Woodfibre insulation specialist, NBT, is on target for a 50 per cent growth in sales volumes for 2018, indicating that specifiers are increasingly selecting woodfibre for its thermal performance, year-round comfort and moisture dispersion properties.
Woodfibre insulation currently accounts for less than one per cent of the UK insulation market but supply problems in the mineral wool segment of the insulation market, coupled with fire risk concerns for poly-iso insulation products, has encouraged specifiers to re-examine how they are insulating buildings.
Explains Andrew Mitchell: “Woodfibre insulation, like the Pavatex range that we supply, is often the system of choice for timber and CLT projects, and well as the environmentally-focused projects for which you’d expect it to be the solution of choice due to the low embodied carbon thermal performance benefits.
“Pavadry woodfibre insulation, developed as part of the Pavatex range specifically for refurbishment projects, has also proved a popular choice for raising the thermal performance of ‘solid wall’ structures without compromising their building physics or external appearance.
“Current market conditions affecting other types of insulation are now prompting specifiers to look more closely at the benefits woodfibre can offer in terms of performance, ease of installation, technical support and cost, which is taking woodfibre beyond the realms of ‘eco’ and ‘heritage’ to meet the needs of any project.”
The increased sales volumes NBT has achieved over the course of this year, combined with exponential growth in enquiries for forthcoming schemes, reflect a varied project portfolio across the residential, office, culture and hospitality sectors, including both new builds and refurbishments.
Andrew adds: “The natural properties of woodfibre mean that it combines reduced heat loss with improved building comfort and low combustibility for a temperate year-round environment and low risk installation.
“It’s a sustainable choice made from renewable materials that delivers carbon lock up of 10 tonnes for the average new build dwelling, but current market conditions are prompting specifiers to focus on woodfibre’s buildability and performance credentials too, which is great news for us, the construction sector and building occupiers.”
NBT (Natural Building Technologies) is the UK distributor of the Pavatex range of natural woodfibre insulation systems and part of the Pavatex Group of companies.
The range of thermal performance solutions offered by NBT provides thermal, moisture, acoustic and overheating control for a variety of new build and retrofit applications across the residential, heritage, timber construction, education, commercial and modular construction sectors.
The company combines provision of high performance products manufactured from sustainable, renewable resources with expert technical support and specification advice. This ensures architects, specifiers, housebuilders, local authorities and contractors truly leverage the performance, buildability and building comfort benefits of woodfibre insulation.