Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

South Korea: The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has suspended the Korea Foamed Plastic Industry Cooperative’s standard for expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulating sandwich panels. The standard had been certified by the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology. Maeil Business Newspaper has reported that the suspension is part of a regulatory revision in the interest of fire safety. The value of the South Korean EPS sandwich panel industry is US$1.37bn/yr.

The Korea Foamed Plastic Industry Cooperative said “With a severe shortage of certification agencies, it takes over a year to obtain certification. This is tantamount to telling small businesses to shut down.”

Belgium: Recticel’s Simfocor polyurethane board product has been certified a ‘Solar Impulse Efficient Solution’ by the Solar Impulse Foundation. The label is awarded to products, services or processes combining credible environmental and economic performance. It also means that Simfocor joins the Solar Impulse Foundation’s list of products selected for their contribution to clean economic growth.

Simfocor is part of the ‘Recticel Silence’ insulation range and is currently sold in France and Spain. It is a polyurethane insulation board that is marketed for both its acoustic and thermal insulation properties. The product is made of recycled polyurethane foams sourced from discarded mattresses.

US: Hemp Inc.’s Hempcrete insulation panels have received approval for residential construction use in an appendix to the US Residential Building Code. Hempcrete insulation consists of hemp stalk hurd and lime. It is fire-resistant, moisture regulating and sequesters CO₂ naturally due to its hemp content.

Hemp Inc. operates a multi-purpose hemp processing plant in Spring Hope, North Carolina.

Belgium: Recticel Insulation has obtained Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) for its multilayer thermal insulation products. It says that it is the first polyisocyanurate (PIR) and polyurethane (PUR) producer to do so. The insulation manufacturer will be selling thermal insulation products, with multilayer paper facings made from wood fibres sourced from a PEFC-certified and sustainably managed forests. The PEFC label will be added to its Recticel Eurowall, Eurothane Silver, Eurothane Silver A, Eurofloor, Euroroof, Eurothane GP, Eurowall Cavity and Eurothane Eurodeck products.

Recticel Insulation already held the PEFC label for some of its insulation products manufactured at its plants in Bourges, France and Stoke-on-Trent, UK. The certification is now being gradually rolled out to more products and to all plants where multilayer facings are used.

UK: The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) has awarded Knauf Insulation’s Supafil range of blowing glass wool insulation with Declare Red List Free Certification. The label signifies that the products contain none of a list of agreed harmful chemicals. The company says that its Supafil range, which is produced using 80% recycled glass, is the first blowing wool solution in Europe to receive the certification.

Director of housing and specification Matt Prowse said, “For the first time, people can see the environmental impact of individual construction products at a glance, in a clear and transparent way. For architects and housebuilders, using products with the Declare label – like the Supafil range – is good for business. It ensures installer wellbeing and is a powerful point of difference to customers in a competitive market.”

Germany: Declare has certified Knauf Insulation’s Supafil blowing wool insulation ‘Red List Free’. The declaration signifies that Supafil contains no Red-Listed chemicals designated as harmful to health by the International Living Future Institute. Knauf Insulation Blowing Wool business development & residential market manager Thomas Baguette said, “Our Declare label underlines the natural credentials of our blowing wool. Supafil is composed of 99% glass mineral wool and less than 1% of antidust and antistatic.”

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.

Spain/Portugal: Knauf Insulation Iberia met its company growth objective of 5% year-on-year growth in 2019, a year in which it supplied two major developments: the Government of Catalonia’s administrative complex and the VP Plaza Hotel in Madrid. The latter won the US Green Building Council (GBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificate, the first hotel to achieve this certification.

Interempresas News has reported that the focus of Knauf Insulation Iberia’s strategy in 2020 will be on maintaining its leadership in the sustainable building sector and in the search for products and solutions aimed at zero energy consumption building conversions and construction. Knauf Insulation Iberia CEO Oscar del Rio said, “Bearing in mind the economic uncertainty derived from the coronavirus crisis, our objective will be to maintain our penetration objectives.”

The company’s growth in 2018 was 10%.

Netherlands: Nine-month restated sales for Recitel fell by 7.3% year-on-year to Euro924m in September 2019 compared to Euro997m in the corresponding period of 2018. Despite ‘double-digit’ volume growth, insulation sales over the period fell by 4.5% to Euro193m from Euro202m due to pricing issues stemming from the loss of market share to fibre insulation as a lingering after-effect of the isocyanate shortage of 2017. The company noted the ‘ramping-up’ of production at its new plant in Finland, with all products now certified for sale in the Nordic countries. Recticel CEO Olivier Chapelle noted the continued substantial decrease in debt as a positive in the period.