During the recent QUALICOAT UK & Ireland conference held at the Building Centre in London, Chris Mansfield Commercial Director of Tomburn and licensed QUALICOAT Applicator, offered delegates an insight into the recently released BS EN 12206 for coated architectural aluminium having sat on the working group dealing with the revision.

Held in June, QUALICOAT UK & Ireland’s conference at the Building Centre in London, ‘Future Proofing Facades’, has been hailed a success by all who attended. The event was professionally organised and run by QUALICOAT UK & Ireland with the support of the Department of Marketing. The event concentrated on aluminium in construction as a sustainable fenestration material and, in particular, how powder coating has advanced over the last few years to meet specifiers expectations.

During the last few years membership of QUALICOAT in UK & Ireland has increased significantly as the QUALICOAT specification has become more widely known by specifiers in the Construction Industry. The latest company to join the Association is Tomburn, a well established architectural powder coater based in the South of England.

Appendix A13 of the QUALICOAT Specifications is aimed at specifiers who have large facade projects and wish to take advantage of the additional protection that comes from a ‘QUALICOAT 3.0’ Specification. Whilst the current QUALICOAT supply chain includes powder manufacturers, pretreatment systems providers and architectural powder coaters, QUALICOAT 3.0 introduces for the first time the aluminium extruders into the QUALICOAT powder coating supply chain.

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.

Bradleys Metal Finishers are the latest company to join QUALICOAT UK & Ireland. Located in Ipswich, Bradleys is a family run business with over fifty years experience in professional coatings in a wide range of applications.

All materials when exposed to the elements will age in some form and change in appearance over time. Materials like stone and brickwork tend to age very well and offer an aesthetic look for many years with virtually no maintenance. Other materials such as copper take on a patina, a bright green colour in the case of copper, as the surface weathers and builds up a protective surface oxidisation.