A key focus on BluWood’s stand, which featured a framework of joists stained blue with the company’s NexGen Advanced surface application fire retardant, was the range of safety and performance testing it is undergoing to achieve UK standards.
Currently, said the company’s European managing director Steve Browne, it is being evaluated simultaneously under the UK Timber Frame Association’s fire safety evaluation programme, while the test house Exover Warringtonfire is putting the treatment through its paces for BS 476 and BS EN 13823.
“Under testing to BS 476 by Chiltern International Fire, we already exceeded a 90-minute fire resistance test on a stud-insulated load-bearing wall system, and we’re expecting to have positive results on all the standards in the coming months,” said Mr Browne.
On the stand, BluWood also featured a picture of a £9,000 spray system capable of applying the treatment at a rate of 40m per minute.
“We are talking to a number of partners to use the treatment, including sheet materials suppliers, about using it in the manufacturing process,” said Mr Browne.
The next step in development of the treatment in the UK, he added, would be to include borate, adding preservative capability.
“We will need Health & Safety Executive approval for this, but it’s already sold with borate in America as standard,” he said.
