What insulation materials are needed to meet the challenges facing the modern built environment, including how to create a more sustainable future? What if some of them are already available? Kingspan’s dedicated innovation center, IKON, hosted a panel of experts to discuss some of the key issues and explore solutions. Michael Bol, an architect and Concepting Director at Buro Kade, Benjamin Constant, Director of Development and Partnerships at Neo-Eco Partner, and Sandra Del Bove, Kingspan Group Head of Innovation, each brought a different perspective and shared their experiences of these crucial issues.
Is Bio-Based the Answer?
Many extol the benefits of turning to bio-based innovations. However, there are issues of uncertainty and scalability of supply, and increasing production can also bring environmental impacts. Wood production needs to be balanced against deforestation. Other bio-based materials like hemp or straw may require intensive use of land to provide sufficient material. Ultimately, it is unlikely that the needs of the whole of the built environment can be met with bio-based materials alone. However, they have a huge advantage in terms of circularity and carbon footprint, at least while the product remains on the building. At the end of a building's useful life, the sequestered carbon could potentially be released back into the environment.
According to Michael Bol, the market for these products is often driven by clients’ ambition, and he is keen to help them take the next step by designing buildings that are more adaptive, flexible and that can be reused. He highlighted the need to design differently to accommodate the lesser thermal performance that is often associated with bio-based products. “Right now,” he said, “everybody is talking about bio-based, but there is a wide variety of materials that I need to use to design buildings.”
Benjamin Constant agreed with this approach, commenting on how he has seen “lightbulb moments” in the public bodies he has worked with when they “realize that they are holding the pen instead of copying and pasting.” People are waking up to the potential of doing things differently and achieving far more environmentally sustainable buildings than they ever could when simply following the same designs they had for the last 20 years.
The Challenges of Innovation
Turning to the practicalities of bringing new products to the market, Sandra Del Bove discussed the extensive research and testing that goes into identifying technologies that meet the market’s needs and regulatory requirements. She explained, “it needs to perform on thermal, it needs to perform on fire, if it’s an insulated panel it needs to have a certain structural performance as well, and it’s really hard to find something that ticks all of those boxes – there is no magic insulation!”
One area of particular focus is problem-solving solutions to optimize energy efficiency in specific applications. A recent example is an innovative silica-based insulation that can achieve a Euroclass rating of A2-s1,d0, together with a thermal conductivity of 0.020 W/mK – providing a slim solution. “That’s an incredible combination and it makes us really excited,” Sandra Del Bove enthused, highlighting how well these key performance benefits compare to what else is currently on the market.
Benjamin Constant made the point that innovation and improving circularity can also be about how you deal with existing products, such as composite or chemical-based products which are harder to recycle. By including recycled content from old products into new ones that achieve the same kind of performance and level of costs, that too is an innovation that is “changing the world in a way that is maybe simpler and more accessible.”
Data and Digital
Apart from issues with supply, one of the most crucial aspects highlighted by Michael Bol in bringing these innovative products to market is the importance of good data, third-party certification, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and the ability to plug this data into BIM. “As an architect, I really fight for the BIM model itself,” he emphasized, “because I want to be the central person in the design and build process.” He cited material passports as a vital way of understanding what’s in our buildings, even if the companies who produced them no longer exist in 30 years.
Effective Collaboration With Stakeholders
A key theme throughout the discussion was the importance of collaboration with clients, with the supply chain, with architects and with the market, both to understand what is needed and to drive change. This does not just apply at the design and build phase, but also at the end of a building's life. “That’s why we imagine the circular economy as fundamentally collaborative,” expounded Benjamin Constant. “It’s a complex mechanism and very often you cannot do it alone.” He gave the example of working with partners who may already have made the capital investment in machinery and who already have the expertise to help achieve results at scale.
There are many types of innovative materials and products that are coming onto the market to solve specific challenges, including retrofitting existing buildings and cutting embodied carbon. Architects are looking for an assurance of supply, third-party certification and clear data to enable confidence in these new products. Collaboration is essential, both for driving change and scaling up. But it is Benjamin Constant who has the final word: “At each individual level people are becoming innovators – it does not necessarily have to be driven from the top. Innovation is the diffusion of the idea that ‘we can…’”
To learn more about Kingspan and its insulation products, visit their website.