It was good to see that Celotex chose The Building Centre once again this year as the venue for their CPD presentation on Building Regs Part L: Simplifying Compliance.

Adrian Fryer, Specification Manager opened the proceedings and spoke of the importance of ‘Fabric First’ an expression recently coined by the government to help drive initiatives to bring down energy consumption in buildings. The latest of these  being ‘The Green Deal’ . His presentation was given excellent support by Area Sales Manager Craig Baxter.

The presentation demonstrated the use of Celotex products which it claimed would simplify compliance with Part L. With a choice of 13 different products, most design specifications can be met.

Adrian told us how Celotex is the first manufacturer of PIR insulation to achieve an A+ Green rating.

We were shown a short video about the company and its manufacturing processes. From this  we learned that Celotex  has been in existence since 1925 and  now boasts a manufacturing plant that is capable of producing one square metre of insulation board per second. Chemicals used in its PIR board production are zero ozone depleting and 60 individual checks are made on samples of each product. The film extolled the excellent properties of PIR products, proven to be more thermally efficient than mineral fibre and 10 times lighter in weight.

Craig Baxter Presents

Craig Baxter mentioned the Celotex on line calculator which can be downloaded to an iPad. Members of the audience who had used it agreed that it was easy to use. Craig also talked of the technical support team of six who could be reached by phone or email.  He ran through the different Sections of Part L which apply to different types of buildings, new build, refurbishment, residential and commercial. Several interesting case studies were mentioned including Watermead Business Park, the University of Bedford, Nottingham City Council and Hepworth Gallery in Leeds. Craig said that more information on these case studies and many others could be found on their website. Emphasis was placed on U-values that could be achieved by the much thinner PIR board compared with rockfibre products.

Adrian went through the latest version of Celotex Handy Guide which seems to be very comprehensive and appears to have all the information you could possibly ever need to know about Celotex products and there applications, in a clear to understand format.

There were some interesting questions from the floor in conclusion to the morning. Someone asked ‘Why don’t you do a full fill cavity board?’ John Roper Assistant Product Development Manager was invited to the podium to give a reply. John said that they had been looking into the possibility for some time. Adrian and Craig chipped in saying that they felt  there was still concerns with condensation and a risk of moisture ingress in to the building. Adrian had mentioned earlier in the day that there was an issue with moisture in close cell structure insulation boards and that they were, therefore, not suitable for use below the DPC level because the foil would be likely to delaminate.

Someone commented that, in their experience, a building  insulated with foil faced boards blocked wireless signals and therefore could cause communication problems within the building. It was suggested that this could be overcome by creating dedicated wi-fi hotspots within the building.

John Roper (left) wth Adrian Fryer (right)

Another delegate said they would like Celotex to produce U-values on hybrid insulation solutions: For example, where some Celotex products could be used in conjunction with another brand.  Adrian responded by saying that they couldn’t fairly comment on another company’s product’s performance, (presumably because they don’t test them). He gave the example of multi-foil insulation; out of forty four or so brands on the market only three have BBA Certification.
In conclusion Adrian said that PIR production is the fastest growing business  in the insulation market and that Celotex is working towards BREEAM Excellence and striving to lower the Lambda (the insulating capacity of a product). Part of their environment mission statement is that the amount of CO2 produced in the manufacture of PIR boards is 9 kg  lower than other PIR board manufacturers. Adrian also explained what happens to  PIR waste. It is ground to a powder and pellets are produced which can be used as a base for road building or used as fuel in brick drying kilns. PIR is recycled more in Europe and North America but there is not considered to be enough of this type of waste in the UK to warrant building a PIR waste recycling plant.

Another successful, well attended and I must say, very informative  CPD Presentation from Celotex. It’s always good to welcome Celotex at The Building Centre and we look forward to a closer relationship between us in the following months.

We hope Celotex will decide to have a bigger presence at The Building Centre soon as they are one of the few leading insulation manufacturers not to have physical representation here or an enhanced  entry on specifinder, our online directory. Although, we are pleased to say that one of their main distributors SIG plc is represented.