High Standards from Coillte Panel Products
Coillte Panel Products is part of Coillte, a leading natural resources company which owns over 442,000 hectares of FSC® certified forest in Ireland. Coillte Panel Products manufactures both highly regarded Medite MDF and Smartply OSB products from its Irish mills in Clonmel and Waterford, which are synonymous with quality, choice and innovation.
On the 1st March 2014, the new Building Control (Amendment) Regulations came into effect, making significant changes to the building control regime in Ireland. The amendments made way for a series of new systems to increase focus on care and safety within the Irish construction industry, including the introduction of a Commencement Notice, Certificate of Compliance and an Assigned Certifier for all construction projects.
The new regulations mean that more responsibility lies with the architect or specifier to choose reliable, ethically sourced building materials on any construction job.
Additionally, new legislation in the form of the Construction Products Directive is supporting new building regulations. Because all relevant products must prove they conform to recognised standards by bearing a visible CE mark, backed up by Declaration of Performance certification, there is a reason to choose materials from reliable suppliers who have their processes and paperwork in place, such as Coillte, which has all Declaration of Performance certificates available to download from its website.
Recent research and industry indicators have shown that consumption of local, ethically sourced wood panels in Ireland is on the rise. However, during this time, there also remains the threat of wood panels being imported into Ireland from unmanaged and uncertified forests, where the credentials to demonstrate fitness for purpose are absent. This is why it is now more important than ever to start asking questions when it comes to buying and specifying timber.
Tropical plywood imports that have no documentation, proof of legality and low levels of quality have for years threatened the environmental reliability of timber.
By virtue of its integrated supply chain, with all panels manufactured from wood locally sourced from its own FSC certified forests, Coillte’s panel products comply with the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) . Coillte Panel Products manufactures and responsibly transports its panels straight from its mills in Ireland and both Smartply and Medite brands hold Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) certification meaning that all processes used to manufacture the panels have a quantified minimum impact on the environment. When sourced from a local supplier, the products are sure to deliver superior integrity, reliability, longevity, performance and strength.
Coillte Panel Products places great importance on research and development. It focuses on investment in product advances, in order to keep its specifiers and end users ahead of the curve when it comes to the latest market trends. This means professional joiners, fabricators, architects and designers always have access to the best panel products for their projects. In turn, product quality, performance and environmental soundness all combine under Coillte’s market-leading panel products’ brands, Medite and Smartply, to provide reliability and reassurance to the sector.
Coillte’s Medite brand had led innovation in MDF by being the first company to bring new products to the Irish market such as the flame retardant MDF (Medite FR), and MDF for exterior use (Medite Exterior). It continues innovating with the recent introduction of Medite Vent vapour permeable MDF to suit modern building methods such as PassiveHaus.
Additionally, SmartPly has added to the company’s innovative tradition by developing its coated OSB products ToughPly and SiteProtect, which aim to save time and increase dependability on site. With flame retardant OSB also now available and a €59m investment in its SmartPly facility in Belview, Waterford, Coillte Panel Products will continue to innovate and further develop one of the region’s most important export industries.
Irish Construction
