Mark Cooper, UK and Ireland Sales Director at pan-European insulation specialist Actis, outlines his company’s focus on innovation and investment in research and development to ensure a balance between performance, efficiency, and sustainability.
“If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward.” So said Mikhail Gorbachev in a more optimistic era of world politics. This ethos applies to the construction industry as well as the call for greater global harmony by the president of the former Soviet Union. Our aim is to create ever more sustainable, thermally efficient and increasingly easy to use products to help specifiers, architects, builders and the end user, as well as the person who is going to live in the home insulated with the materials they install. Innovation and continuous improvement are key when it comes to insulation design and manufacture for several reasons.
Energy efficiency targets
The first is that with increasingly stringent thermal efficiency requirements and the Future Homes Standard requiring all newbuilds to be net zero ready by 2028, the primary focus must be on ensuring the fabric of a property is energy efficient to minimise heat loss by reducing thermal bridging and improving air tightness.
Secondly, as climate change goes into freefall, the construction industry must play its part in trying to slow the speed of change. Creating products and services which reduce reliance on fossil fuels for their manufacture, reduce waste and which minimise home energy use is crucial. Thirdly, all of us in the construction product manufacturing industry must aim to improve working conditions by creating products which are comfortable both to use and to live with post installation.
Our R&D department is constantly exploring new ways to make our products more energy efficient, easier to use and lighter to handle. We’re investing in smarter technology which enables us to become ever more sustainable. In fact, this is something which has been recognised through various eco-accreditations and awards. Our very low-energy production process consumes no water, our zero-waste policy sees all off-cuts recovered, crushed and reintroduced into the manufacturing process and all our products are 100% recyclable.
Sustainable and healthier
Our products contain no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or harmful chemical components such as formaldehyde, are guaranteed non-irritant and classified A+ for indoor air quality. As no dust or fibres are produced, installers don’t need to wear protective masks or gloves. The lightness and compactness of our air-filled products mean more thermal capacity can be carried per lorryload than traditional solid insulation or fibreglass, thus reducing fuel consumption during transportation.
Our honeycomb-structured Hybris insulation is Europe’s only Cradle to Cradle CertifiedR reflective insulation and we’ve been awarded a silver medal by global sustainability and corporate social responsibility organisation EcoVadis. This makes us among the top 15% of performers from 125,000 companies assessed over the past 12 months, with our responsible sourcing score of 84% putting us in the top one per cent of EcoVadis-assessed companies in the plastics manufacturing sector.
Enlarged product range
Three years ago, we expanded our established insulation range of products with our first major new product launch in a decade. The revolutionary two-in-one reflective insulation with integrated vapour barrier, Eolis HC, is twice as quick as traditional alternatives and enables builders to reduce the number of steps required to achieve an impressive U-value as well as airtightness in roofs and walls.
Builders praise the ease of handling and installation, lightness, speed and cleanliness of all our products – that’s in addition to the impressive U-values they return. Builder Ben Wardell, from All Round Developments in York, says: “Since switching to Actis, we’ve seen a significant reduction in waste, as every piece can be used. We’ve also saved on labour time, as the material is much quicker to fit.” Northamptonshire architectural designer Stuart Ellis, whose home featured in George Clarke’s TV show Remarkable Renovations, adds: “Using Actis products is the thinnest way to achieve the desired U-values – and it’s really easy to fit.”
We believe the future of insulation lies in combining high performance with smarter design. With the R&D team working around the clock to develop ever more efficient products, the construction industry has a good deal to be excited about.
www.ecovadis.com/suppliers/ecovadis-medals-and-badges
Read the full article in the latest Structural Timber magazine here
