Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: Jonathan Roper, a former assistant product manager at Celotex, has described the company as ‘dishonest’ by ‘overengineering’ a cladding fire safety test to achieve a pass for its RS5000 insulation product. After a first test failure in January 2014, a second system passed in May 2014, which the firm used to erroneously market the combustible rigid foam boards as being safe for use on high-rise buildings, the inquiry has heard, according to the Press Association. Covert changes were allegedly made to the set-up of the second test to make the outcome more favourable. Roper added that the motivation for getting the RS5000 product to market was to compete with rival firm Kingspan and its K15 insulation.

Celotex, part of the French multinational Saint-Gobain group, has maintained it promoted RS5000's use on buildings taller than 18m only on a "rainscreen cladding system with the specific components", used when it passed the fire safety test. The inquiry has previously heard Celotex saw Grenfell as a "flagship" for its product and exploited the "smoke of confusion" which surrounded building regulations at the time.

The current stage in the inquiry is examining the production, testing and sale of the materials used in the tower's refurbishment which resulted in the June 2017 fire, killing 72 people. The proceedings continue.

Ireland: Kingspan has written to the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to withdraw fire test reports on its rigid thermoset phenolic insulation Kooltherm K15. The Irish Times newspaper has reported that, speaking at the inquiry into the Grenfell tower fire in London, a representative of the company admitted that the fire test reports on Kooltherm K15 may not reflect the actual product. This was due to possible compositional changes arising from “process shortcomings” that “fell short of the high standards which Kingspan sets itself." In 2007 it failed a fire test in which it was reportedly tested with a cladding system that also failed subsequent testing with another company’s insulation.

The Grenfell inquiry has asked Kingspan why it had not previously withdrawn the Kooltherm K15 fire test reports with the BRE. A distributor supplied the insulation to contractors for use in the refurbishment of Grenfell in 2012 – 2016.

The majority of the insulation purchased for use in a refurbishment of Grenfell Tower prior to the fire in June 2017 was Celotex’s RS5000 polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) insulation board. However, Kingspan confirmed in July 2017 that a small amount of its Kooltherm K15 product had also been used without its knowledge and that it had no involvement in the design or specification of the refurbishment.

US: Celotex has been named in a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia on behalf of victims and families of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, UK that killed 72 people. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they represent the estates of 69 of the 72 people who perished in the residential high-rise fire, and 177 survivors who suffered life-altering injuries, according to Reuters. The lawsuit demands a jury trial but has not specified the amount of compensation it is seeking. Whirlpool and Arconic have also been named in the document.

US: Rockwool has started legal action against the Jefferson County Board of Education (BOE) describing its attempts to stop construction of new mineral wool insulation plant as ‘unlawful.’ Court documents filed by the Danish insulation company allege that the BOE is trying to buy land from Rockwool for a low rate to build a student support centre otherwise it has threatened to appropriate it under US condemnation rules. Rockwool contends that the BOE originally supported the new plant with tax breaks but has since change its mind as local activists have opposed the project.

Rockwool started construction work on its US$150m mineral wool plant at Ranson, West Virginia in mid-2018. Production at the site is scheduled to start in early 2020.

China/Germany/US: The Mannheim Court in Germany has found that Chinese companies Guangdong Alison Hi-Tech and Nano Tech infringed one of Aspen Aerogels’ European patents by selling infringing aerogel insulation products. As part of the judgments, the Mannheim Court issued injunctions prohibiting the offer, distribution, use or import of infringing products in Germany and held Nano and Alison liable to Aspen Aerogels for damages, court costs and some of Aspen's legal fees and expenses. The Mannheim Court's decision is subject to an appeal to the Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe. In a related lawsuit, the Mannheim Court had previously issued a series of judgments against Hiltex Techniche Weefsels, a Dutch reseller of the infringing Chinese aerogels.

In addition, the German Federal Patent Court in Munich found the Aspen patent to be valid as granted in a patent nullity action initiated by Nano. The Munich Court's decision follows other unsuccessful challenges to the validity of Aspen's patents by Nano and Alison in the US and China.

"Our core strategy is to invest in the research, development, commercialisation and protection of our aerogel technology platform worldwide. These European patent wins, along with our 2018 victory at the US International Trade Commission, reinforce the scope and strength of Aspen's patent portfolio," said Don Young, President and chief executive officer (CEO) of Aspen Aerogels.

UK: A review by the government into building regulations and fire safety has found that the local buildings regulation system is broken, However, it has not recommended a ban on combustible cladding, according to Reuters. The independent review followed a fire at a residential tower block in June 2017 that killed 71 people. An aluminium cladding with a flammable plastic core is thought to have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.

Judith Hackitt, the engineer and former Chair of the UK Health and Safety Executive presiding over the review, defended existing regulations and blamed poor implementation of the rules by builders and contractors. She has recommended that the building regulations system be changed to focus on high-rise residential buildings first and then to improve building safety during design, constriction and refurbishment. She also called for greater enforcement powers with ‘serious’ penalties for individuals who infringe the rules.

Organisations including Kingspan Insulation, Knauf Insulation, the Mineral Wool Insulation Manufacturers Association and the Constructions Products Association provided written evidence to the review.

A separate public inquiry is examining the causes of the Grenfell Tower fire and a police investigation is also looking at the incident.

US: Several of Owens Corning’s Thermafiber mineral wool insulation products and their supporting design and installation services have earned Safety Act Designation from the US Department of Homeland Security. The purpose of the act is to ensure the threat of liability doesn’t prevent companies from developing and commercialising products that could save lives in the event of an act of terrorism. It restricts liability where qualified anti-terrorism technologies, or QATTs, have been used.

“Owens Corning is the first insulation manufacturer to be listed publicly with the Department of Homeland Security as having qualified technology carrying the Safety Act Designation,” said Julian Francis, president, Insulation Business.

The designation covers a variety of Thermafiber products in perimeter fire barrier system, interior wall and floor ceiling systems, construction joint firestopping system and penetration firestopping system applications.

Europe/Spain: The European Commission has approved, under the European Union (EU) merger regulation, the acquisition of Spanish insulation producer URSA by Germany’s Xella. The commission concluded that the acquisition would raise no competition concerns because of the limited overlaps between the activities of the companies. The deal was first announced in August 2017 and it is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.

US: Aspen Aerogels has won an initial determination US International Trade Commission (ITC) against Alison Hi-Tech and Nano Tech with regard to patents related to aerogel insulation. Administrative Law Judge McNamara found that Alison Hi-Tech and Nano Tech had infringed against three patents. McNamara also recommended a limited exclusion order as a remedy to prevent the importation of infringing aerogel products into the US. A final determination on the violation and remedy is expected from the full ITC commission by 29 January 2018.

UK: Gene Murtagh, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Kingspan Group, has called for a number of changes to be made to fire safety regulations for buildings in the UK. He called for large-scale testing under BS8414 to be extended to cover all cladding systems, a strengthening of the way desktop studies are used in fire safety compliance, improved training for installers of building facades and better control of fire safety through the design and construction process of buildings. His comments were made to Building Magazine following the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 and at the start of the Public Inquiry into the incident.

“So far as I am aware, polyethylene (PE) cored Aluminium Composite Materials (ACM) have never been successfully tested in a cladding system in a manner consistent with building regulations so it is hard to understand how this product ever ended up on Grenfell Tower,” said Murtagh. “Similarly, given the fire performance characteristics of these ACM cladding panels, it is no surprise in my view that they performed so poorly in combination with a range of insulation types in the recent series of large-scale tests by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).” said Murtagh added that fire safety is an ‘extremely complex’ field and that any investigation needs to consider a wide range of factors.

The majority of the insulation purchased for use in a refurbishment of Grenfell Tower prior to the fire was Celotex’s RS5000 polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) insulation board. However, Kingspan confirmed in July 2017 that a small amount of its Kooltherm K15 phenolic insulation product had also been used without its knowledge and that it had no involvement in the design or specification of the refurbishment.