The Lagoh shopping centre

When developing an enormous new shopping centre in Seville, one of the primary dilemmas was how to keep the space comfortably cool under the intense summer sun, yet keep the energy bill under control.

Covering an area the size of 20 football fields, the Lagoh shopping and leisure complex in southern Spain sprawls over 100,000 m2, with an artificial lake covering 6,500 m2. Located in sunny Seville, the fourth largest city in Spain, the aim of the development is become the go-to shopping centre for the wider metropolitan area of 1.5 million residents. The chance for success is high – there is very little competition in the area – so it is expected that the shopping and entertainment space will receive 14 million visitors per year.

The challenge

The Spanish branch of the LAR Group owns the space, with L35 architects responsible for the design and Dragados hired as building contractors. From design to construction, the energy efficiency, sustainability and circularity of the building were of top priority for LAR España. Not only was their intent to create the largest shopping centre in Spain, it should also be the most sustainable. In a city like Seville where the summer temperatures can soar into the 40s, it makes perfect business sense to create a building that stays as cool as possible in the heat and keeps the valuable air-conditioned air within the walls. Combining leisure activities – including multiple restaurants and a cinema – with shopping, the success of the Lagoh centre depends very much on visitors feeling comfortable, spending more time there and ultimately, spending money. So it was vital to create an positive and inclusive environment, with optimal thermal and acoustic comfort. And with so many visitors arriving to enjoy entertainment options and shopping, fire safety was also a key concern.

Download top 10 case studies

The article continues below

The solution

The Lagoh centre is the first commercial centre in Spain where energy efficiency was carefully considered from design through the construction process and all the way to daily operations. The space received a very good BREEAM (Building Research Environmental Assessment Technology) rating during the design phase.

“We set out to build a world-class shopping centre for Seville that would also meet the highest standards for sustainability, circularity and energy efficiency”, says José Antonio García Agüera, Head of Retail Development, LAR España. “ROCKWOOL’s stone wool products help us achieve all of those while also optimising the fire safety and comfort of the building for the nearly 14 million guests we expect to visit Lagoh each year”.

Use less…and green the rest!

The Lagoh shopping centre is an active reference case for energy efficiency construction, and has been designed and built using recycled and recyclable materials. The circularity of ROCKWOOL’s products was a perfect match for  stone wool insulation and Rockpanel cladding that line the façades as well as 50,000 m² of double-density insulation panels under its green roof. Stone wool insulation’s natural thermal properties help save energy in the space – after all saving a unit of energy (kWh) this way is 14 times less carbon-intensive than producing a unit of energy (kWh) using wind and 25 times less carbon-intensive than solar cells[1] – and the rest of the building’s energy needs are met with 100 percent certified renewable energy.

Download top 10 case studies

Project Data

^{[1] Material Economics, 2018 – calculations based on: BPIE, “Europe’s buildings under the microscope - A country-by-country review of the energy performance of buildings”; European Commission, Joint Research Centre: EDGAR - Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research, ”CO2 time series 1990-2015 per region/country” (2017); EIA (U.S. Energy Information Agency), Frequently asked questions, ”How much carbon dioxide is produced when different fuels are burned?”}