Construction and in particular house-building have always been a barometer for the wider UK economy, with recent international situations – such as the pandemic and war in Ukraine – acting to dramatically magnify the normal effects of supply and demand.

The unexpected boom in building activity as a result of lockdowns and ‘Working from Home' were accompanied by supply shortages, while the inevitable price rises have been exacerbated by global inflation and the latest figures showing both house prices and output from the big developers are on the rise again will surely intensify market situations.

These factors have combined with pressing technical challenges for the construction industry relating to fire performance, in encouraging specifiers to reconsider their choice of panel product for various applications and especially when designing residential buildings rising above four or five storeys.

The absence of plywood manufacturing capacity in the UK has long affected builders' buying behaviour, while the popularity of orientated strand board (OSB) is generally being tempered by concerns over not just its strength, but also its fire and weather performance.

In short, the horrors of the Grenfell tragedy have brought home to architects, builders and specialist fire engineers the fact that they cannot blithely depend on sheathing, insulation or cladding products that are merely described as flame resistant or fire retardant.

Crucially there are MOS boards available which have been independently tested to demonstrate they can offer Class 1 non-combustible performance; and therefore enable designers to show they have performed their duty of care when specifying the substrate for a cladding build-up.

Deeper within the wall zone, these boards are also being selected over plywood for their fire performance as an internal lining or discontinuous ‘pattresses' which are positioned to enable cupboards, sanitaryware or other fixtures to be secured through plasterboard drylining.

As a sheathing across timber, light gauge steel or other structures, MOS boards are not only straightforward to cut and fix, but also strong enough to offer very good resistance to racking forces and also impact damage. In fact, numerous apartment blocks and other commercial developments that have been successfully delivered in Ireland - despite its notoriously wet weather - have demonstrated how MOS boards can withstand many weeks of exposure while the building envelope remains unfinished.

Staying with the theme of moisture performance for a moment, it is also worth noting that MOS products performs far better than OSB in respect of a problem which blights many people's lives and leaves providers of affordable housing facing demands from tenants for a move to alternative accommodation, or financial compensation.

Normally linked to rising or penetrating damp, mould can manifest itself as substantial fungal growth across interior surfaces, while the resulting spores given off pose a real threat to health, especially where occupants already suffer from respiratory conditions. Crucially, MOS boards do not provide mould with the food it requires to multiply.

SEASIDE SPECIFICATION EARNS ACCLAIM

The wet and weather resistance of MOS boards has even come to the attention of the judges in a top architectural competition down on the South Coast where a private house was being built in extremely challenging circumstances.

The striking new three-bedroom beachfront house at Camber Sands in East Sussex was short-listed for the ‘Hard to Construct' category of the Grand Designs House of the Year award.

The property was duly designed by locally based RX Architects and built by Coast View Property Ltd to not only respect its location within an area of Special Scientific Interest, but also withstand the challenging weather and shifting sands.

The building employs non-traditional construction methods, featuring twin 12mm layers of the rugged MOS boards as a carrier for a render like finish applied across the entire envelope. Some 190 of the 12mm boards were supplied to the remote site by a merchant in Rye.

In the case of the habitable roof-space, the contractors applied a single ply rubber membrane over a sarking board and then bonding aluminium rails along the line of the rafters, to which the two overlapping layers of MOS are fixed with stainless steel screws. The pink-coloured finish is then applied as a primer, base and pigmented topcoat.

The Associate at RX Architects on the project, Rob Pollard, commented:

"We have specified MOS boards for a number of projects, generally where there were fire protection issues due to the closeness of other buildings. We know once it has been used to sheath the structure that we have the fire rating to safely timber clad over the top or use any other material."

"In the case of Sea Breeze, the boards it makes an ideal substrate for the Micro Cement finish, being so stable. The designs are focused on creating a really robust covering for the rubber membrane that still allows us to obtain the warranty for it."

For Further Information, On MOS Boards From Magply, Please Contact:

Gordon Pirret MD Or John Malone, UK National Sales Manager

Ipp Ltd. Bradwell Hall Bradwell On Sea, Essex CM0 7HX.

TEL: 01621 776252

EMAIL: john@magply.co.uk

WEB: www.magply.co.uk