There is a large array of different insulation materials, from many different sources and with different properties. What matters most is that the materials will last a long time and provide high levels of performance throughout.

What is most significant is the thermal and air leakage performance design and specification. On the level of the material choice, there are three key points for selecting insulation materials:

• Choose a material with long life, sufficient durability and minimum failure risk (to maximise energy and carbon benefits).
• Choose a material with zero ozone depletion potential (ZODP) (a global pollution issue).
• Where thickness is constrained, choose the best thermal insulator appropriate to the construction type (to optimise U-value and energy savings).

Insulants Durability & Failure Risk

Now that lower external envelope U-values have been demanded by Parts L2 and J, the most important issue in selecting insulants is longevity of thermal and air leakage performance. Therefore failure risk of insulation materials is a key issue in optimising energy efficiency and achieving lower CO2 emissions.

Site Assembled Machine-Made Mineral Fibre Built-up Systems The biggest risk factor is moisture build-up (whatever the cause), which increases thermal conductivity.

Mineral fibre materials have design issues relating to their open structure - they are vapour and air permeable.

Moisture Build-up in Insulant

Wetting caused by condensation, leaking cladding or leaking pipework. Will cause large increases in conductivity.

Compression

Lower strength products with lower binder content offer compression risk - e.g. in flat roof applications. Good specification should avoid this problem.

Air Movement

The open structure means that surface air movement and air moving through may reduce the insulation value, though some products use facings to prevent this.

Kingspan Insulated Roof and Wall Systems

Kingspan’s off-site pre-fabricated roof and wall systems provide optimum sustainable lifecycle construction from design through factory manufacturing, site installation, building use and end of life recycling.

End of Life Use Sustainability - Recovery, Re-use & Recycling

When it is impossible, or undesirable, to extend the life of buildings through adaption or refurbishment, and therefore demolition becomes unavoidable, it is important that end of life impacts are minimised. Principally this involves minimising waste and ensuring that materials are recovered, recycled or re-used.

At the end of its life there are many options for insulated panels that have a positive impact on the environmental lifecycle.

Refurbishment

Through repainting of the outer sheet the building envelope life can be extended by between 10 and 30 years.

Re-use

Insulated roof and wall panel systems have a very long lifetime which exceeds 40 years. Re-use of construction products offers even greater environmental advantages than recycling.

At the end of their useful life the panels can be removed and reused within the agricultural sector where there is already a significant demand.

Recycling

Steel and aluminium can be recycled again and again without any degradation. The steel or aluminium external and internal facing sheets are removed and fully recyclable through the steel or aluminium manufacturing route, without further burden to the environment nor increase in dioxin levels. Current evidence suggests that 84% of steel and aluminium used in construction is recycled. Under certain circumstances (see below), the ground core itself can be recycled for use as fillers for cements and mortars or as absorbers of liquid spillages.

Disposal

Where disposal is the only option, panels and cores can be managed safely through existing facilities used for refrigerator dismantling. This ensures the safe disposal of blowing agent and allows for the reclamation of all recyclable materials, including the ground cores.

An alternative route for disposal is to provide the intact core as a fuel for municipal waste to energy plants. This approach offers a way of regaining the calorific value associated with the original resource in the best traditions of sustainable development thinking.