Going to Great Lengths

Eurobond, in partnership with Kera UK Ltd has successfully developed vacuum lifting equipment capable of installing panels up to 17m in length and 600kg in weight.

Presently, UK industry standard vacuum lifting equipment only has the capacity to lift panels under 400kg. The new vacuum brief was driven by Eurobond's desire to expand services offered and accommodate the ever growing demands on panel size (and subsequently weight). The scope of the project was to develop a bespoke piece of equipment capable of increasing by 50% the lifting capacity of readily available machinery without compromising safety of the structural integrity of the panel system.

Further investigation and experimentation centred on the manufacture of 15m panels here at Eurobond. No panel of this length had ever been produced and consequently handled. Consideration was given to the manufacture, packaging, wrapping, and lifting from the line. Storage and handling onto transport was also a consideration. Further to this, the standard lorry bed length is circa 12.6m so additional transport knowledge was required to overcome this aspect of the project.

Innovation is at the forefront of this development. Considerable research and development work was undertaken to produce a dual pump system capable of lifting a 600kg panel (each element of the dual system had to have the capacity to lift 600kg). This was necessary to ensure that should one element of the equipment fail, there would still be one half that would continue to support and hold a 600kg panel. Further work was undertaken to develop a structural steel frame to carry the vacuum lifting equipment and to cope with the considerable strain it would be put under.

Before any full scale trials could be conducted, initial development proposals were drawn up. Calculations were performed before full scale trials could be arranged to prove the feasibility of the approach. Final designs were approved and a project plan was then put in place to manufacture, test, accredit and trial the equipment.

Full scale trials were designed and scheduled in order to determine whether a 15m panel would be structurally strong enough for lifting by vacuum equipment across a 6m spread. This had never been done with a stone wool composite panel before, so the approach was ground breaking and pioneering in the extreme.

The trial programme set out to prove that panels could be handled, manoeuvred and installed in a variety of scenarios.

i) lifted vertically via a telehandler from the floor

ii) lifted vertically via a telehandler from a lorry bed

iii) lifted vertically via a crane from the floor

iv) lifted vertically via a crane from a lorry bed

As part of this process, handling and moving of panels in a stack, that is panels stacked after production for transportation, had to be established as Eurobond had never manufactured panels of this length before. It was determined that extended forks would be needed for the equipment already onsite. This proved viable and successful.

All four scenarios were trialed with success. A change in approach was necessary when handling panels via a crane (different lifting points and therefore stress upon the panel when lifted). Despite two broken/damaged panels, this problem was overcome on site with the aid of contractors Boss Design and led to the successful installation of 15m panels at a real site in Cardiff the new Glamorgan Records Office.

For more information on Glamorgan Record Office please click here

Eurobond going for GOLD!

Simon Thomas our MD recently met up with Sebastian Coe to discuss the sustainable commitments for 2012, here he provides us with an insight into the planned developments.

We were recently invited to the ODA Headquarters for a private meeting with Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

Myself, Phil Cook (Managing Director Euroclad) and our corporate ambassador, Olympian Lynn Davies were privileged enough to be taken on a guided tour of the Olympic Park site, giving Lynn and Seb time to discuss years gone by and dispute which of them was the greater Olympian.

During our visit Sebastian Coe outlined the ODA’s plan for the 2012 Olympic Games, detailing the milestones that would provide the foundations for the delivery of new venues and infrastructure for the Olympic and Para Olympic Games and importantly the legacy beyond.

The delivery of these milestones on time and within budget is underpinned by five priority themes; Health & Safety, Sustainability, Design & Accessibility, Equality and Diversity & Legacy.

The proposed site will include an 80,000 capacity stadium, Olympic Village providing accommodation for thousands of athletes, shops, and restaurants along with medical and leisure facilities. The site is also scheduled to include a VeloPark, Aquatics Centre, Handball and Basketball arena, along with a Hockey centre and Eton Manor.

Visualising the venue in 2012 with the design features and site accessibility it is easy to see that London will provide a great spectacle and undoubtedly make us a proud nation.

Placing sustainability at the heart of the 2012 Games has enabled the 2012 Olympics to become a platform to highlight Global environmental issues and climate change.

London 2012 and London 2012 stakeholders share a commitment to maximise sustainability through every phase, starting with building the venues and infrastructure, staging the Games themselves and post Olympics. The materials used in the construction of the Olympic Park and venues are a key aspect of their commitment to delivering sustainable developments.

Here at Eurobond we manufacture a wide range of roof and wall cladding systems that offer low environmental impact helping to support the 2012 vision.

Our wall systems are manufactured using materials with a high recycled content, reducing the need for scarce raw virgin materials. Our steel has a recycled content of over 70% and the stone wool core can be up to 100% recycled material, supporting the ODA’s aim to ensure that at least 20 %, by value, of construction materials will be from a reused or recycled source.

With Eurobond Products, all manufacturing waste, site waste and demolition waste at the end of a building’s life can be recycled into new products. Steel can be separated and used to make new products with the stone wool core recycled back into the Rockwool plant for reuse. The technology and infrastructure to deliver this "Cradle to Cradle" approach is active now, unlike the alternatives offered by PIR panel manufactures.

Both Euroclad and Eurobond manufacturing facilities are close to our steel and stone wool suppliers in South Wales minimising embodied energy impact. Material can be delivered to London by rail to support the ODA’s climate change target of 50% transport by rail or water. The low carbon impact of Eurobond and Euroclad systems is demonstrated by independent Environmental product Declarations and listing in the BRE Green Guide.

Health of the construction workforce and future building occupants is important to the ODA and it prohibits the use of harmful substances such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The stone wool insulation used in all Eurobond and Euroclad products does not contain any VOCs. This is in contrast to wall and roof systems using foam plastic insulation which often incorporate the chemical blowing agent Pentane in their production, a classified VOC.

The lengths Sebastian Coe and his team are going to to ensure the sustainability of the Games is fantastic and hopefully these measures will encourage others to take the same considerations into account.

DON'T be fooled by Magic!

Propane Torch Fire Test – The truth behind the magic?

When it comes to magic, most people can be fooled most of the time. One manufacturer of insulated sandwich panels with combustible foam plastic cores has taken the opportunity to put their own ‘magic trick’ on the web, and have uploaded a propane torch fire test video on its web home page. As with all 'magic tricks', the intention of this video is to fool people into thinking 'seeing is believing', thus creating the impression that PIR panels don't burn, giving the illusion of non combustibility.

We have kindly provided you with the secret to this magic trick, and a video showing the REAL combustible performance of PIR and Stone wool composite panels, which is situated at the top of our web home page.


The text concerning the magical propane torch fire video reads:

“This video shows the fire performance of PIR insulation when exposed to a propane torch burning at over 1000º C. The naked PIR insulation core is exposed to the torch for over 75 minutes. The temperature on the non fire side of the PIR core reaches a maximum of 46º C despite the torch burning at over 1000º C”.


Question : What is the propane fire test?

Answer: Nothing more than a ‘magic trick’ to suggest that PIR is in some way non-combustible and comparable to truly non-combustible materials such as stone wool. The propane fire test is not in any standard nor used by any reputable fire-engineering laboratory. It is not a real test – it is a trick! And like any other magic trick it is aimed at fooling people.


Question: How does the trick work?

Answer: The propane torch has relatively low heat output but fairly high velocity. The torch is placed initially on the surface using the hot end of the flame and the PIR burns to form a thin layer of char. This acts as some protection to make the trick work. The flame is then moved closer and fixed making sure the PIR is exposed to the cold part of the flame. At the same time the high velocity gas hits the surface of the PIR and forces out most of the oxygen containing air preventing any combustion. The fact is that very little heat energy enters the PIR and the surface is relatively cool with little oxygen – hence no flames and no burning.

Question : Will the trick work on other materials?

Answer: Yes. You can use the cold part of the flame and gas velocity to get rid of air on any combustible material to make it look like it will not burn. You can repeat the trick with untreated hardwood, a paperback book and even a piece of coal. You should remember that only a small part of the propane flame is at 1000ºC with most of it considerably cooler. There is a simple experiment used in school laboratories to demonstrate the temperature variation within a flame. A match head is placed on the end of a piece of wire and this is moved about inside the flame from a Bunsen burner. This shows that only the top of the flame and its outer surface is hot enough to ignite the match head. Would this convince you that matches do not burn?

Question: What else is wrong about the test?

Answer: The company says the PIR was exposed to 1000ºC. However PIR is classed as combustible when using a real test such as BS EN ISO 1182: 2002 Reaction to fire tests for building products – Non-combustibility. BRUFMA the plastic foam insulation trade body says that PIR has a self-ignition temperature of 450ºC. So the conclusion has to be that the PIR did not get to 1000ºC.

Question: What does the low temperature recorded on the face of PIR away from the flame indicate?

Answer: Taking the claims at face value you have a sample of PIR which looks about 70mm thick with 1000ºC on one face and other reaches only 46ºC after 75 minutes. The only conclusions are:

1. The PIR is non-combustible and can resist 1000ºC for over 75 minutes suspending the basic laws of chemistry.

2. The PIR has a thermal resistance, lambda value, that is orders of scale better than that demonstrated by any other foam plastic insulation in the world.

3. The face exposed to the flame was not at 1000ºC and there was little heat entering the PIR.

We hope our blog helps you to distinguish between the real 'tricks and treats' within the our industry in 2009

Two Weeks and a Tuk Tuk

Eurobond recently sponsored David Russell Jnr in his extraordinary race across India to raise money for a life saving charity. David works as a contracts manager for Holden Installations, a valued customer of Eurobond based in Cork, Ireland

Here he shares his personal story:

Every year, a band of intrepid (or possibly insane) individuals take part in a wild ride across India, battling against each other and their mechanically challenged transports to reach the finish line in only 14 days. Starting in Kathmandu and finishing in Pondicherry, the teams race each other in 150cc, 2 seater rickshaws (also known as tuk-tuks), reaching a maximum speed of 50kmp (30mph) if they are very lucky and desperately hoping that they won’t break down.

It’s a no-holds-barred kind of race in which each team buys a map from which they have to work out their own route to the finish line. A finish line that is approximately 3700km away. The 2008 race saw a total of 64 teams taking part.

The race began in the main square of Mumbai on a busy Sunday afternoon. “The first difficulty that we encountered was the severe lack of fuel available in Nepal” stated David. “The problems we experience in the western world with price and supply is nothing compared to the problems encountered in Nepal, compacted by the high degree of poverty. As visitors to the country, we were very lucky in that we were able to source fuel via the black market and the army but only because we had the money to afford it. For the Nepalese, sourcing petrol is a real struggle, with the result that we came upon 8-10km’s of truck lines either side of one petrol station. On chatting, we found out that some of the drivers had been there for several days just to get 1 tank full of fuel.

If the poor petrol supply wasn’t problem enough, within a short time of starting out on their journey, there was a political coup and the Nepalese king was ousted. The country basically became a new republic. The media blew this up out of all proportion reporting on fighting and unrest etc., whereas there was actually very little taking place. The worst thing that happened was that the power was shut off for one night and a curfew put in place. David’s team even sat around waiting for something to happen but nothing actually did, thank goodness.

Disaster struck when they ran out of fuel 30 metres from the Indian border, so the team had little choice but to push their Tuk tuk, expecting the other side of the border to be “the land of plenty” where fuel was concerned. Unfortunately, a great many Nepalese had, had the same idea and they found that it was just as bad trying to get fuel there.

And their problems didn’t stop with finding fuel. “We also struggled to find somewhere to stay,” said David, “…ending up one night in a tiny village sleeping in a hospital.” He goes on to explain: “I use the term hospital very loosely - the owner had a medical background and the land it was on had a well – that was enough for the building to be classed as a hospital. As a team of five with two rickshaws, we were faced with spending the night on 5 wooden benches that the doctor had managed to round up. The kind man also arranged for us to have food at the homes of friends/neighbours and with only the prospect of those benches to sleep on, we ended up spending most of the night singing and talking with the locals.”

With nights like these India was beginning to make sense to David and his team mates. However, they had little time to ponder on this as they entered in to the poorest parts of rural India. David says with feeling, “The beauty of the country swept me away and got very much under my skin. Also the people because they were so very genuine.”

They travelled on and reached Varanasi in 5 days where they finally came across other races. By this time one of their poor, badly abused tuk-tuk’s was much the worse for wear and needed a total re-build, even down to having the roof-rack welded back on (up to then it had been held on with “gaffer” tape). It took 12 hours of labour at a cost of 11 euro’s to complete all the repairs, during which time they saw several other racers experiencing similar difficulties. Confirmation that although they weren’t last in the race, these troublesome machines were very badly made.

However, by this time the team was rather panic stricken. “We had travelled 800 kilometres which meant we had another 2,900 kilometres to go” said David. “We continued on but now with more urgency, rising each day at 6am and ensuring that we were packed and ready to roll by 6:30am.” Drive until dusk, hope for a beer that night and do the same again the next day.

They found that the towns were quite filthy and experienced a lot of problems getting accommodation. In the vast majority of the towns that they visited, approx. 95% of the people had never seen a white man in the flesh before. They would find ourselves surrounded by people in minutes. A curious mob of shy, smiling faces chattering amongst themselves but who would still fix your tuk-tuk – most refusing to take any payment. To replay such kindness, all one needed to do was shake many hands and smile back.

The team finally reached their lowest point in one of the built up industrial areas. They were all very tired and road beaten and hadn’t spoken to each other for hours because they were all feeling pretty disheartened. “With only a grunt I was instructed to dig out an MP3 player and put on Kings of Leon” says David. “It was what we needed. It lifted our spirits and one by one we began to rally around. I said to myself, “India, do your worst.” It’s a country that can completely frustrate you one day then completely lift you up with awe the next.”

Without even realising it, the team had gradually improved, working together so that getting packed and ready to go became less and less of an effort, to such an extent that they were making much better time. So during the last 5 days, coming in to rural Pondicherry, they had time to spare and visited a temple that thousands of people make a pilgrimage to each year. The women were all painted gold and it wasn’t long before David’s girlfriend was surrounded by them. They are the sort of people that can see right in to you and judge you in seconds. They could clearly see her good nature and within minutes they became part of a big wedding party. David says, “We had no Hindi and they had no English but I remember that somehow we were talking for hours. It was one of the most amazing experiences. “

Their journey was finally coming to an end and in fact, they made the finish with two days to spare. Having spent so many nights bedding down in some of the most dreadful places, they checked in to a French Colonial house. It was like a palace compared to the conditions that they’d become used to.

On the Sunday night that marked the official end of the race, a party was held for all the brave souls who had entered. Some of the revellers should really have been in hospital going by the injuries they had sustained during the race. One poor team had overturned at 40Kph and slid along the road removing paint and skin..

The good news is that a substantial amount of money was raised. Our own team raised £2,500 sterling and with all the contributions together, the total came to approximately £100,000. This was a phenomenal result. 80% of all the deaths in India are from people drinking contaminated water. With all the money the race raised, over 44,000 people could now have access to fresh water.

All in all, the tuk-tuk race is an experience that I will never forget. India is a place of extreme contrasts. I adored the country and fell in love with her people.

Up and Coming Projects – July/August 08

The UK Government's capital expenditure programme in both the Health and Education sectors remains strong and is forecast to continue for a number of years. This considerable financial commitment underpins its commitment to continuously improve the quality of schools, academies, colleges and hospitals in our built environment. Eurobond's non-combustible panels have been used extensively in both sectors in recent years.

As a composite panel specialist, we have developed our cladding products so that they not only have the ability to meet the aesthetic requirements of designers but can also meet the stringent NHS Fire Codes and BB100 legislation in relation to the use of non-combustible materials where appropriate. The emphasis on this is even greater of late, especially after the Royal Marsden hospital fire that happened in January this year.

As a result, our composite panel products have recently been specified for numerous projects within these sectors and the following projects will receive their cladding product throughout the month of July for installation.

• Frimley Hospital in Surrey will have approximately 278m2 of our cladding panel installed
• Royal Preston Hospital
• Burnley College will have approximately 2,938m2 of Europanel delivered
• Orpington College in Kent will receive approximately 1,337 m2 of our composite panel

Once complete, if worthy, a case study will be completed on these projects and added to our case study archive and interactive map, accompanied by photographs so keep a look out for them.

The Eurobond Evolution

Sounds exciting and it is ! Since evolving from being a supplier of cladding to many food application customers, Eurobond has come on in a big way. We now supply some of the UK’s major brands with thousands of square meterage on an array of projects ranging from Tesco and Asda to Cardiff City FC, Stirling Hospital and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. These projects are no longer about just supplying food application companies with our Firemaster Wall and Ceiling composite panels, they are about supplying big named customers with architecturally inspiring cladding products.

Whether it is our Rainspan rainscreen support panel or our signature product, Europanel that inspires who is to know but there is choice and a lot of it – especially with the array of colour finishes offered by Corus Colorcoat®.

So what better way to mark this evolution than to re-brand the company. Historically, we have been known for our red and blue corporate branding. This will still feature, on occasions, but it was felt that it was slightly dated and not really in line with where we are now as a company and where we want to go. The executive decision was made – a new company image that will be reflected in all forms of communication, both internally and externally.

The new corporate image, which you will be aware of from this website and various other marketing communication materials, is a graduated black background with a white logo and a touch of green. The reason behind the colour choice was to create a look and feel that was somewhat different to your average run of the mill construction website and to create a nice, crisp, clean contemporary look that exemplifies the company’s new contemporary coming of age.
Cladding has the ability to transform a building – it dresses designs and brings them to life. In isolation, a composite panel may not look much or be awe inspiring but collectively, our composite panels can create a wow factor through contemporary architectural designs. We wanted the website and our other marketing communication materials to convey this image.
We used colour coding aids to help the user navigate through the site and created it in such a way that made usability very, very easy. The introduction of green breathes life into the site and makes it easy for the user to find the mouse pointer. We wanted all of our literature to accompany the growth and changing face of Eurobond and to illustrate where we are heading as a company.

With the recent release of the corporate brochure, SID (Specifier Information Disc) and newsletter, Eurobond’s panel is now being viewed in the market as the product of choice when it comes to a mineral wool specification.

The Eurobond evolution has become a revolution through improved fire performance, changes to legislation and exceptional environmental credentials - all unparalleled by plastic foam PIR composite panels. We are ambitious people with clear goals and determination. We have developed a fantastic range of panel products and have a wealth of new ideas in the pipeline. We’re really excited about the future potential of our business and where we see ourselves going.

The Golden Games - Beijing 2008

This is the 8th Olympics I have attended, this time in my role of President of UK Athletics. I will be there with the British Athletics team, about 60 athletes all together, with managers, coaches, doctors and physios.

Our athletes have been selected from our Olympic trials in Birmingham. The criteria is pretty straight forward. First achieve the qualifying standard in your event during the season, then finish in the first two at the finals in a head to head competition. We can take 3 athletes per event and this will be at the discretion of the selectors. It’s a fair and objective system.

Our athletes are well prepared, thanks mainly to lottery funding. It’s called ‘The World Class Programme’ and enables our top performers to train full time at home or abroad in excellent facilities and with their personal coaches present. They also get medical and physiotherapy provided and lots of advice on nutrition, lifestyle management and psychology. It’s really a scientific approach to sport helping to make our athletes competitive with the rest of the world.

Beijing is hot and humid with lots of smog, difficult conditions to run it, especially in the middle and long distance events like the marathon. To help acclimatise to this the team spent two weeks in Macau, an island south of Hong Kong, also very hot and humid before they travelled to Beijing to compete. They did this before the World Championships in Osaka, Japan last year and we came back with five medals!!!

So what are our prospects. In Athens four years ago we won three gold. Kelly Holmes got two in her great 800 and 1500 metre wins and our men’s 4 x 100metre relay beat the Americans to take gold.
To be honest, I would be pleased if we achieved the same in Beijing. Every four years it is getting tougher and with 210 countries taking part gold medals will be a huge challenge. We have set a target of five medals and fifteen finalists. Our best medal chances are in the men’s triple jump with Philip Idowu, the woman’s 400 metres with Christine Ohurugo and Nicola Saunders, the heptathlon with Kelly Setherton and our men’s 4 x 100 metre relay.

Medals are important because success inspires our young people to emulate our champions and of course to show our sponsors that we are world class. But it is not just about medals. Our athletes have worked very hard to be selected to represent Great Britain at the Olympics, this in itself is an achievement. We should also congratulate those who make finals and be in the top eight in the world, then there will be those who achieve a personal best performance in their event. We can ask no more of an athlete if they manage this at the Olympics.

So I am looking forward to a great sporting occasion in Beijing. Hopefully it will be a peaceful games devoid of politics.

Good luck to our sportsmen and woman in all the Olympic sports involved – 28 in all, let’s hope they do come home with the 35 medals predicted and then it’s London 2012 – here we come!!!

Lynn Davies