Expanded polystyrene growing in the construction industry with the rise of pre-fabricated housing

One of the main trends in the construction market is the use of pre-fabricated Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS).

This method utilises a technique where sections of buildings can be made offsite and then shipped directly to the building site can be quickly craned into position and bolted together.

This significantly cuts down on construction times when compared to traditional bricks and mortar methods and therefore reduces costs of manpower and materials required during building phases.

Pre-fabricated systems typically comprise of a range of interlocking panels, each of which is effectively a sandwich of grey EPS glued between an outer and inner board materials which is specified according to the building needs.

DS Smith offers a range of EPS blocks, available in a range of size and densities.

Its EPS block is widely used in the construction industry for wall and floor insulation, as well as in the packaging sector, where parts that are simple shapes can hot wire cut to protect corners and edges.

Using EPS as part of a pre-fabricated building system can also lower CO2 emissions when transporting building components to construction sites, as EPS is an exceptionally lightweight solution to many building applications, due to it being effectively 98 per cent air.