In this article Anthony Barnett, Technical Marketing Manager at Armacell, takes a look at how advances in the market have opened up a number of new opportunities for specifiers and installers.

The current climate is going to provide new opportunities and challenges for the construction industry, especially considering the UK’s future relationship with the European Union, housing shortages and ever more stringent environmental building legislation.

In terms of environmental legislation the BRE (Building Research Establishment) has recently added pipe insulation materials to their Green Guide to Specification, with nitrile rubber insulation products such as Armaflex flexible elastomeric foams (FEFs) receiving an ‘A’ rating.

The inclusion of a category for pipe insulation materials in the Green Guide means that BREEAM assessments can now be awarded 2.75 points for schemes when specifying Armaflex product, confirming the material’s low environmental impact and helping specifiers to design and install sustainable building services.

The number of sustainable homes being built needs to increase dramatically and this demand will present further opportunities. New homes are being built to increasingly stringent energy efficiency standards and the energy savings possible by choosing insulation in line with the Code for Sustainable Homes and Part L, plus the domestic building services compliance guide (DBSCG) are creating houses that are both affordable to run and better for the environment.

Despite falling short of Government house building targets, it is better to focus on building high quality, energy efficient homes, rather than solely focus on volume. A guide to the pipe insulation thickness required to meet the DBSCG are listed in the AF/Armaflex and Tubolit product range guides, with reductions in heat losses of up to 87% possible.

In large residential developments and apartments we see more focus and engineering specialists in the acoustic insulation. To meet this demand Armacell manufactures the ArmaComfort range of insulation for drainage pipework in buildings, offering a sound reduction up to 28 dB and Class O fire rating.