Insulation industry news from Global Insulation
Australia: Murray Industrial Hemp has announced plans for an upcoming hemp-based building materials plant in Barham, New South Wales. Its products will include alternative insulation panels. Local press has reported that all of the plant’s products will align with Australia's new 7-Star Building Standards for energy-efficient homes. Murray Industrial Hemp expects to commission the plant by early 2026.
Director Joe D'Alo said "We believe industrial hemp holds the key to transforming how Australia builds. Our goal is to assist mainstream builders, enabling them to seamlessly integrate hemp building products into their standard processes. The building process doesn’t change with hemp blocks and hemp panels."
Saint-Gobain may acquire CSR for US$5.44bn
23 February 2024Australia: France-based Saint-Gobain has submitted a non-binding indicative offer of US$5.44bn for building materials producer and land banking entity CSR. CSR’s businesses include insulation producer Bradford, fibre cement systems producer Cemintel, wallboard producer Gyprock, autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) block producer Hebel and roofing producer Monier. Together, CSR’s building materials units accounted for 72% of its sales in 2023.
PGF Capital opening mineral wool distribution centres in Australia
13 February 2023Australia: Malaysia-based PGF Capital is preparing to open three distribution centres at Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. The mineral wool insulation producer set up its new regional headquarters in Melbourne in the third quarter of 2022, according to the New Straits Times newspaper. The site at Brisbane is set to become fully operational in March 2023, the site in Perth in May 2023 and the site in Sydney is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2023.
The expansion drive is part of a project to grow its business in Oceania. Another market that the company is targeting is South Korea. PGF Capital and its subsidiary PGF Insulation said it has started making modifications to its production line at Perai in Penang to meet the local market requirements. it plans to start supplying insulation products to the country later in 2023.
New Zealand: Fletcher Building Materials recorded consolidated sales of US$5.37bn during its 2022 financial year, up by 4.7% year-on-year from US$5.13bn in the previous year. Its net earnings also rose by 42%, to US$273m from US$193m.
The group's building materials division contributed US$1.02bn-worth (17%) of group sales. The division made capital expenditure investments of US$129m. During the financial year, its insulation subsidiaries Forman Building Systems and Tasman Insulation merged under its new Comfortech business. Comfortech will commission a new glasswool plant in mid-2023. Fletcher Building Materials says that, when operational, the new unit will help to serve increased ceiling insulation demand arising from changes to the New Zealand Building Code.
Fletcher Building Materials chief executive officer Ross Taylor said "The 2022 financial year has not been without its challenges. Global and national supply chain disruptions have continued into the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic." He added "The New Zealand Commerce Commission recently published its interim market study report into residential building supplies. The final report and recommendations will be published in December 2022 and in the meantime we will continue to work collaboratively with both the commission and the government."
Australia/Germany: Australia-based Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and Germany-based Covestro plan to start a long-term agreement for the supply of green hydrogen and its derivatives, including ammonia. According to the memorandum of understanding, FFI and Covestro will formalise an agreement under which FFI will supply Covestro with the equivalent of up to 100,000t/yr of hydrogen. The deal will enable Covestro to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, from using grey hydrogen, by up to 900,000t/yr of CO2 per year. The deliveries are earmarked for three potential locations – in Asia, North America and Europe - and could commence by 2024.
Green hydrogen is hydrogen made using renewable energy sources. FFI’s ambition is to grow its green hydrogen production to 15Mt/yr of green hydrogen by 2030, accelerating to 50Mt/yr in the following decade.
Covestro uses hydrogen and its derivatives as feedstock in the production of polymers. It produces a wide range of products including those used for thermal insulation in construction.
Malaysia: Knauf Insulation’s Johor Bahru mineral wool insulation plant has successfully exported its first batch of 80% recycled glass Earthwool glass mineral wool insulation to Perth, Australia. The product uses Knauf Insulation’s ECOSE Technology biological binder and is equipped with new improved clean facing. The company says that it uses compression packaging to optimise shipping volumes.
Chief operating officer David Ducarme said, “Johor Bahru is an extraordinary achievement of commitment from Knauf Insulation colleagues from around the world who came together to work with local teams in unprecedented pandemic circumstances - setting a gold standard in safety - to ensure the highest quality solutions are now available to customers.”
The Johor Bahru glass mineral wool insulation plant has a production capacity of 75,000t/yr and was originally scheduled for completion in 2020. It had an investment of Euro120m. It was built export insulation products to markets in Japan, Australia, Korea, New Zealand and Singapore.
Australia: The Green Building Council of Australia has awarded Kingspan’s Somerton phenolic foam insulation plant for ‘leadership in sustainability, innovation, and promotion of more energy efficient building stock across nine impact areas.’
Green Building Council of Australia CEO Davina Rooney said, “What sets this project apart is that it is the first manufacturer to pursue and deliver performance certification, representing world leadership in sustainable building practices.” Kingspan Insulation Australia managing director Scott Gibson said, “Our facility in Somerton proves that with some effort, and using the right products, we can build better manufacturing buildings in Australia, not just offices and residential. I hope that more manufacturers decide to take this challenge on in the future.”
Davy Stockbrokers has predicted that Kingspan’s profit will fall by 27% year-on-year to Euro365m in 2020, according to the Irish Independent newspaper.
Australia: Kingspan Insulation is preparing to discontinue its Kooltherm K10 FM Soffit Board rigid insulation product ahead of changes to the National Construction Code (NCC) set to be enforced on 1 May 2019. The standard introduced in 2016, AS 5637, requires foil faced internal lining materials to be installed on both walls and ceiling when undertaking the full-scale room fire test ISO 9705.
To prepare for the change Kingspan will promote its Kooltherm K10 FM G2 Soffit Board product. It features a thicker foil lining and has already undergone the ISO 9705 test, achieving a Group 2 rating. The product has been supplied to the New Zealand market and it will now be launched in Australia.
“Kingspan Insulation have been preparing for this transition for some time. We are confident in our ability to supply a product that will not only adhere to the new NCC standard but will also provide the same great thermal performance that our customers have come to expect from us,” said Kingspan Insulation’s Sales Director, Craig Burr.
Retrospective cladding ban in New South Wales
14 August 2018Australia: The owners of potentially thousands of buildings in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) will have to replace their cladding after the government retrospectively banned aluminium panels with a core of more than 30% polyethylene. It is seeking to prevent fires such as those seen in Melbourne's Lacrosse building and Grenfell Tower in London, UK.
The ban, announced by Fair Trading Commissioner Rose Webb, goes further than previous announcements by state governments in Queensland and Victoria that banned the use of high-content polyethylene cladding, as it also affects existing buildings, rather than just those in planning or under construction.
"The building product is unsafe for use in any external cladding, external wall, external insulation, façade or rendered finish in buildings (as low as two storeys, depending on purpose), subject to specified exceptions," said Ms Webb in a communique. "I therefore decided to prohibit the use of the building product."
The number of buildings affected by the ban is unclear. In June 2018, the state government said Fire & Rescue NSW had assessed 2280 buildings and found 417 in need of closer scrutiny. A register of buildings with combustible cladding, drawn up in the wake of an audit conducted by the NSW Cladding Taskforce, is due to come into effect in 2018, but may not be made public.
Under the ban permitted under NSW cladding legislation passed in late 2017, local councils and other relevant authorities will be able to issue rectification orders for affected buildings.
Australia: Kingspan Australia has complained that its can’t compete against foreign competitors due to shipping charges at the Port of Melbourne. Charges at the port have led to the state government to consider taking action. Kingspan says it has conducted an international benchmarking survey across ports it uses, including those in the UK, the UAE, China and South Korea. It found that Melbourne was the most expensive and one of the most expensive ports in the world for terminal handling and port service charges.
Exports comprise a third of the output of Kingspan’s plant at Somerton. Further plans to upgrade the plan depend on its export market. The US$30m plant opened in mid-2017.