Gypsum industry news

UK: Belgium-based Etex has announced a new UK trading agreement with Kier, a provider of construction and infrastructure services.The arrangement will see Etex and Kier collaborate on a variety of new projects using Etex’s products, including its Siniat brand wallboard.

Gerard Cox, Head of Procurement for Kier Construction, added “We are excited to include Etex Building Performance to our carefully selected list of preferred supply chain partners and look forward to engaging with them on our projects where we believe their range of products, warrantied systems and customer focussed approach, have the potential to add real value to our business.”

Etex previously said it plans to start operations at its new wallboard plant at the Port of Bristol in 2022. It has invested around Euro165m in the project that is set to double its production capacity in the UK.

Switzerland: Sika’s sales grew by 17.3% year-on-year to Euro8.96bn in 2021 despite the Covid-19 pandemic and procurement delays for raw materials. Sales increased in all regions with notable growth reported in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the UK, the US, Latin America and China. The group said that in the Americas a strategic focus on business activities in metropolitan areas, major infrastructure projects and cross-selling helped it. Sika is also currently in the process of buying MBCC Group, a construction chemicals suppler previously known as BASF Construction Chemicals, for Euro2.8bn.

"2021 was expected to be a challenging year and it proved to be a very successful one for Sika. We are benefiting from a number of growth platforms and are in an ideal position to achieve long-term success,” said chief executive officer Thomas Hasler. “We have solutions in place for all the development stages of construction markets, and government supported investment programs running into the billions will provide further impetus for our business.

UK: Adaptavate and the University of Bath have produced alternative gypsum-free wallboard from compostable crop waste. The partners have received funding from the National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC) for a six-month pilot project of production of their prototype wallboard, called Breathaboard. It uses the natural properties of bacteria to form a board with similar properties to gypsum wallboard. The producers claim that it is both lighter and more insulative than gypsum wallboard. They hope to scale up production and market Breathaboard as an environmentally friendly alternative to gypsum wallboard, as it does not require gypsum extraction or flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) at coal-fired power plants.

Project leader Susanne Gebhard said “This is an exciting project that will see whether we can exploit the natural biofilm-forming abilities of bacteria to function as a kind of glue that will help improve the properties of biodegradable construction materials.”

Denmark: Gypsum wallboard cutting robot producer Kobots is preparing to seek external investment via UK-based equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs. The supplier is seeking to raise Euro1.4m to fund international expansion. The company launched its Amigo robot in 2020. It was developed by Danish carpenter Peter Hartvigsen to automatically cut drywall using measurements entered in a phone app.

Amigo robots are currently delivering on a 40,000m2 gypsum wallboard cutting contract for the Lighthouse housing development in Copenhagen. The supplier says that its equipment eliminates the dustiest task in gypsum wallboard preparation for construction work. It has already secured a partnership with Australia-based James Hardie.

Developer Peter Hartvigsen added “Any company that has had a demo of Amigo has either purchased or leased the robot.”

UK: British Gypsum has signed the Building a Safer Future (BSF) charter as part of its wider commitment to raise building standards across the construction industry and provide transparency to its customers. The charter comprises five commitments that require registered signatories to put building safety first. The commitments include spearheading change and being the voice of building safety within the industry, being transparent in sharing key information with residents, clients, contractors and other stakeholders, and making safety a key factor when selecting construction partners.

Marketing director Stacey Temprell said “We recognise that becoming a registered signatory of the BSF charter is an important first step towards achieving the culture and behavioural change required in relation to the charter’s objectives around building safety. In confirming our support as a registered signatory, we will now be working to ensure that we embed the principles of the charter into our organisation’s activities.” Temprell added “In addition to signing the Building a Safer Future charter, we are making further improvements to ensure our product and system performance data is always up to date and accurate, so joining like-minded businesses in signing the Charter is a great way for us to demonstrate our commitment to this shift in building standards and put safety first.”

Belgium: Etex’s full-year consolidated net sales were Euro2.62bn, down by 11% year-on-year from Euro2.94bn. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 16% to Euro468m from Euro557m. The group called its bottom-line performance ‘stunning.’ It reduced its debt by 95% to Euro15.0m from Euro331m.

The coronavirus outbreak impacted performance across all regions. At the peak of the outbreak’s impact on the group’s operations in April 2020, it had suspended operations at 48% of its facilities globally. In Europe, sales increased year-on-year in Germany and Romania. This, a dynamic plasterboard market in the Netherlands and ‘good’ group performance in Eastern Europe failed to offset the regional decline. The impact was notably severe in the Benelux countries and the UK in the second quarter of 2020. In Latin America, sales were comparable with 2019 levels on a like-for-like basis. Asian and African sales experienced a decline, partly offset by the opening of new markets in Australia prior to the acquisition of Knauf Plasterboard in February 2021.

Chief executive officer Paul Van Oyen and chair Jean-Louis de Cartier de Marchienne said, “Although our order book for the first half of 2021 is positive, we expect our revenue to be affected by Covid-19-related volatility this year and the next. Despite this forecast, the performance culture that we have invested in over the last year is firmly in place and delivering results. In addition, our strategic acceleration of sustainability and customer experience initiatives will continue to bear fruit moving forward.” They added, “The acquisitions we made in 2020 will fuel our future growth in high-potential markets. In 2021, we will continue to identify new opportunities, as we are currently in an excellent position to make significant additional investments.”

UK: Associated British Ports (ABP) has celebrated the commencement of a project to build a new plasterboard factory at the Port of Newport, Wales which will create around 60 new full-time jobs in the area.

The new facility will be used to store gypsum, which will be delivered by ship before being used for the manufacture of wallboard. This will eliminate the need to transport raw materials from the port to an in-land factory by road, which will help reduce CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, the factory will benefit from green power generated by ABP's on-site renewable generation units, including wind and solar sources.

As part of the project, ABP, together with a number of European-based inward investors, has invested around Euro27m to create the new manufacturing facility in Newport. The Welsh Government has also contributed Euro870,000 in support of the project.

UK: Durham County Council has granted Agricore permanent permission for its Hill Top Farm gypsum wallboard recycling plant near Darlington, County Durham. The Darlington and Stockton Times newspaper has reported that the gypsum producer had previously held permission on a five-year basis.

Locals in the rural former coal mining area had appealed against the application. Many of the 110 complainants claimed that heavy traffic had rendered a local lane dangerous to walk and cycle on. Agricore sells gypsum to local farmers for use as fertiliser.

The county council required that the company submit plans for a power supply transition from diesel generators to ‘a more sustainable alternative’ before 3 September 2020.

UK: Etex Building Performance recycled 14% its Siniat gypsum wallboard products in 2019, a UK gypsum wallboard recycling record. The company says that the figure exceeds both the UK average of 8% in 2019 and the industry target of 10% in 2020. It attributed the achievement to its “substantial investments in operational improvements to reuse waste gypsum, which can also be recycled.”

The improvements consisted of an upgrade to gypsum wallboard production at the company’s Ferrybridge plant in West Yorkshire and the addition of a new recycling facility at the site. Its planned new gypsum wallboard plant in Bristol will be able to produce wallboard using a higher proportion of recycled gypsum and source part of its water intake from rain. The producer has additionally secured a dedicated supply of post-consumer gypsum from construction sites across England and Wales via its subsidiary Crucible Gypsum Recycling. It said it decided to form the subsidiary after taking part in the European Commission’s Gypsum to Gypsum research project, which “showed the importance of controlling the quality of post-consumer material and re-orientating the industry for the recovery of waste at the end of a building's lifecycle.”

Head of environment and sustainability Steve Hemmings said, "Recovering waste gypsum makes business as well as environmental sense. The plasterboard industry traditionally relied on quarried gypsum or desulphurised gypsum – the latter is becoming less available as the UK switches to alternative energy sources. Recycling offers a greener future for construction, but it requires investment and coordination across the supply chain. We're investing early to make sure we have the capability and capacity to continue leading the UK's gypsum wallboard sector and to provide more sustainable solutions for our clients.”

UK: Belgium-based Etex has announced its acquisition of FSi Limited, a leading UK supplier of intumescent sealants and ablative-coated stonewool batts, which generated an operating profit of Euro22.0m in 2019. The new subsidiary produces its firestopping materials in Cowdenbeath, Fife, West Thurrock, Essex and Measham, Leicestershire, where it is headquartered.

The group said, “The move strengthens Etex’s ability to provide comprehensive lightweight construction solutions for clients through its building performance division, in particular complementing its Siniat and Promat brands, which provide plasterboard and passive fire protection systems respectively. The acquisition also supports Etex’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutions for industrial clients through its industry division.”