Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: The Insulation Manufacturers Association (IMA) has appointed Stuart Norris as its president. The association is a representative body for the rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) and polyurethane (PUR) insulation industry in the UK.

Norris is a Senior Product Development Engineer at Portakabin where he is involved in the design and delivery of both temporary and permanent offsite building solutions across a wide range of building sectors. He holds a degree in Product Design from the University of Huddersfield. He also sits on the Technical Committee for the Modular and Portable Building Association (MPBA).

UK: SIG’s sales for the first half of 2019 have fallen by 3.8% year-on-year due to a ‘marked deterioration’ in the level of UK construction. Its UK and Ireland like-for-like sales dropped by 12.7% while sales elsewhere in Europe grew by 3.3%.

UK: Knauf Insulation has donated a pallet of its Earthwool Loft Roll 44 glass mineral wool product to the Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre in Dorset. Pavilions housing primates at the site are being upgraded and expanded. They required adequate insulation to ensure a habitable environmental for the animals. The insulation was transported to Monkey World free of charge by builders’ merchants Bradford’s Building Supplies, Blandford, Dorset.

“We were delighted to support Monkey World in their vital work. Earthwool Loft Roll is a high performance glass mineral wool insulation, providing excellent thermal performance, which will help to keep the Pavilions warm in cold weather and cool in hot weather,” said Ian Boland, Area Sales Manager (South West) at Knauf Insulation.

UK: Superglass’ revenue grew by 34% year-on-year to Euro37.9m in 2018 from Euro27.2m in 2017. Its profit rose by 37% to Euro0.65m. The subsidiary of Russia’s TechnoNicol Group said that it benefitted from increased sales, higher selling prices and operational cost efficiencies.

“Demand for glass wool insulation continues to be very strong both domestically and in export markets, and with the major manufacturing investment we’re making in the Stirling site, Superglass is set to double its production output capabilities and capitalise on the opportunity,” said Theresa McLean, Chief Financial Officer for TechnoNicol UK and Ireland.

UK: SIG’s revenue fell by 1.2% year-on-year to Euro3.11bn in 2018 from Euro3.15bn in 2017. Its profit before tax increased by 8.5% to Euro87.2m from Euro80.4m. The building materials producer blamed ‘challenging’ market conditions but it highlighted its focus on prices and profitability.

UK: SIG’s revenue fell by 1.2% year-on-year to Euro3.13bn in 2018 from Euro3.17bn in 2017. Its profit before tax rose by 8.5% to Euro87.8m from Euro80.9m. The group blamed its falling sales on ‘challenging’ market conditions and a focus on profit over sales volumes. It reported a weakening construction market in 2018 and its UK and Ireland sales fell by 10.6%. Despite slowing markets in France and Germany, its mainland Europe sales remained stable in 2018.

“As expected, our transformation strategy began to deliver during the year and we saw significant operational and financial progress in the second half. Despite challenging market conditions and lower revenue in our largest markets, our focus on pricing and profitability over volume, coupled with tighter control over operating costs, has enabled us to grow our gross margins and profit,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Meinie Oldersma.

UK: Knauf Insulation’s Earthwool RainScreen Slab product has been certified by the British Board of Agrément (BBA) for use in high-rise residential applications. The BBA certification follows the December 2018 update to Approved Document B, which mandates the use of non-combustible materials achieving a Euroclass Reaction to Fire Classification of A1 or A2 s1-d0 in the external walls of certain buildings over 18m in height.

“Non-combustible insulation is the best choice for architects, specifiers and contractors as it will not contribute to the development or spread of fire” said Steve Smith, Head of Product Management and Business Intelligence at Knauf Insulation.

UK/France: A project between the University of Bath, University of Brighton, UniLaSalle in Rouen and five other academic and non-academic partners, and funded under the Interreg VA France (Channel) England programme, is investigating the performance of a range of waste materials and bio-based co-products as alternative building insulation materials. Three different materials are being evaluated: wheat straw bales, rapeseed stalks (processed into bio-composite) and recycled duvets.

A research team at the University of Bath is testing and comparing the thermal performance of each of the insulation materials by constructing three identical prototype wall panels, each containing one of the materials. Their performances will be compared and contrasted with each other as well as against industry standard insulation used currently in most buildings. The panels are 150mm thick by 1.1m2 and fitted with 9mm plywood either side, similar to how insulation is commonly installed within buildings. Each panel contains a number of probes to measure relative humidity, interior and exterior temperature, and heat flux. The panels will undergo six weeks of consecutive testing in an environmental chamber at the University’s Building Research Park. There will be two tests – a steady state and a non-steady state temperature test.

“This is the first time these materials will have been tested in such a robust scientific way, allowing us to accurately assess their thermal performance against each other as well as against industry standard insulation,” said Shawn Platt, Research Associate in the University of Bath’s Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering.

UK: Knauf Insulation has appointed Neil Hargreaves as its new managing director for the Northern Europe region. He will be responsible for strengthening the company’s position in the mineral wool insulation industry. Hargreaves was previously the finance director of the company. He succeeds John Sinfield, who is leaving to pursue another opportunity outside the company.

UK: Superglass has tested a glass wool tea cosy against a traditional woollen version in a promotional video broadcast live on social media. In the experiment the tea cosy, made of 84% recycled glass wool insulation, kept a teapot hotter over a 90-minute period than an identical teapot with a woollen one. The teapots were filled with identical volumes of water and were measured with identical thermometers. By the end of the 90-minute experiment, the Superglass pot registered 67.7°C and the traditional cosy was down to 55.0°C.

“Of course, the tea cosy video is a bit of fun, but it highlights just how much of a difference good insulation can make,” said Bob Dalrymple, Head of Marketing at Superglass. He added that the company does not intend on manufacture tea cosies for sale.