La Samaritaine restoration: Iconic design and the latest safety standards

Located in the heart of Paris, La Samaritaine is one of the city’s most iconic department stores. When LVMH Group set about restoring the beautiful building, it faced a major challenge: how to marry the latest safety requirements with the building’s classic Art Nouveau and Art Deco design.

Our solution was a passive fire protection coating system based on Hempacore One. Applied to structural steel, Hempacore One expands when exposed to high heat to insulate the steel beneath. In a fire, this can extend the steel’s load-bearing capacity for up to three hours.