Banca Passadore transforms its headquarters into a green building

Banca Passadore has transformed its Genoa headquarters into a green building. With an investment of around EUR 30 million and almost five years of work (the project started in 2020, came to fruition in 2021 and was completed in recent months), the private bank, led by Augusto and Francesco Passadore (chairman and CEO respectively) and Edoardo Fantino (general manager), has completely renovated the historic building in the centre of the Ligurian capital, whose inauguration dates back to January 1965. The intervention has made it one of the most avant-garde bank buildings in Italy in terms of ESG solutions, customer hospitality and employee welfare.

But the novelties do not stop there, because the bank has also enlarged its Milan branch in Corso Matteotti, enlarging it by an entire floor (in this case the investment amounted to almost EUR 3 million) and equipping it with a restaurant for customers. On 3 June, it also opened a new branch in Bologna, in a Unesco heritage building overlooking Piazza Maggiore.

Banca Passadore, which closed 2024 with the best balance sheet in its history (which began in 1888), totalling a net profit of EUR 90.1 million (+11.9%) with total assets under management of EUR 12.38 billion, is celebrating the renovation of its building in the Piccapietra district of Genoa this afternoon, with an event reserved for its shareholders and institutions. The redevelopment of the headquarters involved major extensions, including the construction of an extra floor, the fifth, with a large roof garden, under which a luxury lounge was created, dedicated to the bank's guests and clients. Inspired by a similar space at Hoare & Co, an old private bank in London, the area, covered with Italian walnut wood panelling, houses a lounge with a fireplace, a bar corner and a restaurant; but also a small interactive multimedia museum, dedicated to the history of Passadore.

The renovation of two underground floors, which housed technical rooms that had been disused for years, was also carried out. A new indoor relaxation area (in addition to the gymnasium) and a restaurant with a kitchen and 100 seats, reserved for the institute's employees, were created. A space, the latter, enhanced by luminous panels on the walls that bathe the room in natural light, similar to that of real windows. The car park, with 95 spaces on six underground floors and fully mechanised (back in 1965), also underwent a complete restyling. Today it uses digital and robotic technologies to automate parking procedures, is powered entirely by energy from renewable sources and offers electric charging stations for cars and bicycles.

Maximum environmental protection, moreover, was the leitmotif of the redevelopment. On the roof of the building, adjacent to the roof garden with olive trees, hedges and a view of the city, tiles and photovoltaic panels (200 and 105 respectively) have been installed, with an annual production of 75 megawatt hours. The building is also equipped with a 70-kilowatt geothermal plant, with 12 probes reaching a depth of 100 metres. The fifth floor is completely energy self-sufficient, and what is left over from production is used for the rest of the building. This is about 30 per cent of requirements. The remaining percentage, however, is purchased from producers who use only renewable sources.