Fire safety conscious housing projects deserve SMARTPLY FR

The industry has seen a 39% rise in the number of housing associations seeking contractors to do fire safety work, a recent report from Inside Housing has found.

It isn’t clear whether these works are being undertaken on new projects, or refurbishments, but what is clear is the question as to why these issues have not been addressed before?

With innovation in fire safety and performance in the built environment now more abundant than ever, the time for excuses is over. From foundations to fixings, contractors and specifiers involved in all types of building projects now have a plethora of options to choose from.

Take the world of timber for example. New product developments are making it safer than ever to choose this sustainable building product for your build. In fact, timber has a very predictable charring rate when reacting to fire with new technologies making that process even more controlled.

One product manufacturer in the timber sector in particular, MEDITE SMARTPLY, takes its products’ reaction to fire very seriously. In fact, for this reason MEDITE SMARTPLY developed a flame-retardant timber panel: SMARTPLY FR OSB. It was created in response to the Structural Timber Association’s (STA) “Design guide to separating distances during construction” for timber frame buildings above 600m2 total floor area, as there were very little options available to fulfil that need.

How does it comply?
Government standards necessitate a certain standard to be met by existing properties and multiple considerations must be measured throughout new build projects. MEDITE SMARTPLY’s revolutionary flame-retardant timber panel, SMARTPLY FR OSB, has been manufactured to pass the most stringent testing to ensure complete compliance with government standards and aims to give specifiers and contractors a reliable option when it comes to fire safety.

How does it work?
SMARTPLY FR OSB goes above and beyond to ensure fire safety compliance. It is manufactured according to European reaction to fire class C-s2,d0 for roofs, ceilings and walls, and BFL -s1 for floors and is treated during manufacture with Zeroignition® technology, which makes its flame retardance integral rather than surface-based. Zeroignition® solution is a water based, non-toxic, eco-friendly fire retardant that can prevent ignition of timber materials and significantly slows the rate of fire spread.

As well as its outstanding flame retardance capabilities, SMARTPLY FR OSB is an entirely wood based OSB3 panel made from Forrest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified timber from UK based forests. During its production, no formaldehyde is added to ensure it maintains a low formaldehyde emission rating of E1 (Europe), making it perfect for numerous housing applications. This demonstrates that from the beginning, SMARTPLY FR OSB has been devised conscientiously, with regard to the health and wellbeing of the end user.

Structurally sound, this smart OSB panel also demonstrates a high racking strength, having been manufactured to comply with EN300 and EN13986.
It has been noted that other fire-rated or flame-retardant products, such as some plywoods, are only treated on the surface, after manufacture. This means that when these panels are cut to size, or if the surface is damaged in some way, their fire performance could be called into question. This could also damage the validity of the CE mark on the panel, something which would not have to be considered when specifying SMARTPLY FR OSB.

So, if you’re looking for a sustainable, flame-retardant product for your roofing, flooring or wall sheathing applications, where strength, moisture resistance and flame retardancy are paramount, then SMARTPLY FR OSB ticks all the boxes. For more information, or to request a sample, please visit: https://bit.ly/2xTt19Z

www.smartply-worksmarter.com