‘GREEN’ PLASTERBOARD HAS BRIGHT FUTURE, SAYS KNAUF DRYWALL
‘Green’ plasterboard has a bright future in UK construction, says Bob Stark, Marketing Manager at Knauf Drywall. And merchants will play a key role in its growth.
Plasterboard has an assured future in environment friendly construction. Significant improvements in its manufacture, transport and use mean that this versatile building material is included in drywall solutions to meet rising performance requirements, within increasingly stringent environmental guidelines. As a result, builders – and merchants – will see growing value in plasterboard products.
Houses, apartments, offices, hotels, shops, schools and hospitals are among the main types of buildings where drywall construction is established practice. It is also used anywhere from airports to zoos. As one of the first ‘traditional’ building materials to demonstrate a potentially significant contribution to greener building and ongoing energy efficiency, plasterboard helps specifiers and builders to move towards sustainability targets across a broad spectrum of construction projects.
With huge pressure for residential development, massive investment in commercial and institutional infrastructure and a strong alterations and renovations sector, the UK presents a significant market for building materials in general. Annual demand for drywall products alone currently exceeds 200 million square metres – much of which is channelled through builders merchants as orders which are fulfilled ex-factory, or as direct sales from stock. Growth in plasterboard sales has led to significant investment in new manufacturing capacity.
Drywall owes its popularity to its excellent properties and the ease with which it is installed. It saves valuable time on site, and with modern formulations and design delivers high acoustic and fire resistance standards, often in space-efficient wall constructions. Special types of high performance plasterboards are formulated for use in rooms with high humidity, or where impact damage is possible. Using the right plasterboard and insulation material for each application helps to reduce long-term energy needs and CO2 emissions.
Plasterboard is at the forefront of the drive to improve the green credentials of buildings.
Waste plasterboard collection and recycling schemes, improved energy management in factories and developments such as our industry-first carbon neutral plasterboard, Knauf Futurepanel, help to reduce the environmental impact of new buildings. It is estimated that up to 35% of the total carbon footprint of a new house comes from the manufacture, transport and installation of building materials. So anything we as manufacturers can do to reduce this is a positive step. Knauf Drywall has a programme of environmental initiatives which includes zero landfill targets at our factories, plans for a wind turbine to supply part of our power requirement and, in addition to using some of the cleanest HGVs on the roads today, plans to offer alternatives such as river transport where possible.
Merchants, too, have a big role in promoting the green potential of plasterboard. Trade counter staff can add value by ensuring that customers from largest to smallest are fully aware of the opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint of their projects, and that they select the most appropriate products and systems.
Since we launched Knauf Futurepanel earlier this year, there has been much interest from specifiers keen to improve the carbon footprints of their developments – as well as delivering all the usual high performance standards in market-priced buildings. This new product has also created a talking point in the industry, which is great because it raises awareness of environmental problems and possible solutions. While debate is valuable, action is much more important and we welcome the enthusiasm of like-thinking developers who have indicated that they will be building with Knauf Futurepanel soon.
We believe that the government needs to offer real incentives to kick-start sustainable building. Without incentives, there is the danger that new housing will miss out on the potential of the low carbon initiatives already in place. This is another area where we need to cut through the ‘green wash’ in politics and the media and turn talk into action. If the government is serious about emissions targets and energy efficient housing, it needs to encourage builders and developers to use sustainable materials and carbon neutral products. Faster planning approvals, tax credits and tradeable carbon points would be a good start.
Over the next two decades, with the government hoping to build three million residential units, traditional building materials are likely to dominate. However, there is scope for greater efficiency in the manufacture and use of many products – as we are showing. It is also likely that we will see new variants of existing products, designed for easier building or enhanced long term performance. As an example, it is already relatively easy for us to produce plasterboard to order in non-standard lengths to facilitate a one-piece floor-to-soffit fix for much faster installation. As our technology advances, it is conceivable that future drywall catalogues will include new plasterboards with properties superior to those we know today.
While there has been much work with experimental constructions and alternative materials, it is good to see that plasterboard still stacks up well on every environmental front
Ultimately, consumers will be a major influence and drive the swing to low carbon buildings – especially as the benefits of smaller carbon footprints with ongoing energy efficiency will make properties more attractive to future buyers. In the United States, for example, environment friendly building is gaining momentum – reportedly reaching 6% of new construction this year, compared with just 1% five years ago. Prices for green construction are falling amid increasing demand for sustainable places to live and work.
Builders, merchants and manufacturers need to be ready for the same impetus in the UK. We believe the first signs are already here.