New regulatory compliant PVC compounds pose “sea change” for UK building industry

UK-based PVC compounder, Dugdale, says it is experiencing “brisk demand” for its range of newly formulated PVC compounds that comply with the recent changes in building standards regulations.

Traditionally, the material supplied into the building products, windows, ancillary and general PVC moulding markets has met the requirements of BS EN 1401 drain products, BS EN 1329 soil and waste products and BS EN 607 rainwater products.

However, West Yorkshire-based Dugdale says its newly developed formulations now also enable its manufacturing customers to fully comply with the BS 5255: 1989 specification for waste thermoplastic fitting of wall thickness minimum than 2.7 mm – wherein a Vicat Softening Point requirement of > 80 degrees Celsius is mandatory.  

Dr Jeff Ryan, Technical Director at Dugdale, says the compliance of the new material therefore opens up “further opportunities” in the areas of under sink plumbing and waste pipe products. “This is a significant sea change in the building market and we have turned it into a clear opportunity for our forward-thinking customers,” Ryan explained.

Dugdale worked in partnership with major UK building product manufacturers before creating and achieving approvals for enhanced Calcium Zinc-based compounds marketed under Dugdale’s ‘Ducavin’ PVC brand name.

“We learned a great deal from creating these new grades for UK building work,” Ryan continued. “The development involved us in some fundamental redefinition of the moulding process and of the changed behaviour of the PVC in its melt flow characteristics. The result is a building compound that offers greater processing stability, wider processing windows and better batch-to-batch colour consistency.”

Dugdale now plans to use the company’s new laboratory and pilot scale production plant – to be commissioned in January 2017 - to do further work with building industry customers and to make further inroads into building applications for its materials.

The company says its understanding of the building and construction trades has also been informed by its in-depth involvement in cradle-to-cradle recycling of building products, working with sources of post-consumer and post-industrial scrap and down-cycling much material into further products for the building trade such as unseen fascias, decking and boards. “PVC building product recycling is recycling that works,” added Ryan. “It is something that is good for the environment and something that also makes good business sense.”

For building sector customers concerned about the legislative and commercial implications of Brexit and the pending consequences for future international trade deals, Dugdale says for now, at least, it is business as usual.

“The relevant EU legislation continues to apply. Once Article 50 has been invoked, there is a time-limited period of two years to complete negotiations, during which time EU legislation will continue to apply. At this stage it is therefore unlikely the UK will exit the EU before the 2018 REACH registration deadline. Affected business should therefore plan and act accordingly,” Ryan concluded.