Members Meet
Member’s hybrid meeting
The first ‘hybrid’ members meeting of the year was held at the Arden Hotel, Solihull in March and was well attended by members both in person and online. Besides the continued growth of QUALICOAT in the UK & Ireland, the main topic of discussion was the upcoming ‘Future Proofing Facades’ event that is to take place on the 14th June at the Building Centre, Store Street, London.
Aimed at facade specifiers, the ‘Future Proofing Facades’ conference aims to offer both an update as to where architectural powder coating is today and an opportunity for members of the Association to hear from specifiers and their needs, especially on issues of safety and sustainability. An impressive line-up of speakers has now been confirmed placing the event as a ‘must attend’ for any specifier of architectural powder coatings.
Following the awarding of a QUALICOAT licence to Bradleys Metal Finishers, applications for new licences continue to be received by the secretariat. One Midlands based powder coater has recently undergone their second pre-grant inspection of their plant and processes and is close to being awarded their licence confirming their adherence to the latest QUALICOAT specification. With this licence granted, there will be twenty licensed applicators across the British Isles who offer architectural powder coating meeting the QUALICOAT standard. A further four coaters across are in the process of working towards the standard and will be undergoing inspections by the independent tests house IFO based in the Netherlands.
It was raised that some specifiers still request coatings to meet a fire rating of A1 where architectural powder coatings fall into the A2, s1-d0 classification. It was agreed that this is an educational issue as significant tests have been undertaken that prove the safety of a A2, s1-d0 classification. This issue will be discussed in detail at the forthcoming ‘Future Proofing Facades’ conference in June.
On environmental issues, the ‘National Resource Wales’ are considering tightening tolerances on industrial discharge to surface water, but the UK agencies feel that the tolerances being discussed will damage general industry at this time. The secretariat will keep members informed of any pending changes.
Training of Laboratory Technicians in the most up to date production recording and testing requirements is a prerequisite of holding a QUALICOAT licence. A training day for for 2022 has been set for the 8th November, venue yet to be confirmed. Training will be undertaken by QUALICOAT UK & Ireland’s nominated independent test house IFO; all Laboratory Technician’s must attend a standards update course at lease every two years.
The global QUALICOAT standard is incrementally revised in realtime with regular update sheets and is revised to include all updates each year end. The standard and any update sheets are freely available for download at www.qualicoat.net. For details on the availability of various colours and finishes contact any QUALICOAT UK & Ireland member for more information. For updated information about the use and specification of QUALICOAT in the UK and Ireland, please visit the UK & Ireland Association website at www.qualicoatuki.org.