air by scavenging certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as formaldehyde.
  • Glass, an inert material. 
  • Warm edge spacer bars to stop condensation and prevent the formation of mould and bacteria in between glazing units.
  • Duct insulation to prevent condensation and mould.
  • Tile grouting adhesives and flooring solutions with low CO₂ emissions.
  • Chemical-resistant epoxy adhesive and grout for interior and exterior use where chemical resistance and impermeability is required (ablution areas).
  • Mortar for joints resistant to mould, bacteria, algae, and chemical attack.
  • Sound-absorbing ceiling systems intended for environments where there is a risk of slight contamination and where regular cleaning is required, such as restaurants. 

VISUAL COMFORT

Customers at hotels apply numerous criteria in judging the quality of their stay. These include visual comfort, natural light and the aesthetics of the building.

Saint-Gobain Africa's solutions include: 

  • Glass or window films that allow access to daylight and views through windows, doors, partitions and roofs while minimising heat ingress and heat loss.
  • Interior products, such as wall coverings, ceilings or flooring, that can contribute to the distribution of daylight and to the aesthetic of a space.
  • Surface-mounted services and pipework can accommodated within or behind Saint-Gobain light-weight wall and floor systems to maintain clean, aesthetic building lines.

DID YOU KNOW ?

The World Travel & Tourism Council is forecasting that the growth of the industry in sub-Saharan Africa will exceed 5 per cent for every year of the next decade.