Spec Finish

Carbon absorbing plasterboard UK based bio-technology company and FIS member, Adaptavate, has secured £2.16m investment to scale production of Breathaboard, their carbon absorbing plasterboard. As pressure grows for the construction sector to identify practical ways to reduce embodied carbon in buildings, products that offer significant carbon savings are increasingly sought. Adaptavate has designed a scalable, carbon sequestering alternative to plasterboard, one of the most widely used building products. This funding will allow Adaptavate to build a world first pilot production line, enhance R&D lab facilities and teams and complete testing and licencing programmes for Breathaboard. Adaptavate’s already available Breathaplasta product will continue to be marketed through key distribution partners. Tom Robinson, Managing Director and Founder of Adaptavate, said: “This investment will enable us to revolutionise the way construction materials are made without forcing any change on end users. We’re using industrial carbon absorbing processes to produce a healthier, high performance product that is better for the health of people and planet and a genuine drop-in replacement for gypsum plasterboard. It’s a fundamental re-think and re-design of the current system and we are excited to scale this approach around the world.” www.adaptavate.com Innovations 30 www.thefis.org BESA launches ‘safe havens’ blueprint guide for indoor air quality (IAQ) The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has launched ‘Buildings as Safe Havens – a practical guide’, which provides a step-by- step strategy for monitoring and maintaining good IAQ in offices, schools and public buildings and provides advice and strategies for dealing with ventilation problems. It outlines the questions building managers should ask their ventilation and air quality specialists so they can properly address their IAQ problems, and provides recommendations for conducting a building review, planning for improvements, and selecting the right technology. Downloaded the guide for free at www.theBESA.com/iaq Introducing SMARTPLY MAX FR B MEDITE SMARTPLY has launched its SMARTPLY MAX FR B, the new Euroclass B OSB3, to bring increased safety and reliability to an industry contingent on safety and predictability. SMARTPLY MAX FR B is the first Euroclass B board (the maximum Euroclass rating for a timber panel) manufactured in the UK and Ireland to feature wood flakes treated with flame retardant solution before pressing. This ensures its flame retardance is integral and maintains its structural integrity, making it the safer choice for use within timber frame construction, or projects that will require a large amount of timber product. Richard Allen, Sales Director at MEDITE SMARTPLY, said: “In SMARTPLY MAX FR B, customers can expect all the benefits of a SMARTPLY OSB board, with the addition of ZeroIgnition® solution, a water-based and environmentally friendly flame retardant, which is added during panel production. “This is a solution that has potential in a huge range of applications and industries, encompassing many modern methods of construction such as offsite and timber frame construction, light gauge steel and modular construction systems, as well as temporary structures. Customers can be assured that this board’s flame retardance will hold to Euroclass B standard, even when cut to size.” SMARTPLY MAX FR B meets with the requirements of European Standards EN 300 and EN 13986, while also complying with the European reaction to fire class B-s2,d0 and Bfl-s1. Boards can be manufactured in largescale formats of up to 2.8m wide by 7.5m long, making it ideal for offsite manufacturing, alongside traditional building. www.mdfosb.com Knauf launches project design tool Knauf UK & Ireland has launched its Planner Suite specification tool platform enabling customers to find, import and specify Knauf products and systems quickly and easily. The new project design tool is available as a BIM Plug-In for Revit and ArchiCAD and a browser-based version (system finder), reducing time spent manually searching for products and cross-checking data. Knauf Planner Suite contains the most up-to-date performance data. Its guided search function provides specifiers with an overview of products and systems that match their specific project requirements, such as fire protection or sound insulation. Planner Suite ensures data accuracy over the full BIMmodel lifetime with its data validation function, which checks and updates the data for all Knauf systems. Dan Roehner, Head of Technical at Knauf UK says, “Planner Suite will make project planning more efficient and will minimise errors at planning stage, specifiers can also access product information such as data sheets, EPDs and stockists easily and even generate a ‘shopping list’ to provide directly to their supplier.” www.knauf.co.uk/planner-suite