A biaxial textured buffer layer architecture was developed on Ni-5at.% W (NiW) tapes applying Y 2 O 3 as seed layer and Gd 2 Zr 2 O 7 (GZO) as barrier layer deposited by reel-to-reel DC reactive magnetron sputtering and pulsed laser deposition, respectively. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed an epitaxial growth of GZO films in a large range of substrate temperatures using Y 2 O 3 as seed layer. The X-ray in-plane alignment of the buffer is less than 5°. Atomic force microscopy shows a homogeneous and flat GZO layer surface with a roughness RMS of about 2.5μm in 5μm×5μm area. YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− δ superconducting films grown on the Gd 2 Zr 2 O 7 /Y 2 O 3 buffered NiW metallic tape exhibited an inductively measured critical current density J c of about 0.8MA/cm 2 , demonstrating the suitability of the simplified buffer layer stack for coated conductors.