Part 3 – Versatility of composite insulated panels

Our blog series on controlled environment solutions continues with a look at the versatility of composite insulated panels for refurbishments and new builds.

As the world recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, controlled environment solutions have come to the fore.

Not only are they central to the future of sustainable construction, they have suddenly become much more important to an increasing number of industries and sectors, particularly healthcare, pharmaceutical and food preparation, and processing.

In turn, insulated panels are a central component when creating controlled environments. They offer superb versatility, cost effectiveness and safety, as well as excellent levels of thermal performance, air tightness and strength.

Composite insulated panels offer numerous benefits for new builds, refurbishments and building repurposing. They create a tight, efficient envelope that is straightforward to construct and maintain. They can be used for chilled and frozen storage, clean rooms, warehouses, data centres, viral testing, laboratories, paint spray rooms, fruit ripening areas and many other environments.

Storage of perishables

Because insulated panels are manufactured with a high performance, rigid Polyisocyanurate (PIR) insulation core, they regulate a building’s thermal performance and efficiency with precision. This makes them the perfect solution for the storage of perishable foods, medicines, items requiring temperature-controlled environments, and other purposes.

Stable temperatures

Maintaining consistent and stable temperature control is another significant quality, for all situations: chilled, ambient, sub-zero, freezer – as well as warm applications such as homes and offices, too.

Clean air and hygiene

Creating an air-tight environment is crucial to ensuring clean air, exceptional standards of air quality and reducing air leakage.  Tongue and groove panel joints give exceptional air tightness, and the closed cell structure of an insulated panel prevents moisture absorption. The core is HCFC free with Zero ozone depletion potential (ODP). The profiles are available as smooth, 100 Rib and Microrib.

Society’s awareness of the importance of hygiene has grown exponentially as the virus pandemic has taken hold. Insulated panels are a perfect solution and ideal for areas that especially require tight regulation to minimise the risk of contamination or infection. Hospitals and healthcare providers are now recognising insulated panels as a key material as they are easy to keep clean, contributing to maintaining high safety and hygiene standards.

This is likely to spread to retail, leisure, offices, and other public spaces as people demand greater levels of safety.

Fire resistance

Many people assume insulated panels carry a greater fire risk than many traditional construction materials, but the opposite is true. Hemsec insulated panels can withstand fire for between 30 and 60 minutes depending on the panel construction. And because panels are air-tight and can be used for various purposes – e.g. internal or external walls, ceiling spans and roofs – they can clearly define and separate areas of a building to reduce the spread of a fire. 

For almost a century Hemsec has been manufacturing products with materials to the very highest standards of quality. In the second decade of the 21 ^st century, those values remain unchanged as we strive continually to meet or exceed the appropriate BS EN accreditations. They are built to last as well: steel faced insulated panels are covered by our industry-leading guarantee up to 40 years, backed up by our steel providers warranty.

From the simplest panel needed to refurbish or line a cold store, through to the toughest panel required to handle severe temperatures from -40C to +30C, Hemsec’s Control panels give outstanding performance, with a range of panel finishes available to suit controlled environment applications. These finishes are ideal for environments which require high standards of health and hygiene. They are food safe, have good resistance to chemicals and detergents and highly resistant to abrasion and scratches.

Clients value our insulated panels citing their exceptional flatness and the smooth finish, together with the efficacy of the jointing system. They similarly appreciate our ability to supply bespoke solutions and the speed of our delivery.

Limiting the impact of Climate Change is of critical importance to our company. We believe that our composite insulated panels benefit the environment because they are so incredibly energy efficient. We are working to minimise the environmental impact of our manufacturing processes through energy and waste minimisation, utilising UK supply chains and ensure that our products are carbon neutral.

Finally, all our panels have been fire resistance tested to appropriate levels by the Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) and have a CE conformity mark.

Further information

If you would like to find out more about Hemsec Control panels, please get in touch with us at contact@hemsec.com or search the NBS/RIBA products selectors for more information.