Actis’ Hybris insulation is shortlisted for national innovation award
Actis’ innovative honeycomb style insulation Hybris has been named a finalist in the annual Structural Timber Association awards.
It is in the running to win the Product Innovation Award which will be presented in front of more than 500 construction professionals at a glittering ceremony at Birmingham’s National Conference Centre on October 10.
The award is one of 17 being presented on the night, with other categories designed to recognise the achievements of organisations and projects throughout the timber frame construction industry, such as social housing providers, architects, engineers and low energy developments.
Hybris, one of the four products in the CE marked Actis Hybrid range, combines insulation, air tightness, moisture resistance and reflective properties and can be used to insulate timber frame or masonry walls, pitched roofs or ceilings. It, along with its sister products, has LABC and LABSS registered details and is NHBC, LABC warranty and Premier Guarantee approved.
Entries to the innovation category need to be either new products or systems, or older items used in a fresh and inventive way. All must be particularly beneficial to the timber sector.
The Actis Hybrid range is becoming increasingly popular with offsite manufacturers for its speed, cleanliness and ease of use.
One company which has become a disciple of Actis Hybris is Berkshire based timber framer Vision Development.
Its marketing manager Lucy Karpinski explained the benefits of the products over its previous solid insulation system.
“The ease of installation is attractive to us, as the main USP for timber frame is the speed of construction. There is also minimal waste, which again works well with our timber frame ethic of being environmentally friendly and the insulation being non-toxic. It is much quicker to use than PIR board and takes around half the labour time to install.”
In addition to being quick, clean and easy to use, the flexible nature of the Hybrid products ensure air tightness and eliminate thermal bridging. They can be easily bent round corners and squashed into strangely shaped gaps, creating a continuous thermal blanket – something difficult to achieve with solid insulation, which has to be cut precisely to size to avoid draught-attracting air gaps.
As well as being shortlisted for a prize, Actis is sponsoring the Custom and Self Build Project of the Year category of the STA awards.