Strengthening, refurbishment, repartitioning and exterior remodelling for the office tower at Olteniței Rd. 35-37 — the former I.S.P.I.F. headquarters, today administered by the National Agency for Land Improvement (ANIF), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Built in 1978 on a S-B+G+10F+PF regime, after the works the building will temporarily house the Ministry — while the ministry’s historic seat, the Palace of Agriculture on Carol I Boulevard (a historic monument from 1895), undergoes its own refurbishment.

Challenges

Three overlapping themes defined the project. Structural: a tower built in 1978, in an area with seismic acceleration ag = 0.30g, must be strengthened to current codes — far stricter than those applied in the original design. Fire safety: with the floor of the top usable level above the 28 m threshold, the building falls into the "high-rise" category, a design typology with specific, restrictive provisions. Energy: the nZEB performance requirement on a 1978 reinforced-concrete structure calls for a complete reconfiguration of the envelope and the building services.

Solutions

Strengthening adapted to a tower structure. For a S-B+G+10F+PF building on a footprint of only 548 sqm, the interventions bring the structure to the requirements of P100-1/2013, under the current seismic zoning for Bucharest (ag = 0.30g).

Fire safety for a high-rise building. The project integrates protected evacuation stairs, a firefighters’ lift, a stair pressurisation system and an envelope with finishing materials whose fire-reaction classes are compatible with this category, coordinated with the interior repartitioning across the full height of the volume.

nZEB refurbishment with a fully reconfigured envelope. The exterior envelope is entirely replaced — a ventilated facade with white artificial-stone cladding, with anthracite aluminium accents on the vertical lesenes and the balcony surrounds; a plinth treated in dark stone; the recessed top floor takes on its own register, in composite panels. The services are fully renewed to reach nZEB performance. The new envelope fundamentally changes the building’s urban appearance — from a 1970s office volume into a sober contemporary presence.

Exterior remodelling on a site with shared administration. The 16,285 sqm site is administered partly by ANIF, partly by IISPV. The remodelling works focus on the ANIF-administered area — internal roads, paths, green areas, parking — with point interventions on the IISPV area only where affected by the building works.

Result

For ANIF and the Ministry, a building ready to temporarily host the ministry while the Palace of Agriculture on Carol I Boulevard is refurbished — an institutional role that turns an ordinary office building into a functional piece of the strategy for refurbishing the central administrative heritage. For PPAE, a project combining seismic strengthening, high-rise fire-safety design and deep refurbishment with nZEB performance.

Do you have an administrative, office or institutional building in need of strengthening, deep refurbishment or upgrading to the nZEB standard? The PPAE team can support your project from concept to completion. Contact us