Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Turkey: Austria’s Austrotherm has opened a 400,000m³/yr expanded polystyrene (EPS) plant in Ankara. It is its third insulation plant in the country. The project cost Euro2m. The site has created 14 jobs. The company entered the Turkish market in 2008 and built its second plant near Izmir in 2013.

UK: A leaked report by the by fire investigation specialists BRE Global has blamed a poor cladding refurbishment on a lethal fire at the Grenfell Tower in London on 14 June 2017. The document, leaked to the Evening Standard newspaper, found multiple deficiencies in the installation of the windows, cavity barriers and cladding system, and their failure to meet building regulations.

The report described insulation used in the refurbishment as ‘combustible’ and said that it provided a medium for the fire to, ‘spread up, across and within sections of the façade.’ BRE noted that the 75mm insulation foam used on most of the spandrel beams had, ‘no markings to identify the manufacturer of the foam.’ The Evening Standard says that 100mm Celotex foam insulation was also used in the columns but that the BRE report does not further distinguish between the two types.

71 people were killed in the fire that took place on 14 June 2017. The draft BRE report was submitted to the Metropolitan Police Service as part of its investigation.

Poland: Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says that his government will spend Euro7.2bn on measures to reduce air emissions including financing home insulation. Other measures in the programme include support for ‘green’ heating system, according to Radio Poland. The announcement follows the government’s support for a bill in March 2018 banning low-quality coal for domestic use.

According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 33 of Europe's 50 most polluted cities are in Poland. The WHO estimates that around 50,000 citizens die each year due to air pollution-related conditions.

Poland: Paroc Group says that its Euro60m expansion project at its Trzemeszno plant is proceeding to plan. A new 70,000t/yr stone wool production line is being built at the site. The upgrade is expected to be completed in 2019. The upgrade is part of Paroc’s plan to support its growth strategy for Central and Western Europe.

US: Cal Dooley, the president and chief executive officer of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), has warned that a proposed Chinese response to US-imposed tariffs on imports of Chinese steel and aluminium could have negative implications for US exports of products including polyethylene.

“China is one of the US chemical industry’s most important trading partners, importing 11%, or US$3.2bn, of all US plastic resins in 2017. We are particularly concerned that 40% of the products to which China has assigned new tariffs are chemicals, including polyethylene, PVC, polycarbonates, acrylates, and others,” said Dooley in a statement. He added that nearly US$185bn in new chemical factories, expansions and restarts of facilities around the US are predicated on current tariff schedules, and market shifts caused by tariff increases may convince investors to do business elsewhere. He ‘strongly’ urged the US and China to reach an agreement.