Is my fountain of knowledge actually just a burst pipe?

publication date: Jun 3, 2008

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author/source: David Harris

Architect Christopher Sykes worries about what he doesn’t know about products, embraces a revolutionary new one and concludes with an interesting brain-teaser for productive readers.

Things knowledge
Some people in the building industry know a lot of things, a few know nuffin’ and many don’t know what they don’t know (a term often applied to mid-state Americans). Knowing the lot about building products is, I suspect, impossible unless you haven’t got a life…and building products seem to feature in the news rather a lot these days. There is so much to learn and absorb if we are doing our job right for the client and/or the environment.

We just had Grand Designs Live and our TV friend building an EcoHouse at Docklands. We’ve been inundated with talk of energy saving and eco-friendly products. Actually, there’s something terribly retro when people talk seriously about rammed earth, grass roofs, recycled water. One has the uncomfortable feeling that we are all going back to the land…and the way civilisation is behaving so uncivil, maybe that might just happen. Maybe we should reintroduce bison, bears even, for their warm hides so we can forego central heating and save masses of energy.

NASA certainly doesn’t talk about sheep wool insulation. They look at unique problems and find the solution and if they can’t find the solution they invent one. Which brings us neatly back to Kevin McCloud who did indeed mention NASA and pointed out a startling new insulation product - Nanogel.

Specifying without emotion
It’s an interesting exercise actually reading the adverts and the small editorials in product oriented magazines like Specification. The exercise is to see what it is which most attracts interest and why. What converts a specifier to use a different product to the one with which he or she is familiar or which encourages the reader to ask for more information?

It could be the marketingspeak words - ideal, budget, future, trust, accreditation, awardwinning. Certainly, it is today’s ecospeak – sustainable, recycled, environmental. Maybe it is the implied credibility of Standards, Agrement certificate, LEED or proven performance, proven solution, bespoke. Perhaps it is association with recent projects and the comfort of knowledge that other specifiers have been there before you.

Often it is the knowledge of manufacturers which yields the most authoritative information which in turn influences specifying – a fact often dismissed because many readers incorrectly assume that the ‘trade’ article is some form of backdoor advertising (or advertorial as it is referred to by publishers). For example in Thin Joint Technique can help, says Hanson, readers who don’t already know are surprised to learn that costs savings apart, reducing the amount of mortar by at least 70% reduces heat losses and improves the U value of the Thermalite block wall by up to 10%. Thin jointing also means that contractors have to adjust the sequencing of trades to cope with the much speedier build process. The client would automatically expect you to know that on their behalf – mortar at your fingertips, so to speak. It’s worrying; until now, I’d hadn’t really been thin joint led.

Close study of last month’s Specification, where this article appeared, throw up other observations. Chosen by De Vere Hotels is a clever heading because it immediately implies that Cada bathscreens obviously look good (as a prestige hotel would demand), are robust (since not all guests are careful), have low maintenance (because hotel staff and time is expensive). We add recycled glass to our Lignacite dense blocks warms our emotions, recycles one of today’s key words and is sustainably interesting. It conjures up amusing shades of the Chardonnay block, or maybe a red one; a great established product with a new USP, actually based on a variety of waste and recycled materials. Which two things in this picture reduce pollution? is probably the winner is this unstructured survey. Marley Eternit’s ad may start with a child’s drawing but its core message is advanced science – how EcoLogic roof tiles, made out of nearly 50% recycled materials, can reduce NOx (Nitrogen Oxides) from the air – the same as a car emits over 100,000 miles – using rain to convert into dilute calcium nitrate which in turn becomes a harmless, but very useful, liquid fertiliser which will feed the tree in the drawing. How could anyone resist that strong message of the future?

Nanogel
Now all that science stuff also brings us neatly back to what NASA invented. It’s fascinating because it is so unusual to find a building product which is unique, is from a completely different industry and which has the potential to change building performance so much.

Nanogel, developed by the giant US Cabot Corporation, is a translucent granular form of silica aerogel. Aerogel, comprising 95% air, is the world's lightest and best insulating solid material. For many years, it has been used in the science and aerospace industries. For Kevin McCloud, it was in the rooflights of his EcoHouse.

What is so remarkable is that when Nanogel is introduced inside translucent panels the extraordinary low U value of 0.28 W.m2K is achieved – that’s as energy efficient as a solid wall and four times better than insulating glass units. It means that architects and designers can now introduce energy-saving daylight through surfaces which would normally be opaque. Part L suddenly looks less claustrophic.

A good example is inside the Kalwall system which diffuses natural daylight as 'museum quality' light without glare, shadows or hotspots and eliminates the need for blinds or solar control (invisibly in action at Jersey General Hospital, as the photo top opposite shows or rather doesn’t). Nanogel is also used inside some polycarbonate cladding systems and will soon be introduced to provide high insulation for fabric roofs. The possibilities for this unique, new, highly insulating product in buildings, clothing, cars, lifestyle, whatever are as fascinating as they are endless.

And finally…
Have just seen this year’s results for the SuperBrand public voting survey of Business to Business companies (there’s another for consumer stuff). Of 500 widely disparate companies - eg Google at 1, Nat West at 225 and Big Yellow Storage at 499 - these building product companies are included: Dulux 41, Pilkington 83, Ronseal 133, Blue Circle 150, Crown 186, Unibond 199, Corus 214, Polycell 215, Hanson 260, British Gypsum 325, Leyland Paints 424, Saint Gobain 439, LaFarge 443. Not entirely sure what it all means but probably wor th a mention. Well done, guys.

And finally, finally…
Friends in Bradford-on-Avon have just moved into this thatched cottage – actually, thatch is something we forgot to ecomention earlier. Seriously, does anyone know what the symbols C:I mean?

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