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 | | EXTENSIA™ - THE SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE TO STEEL MESH AND STEEL FIBRE FLOORS | | | Stuarts Industrial Flooring | | 23/06/2008 | | | With soaring steel prices proving the latest challenge to the construction industry, the UK’s leading concrete flooring company, Stuarts Industrial Flooring, is anticipating an increase in demand for its Extensia™ concrete - a sustainable alternative to steel mesh and steel fibre floors.
When it was introduced to the marketplace last year, Extensia™ was hailed by the industry as a pioneering innovation in low shrinkage concrete, bringing to the construction sector a ‘jointless’ design alternative for high performance floor slabs without the need for steel reinforcement.
Its launch was the result of an on-going collaboration between Lafarge, world leaders in the supply of construction materials, and Stuarts Industrial Flooring - the UK market leader in concrete flooring - and the only approved installer of the ground-breaking Extensia™ product.
While its many attributes are highly praised - increased design flexibility, rapid construction, easy placement and lower maintenance costs - in an industry with sustainable construction at the top of its agenda, it is the big environmental benefits that Extensia™ provides that have been gaining considerable credence.
An independent life cycle assessment carried out by Ecobilan, part of PricewaterhouseCoopers Sustainable Business Solutions, found Extensia™ achieving up to 20% reduction in CO2 emissions, up to 46% reduction in coal consumption, up to 16% reduction in oil consumption, and up to 85% reduction in waste production - all compared with traditional concrete using either steel mesh or steel fibre reinforcement.
However, whilst sustainability still remains high on the agenda, a more immediate challenge facing the construction industry is the soaring price of steel. With the cost almost doubling since January from £400t to nearly £800 - and rising on a weekly basis - Stuarts is able to offer customers the reassurance of a consistent price with the Extensia™ product.
The innovative technology behind this low shrinkage concrete has allowed Stuarts to extend joint spacing to provide ‘jointless’ panels measuring in excess of 20m x 20m (400m2) while controlling cracking without the need for inclusion of either steel mesh or fibres.
Ideal for ground-bearing slabs in industrial, warehouse and commercial applications, Extensia™ combines low-shrinkage with advanced environmental properties - bringing increased design flexibility, rapid construction, easy placement, early loading and lower maintenance costs.
Currently the main demand for ground bearing slabs in the UK market is for a steel fabric reinforced sawcut solution with “jointless” steelfibre slabs being given consideration on some of the larger or more specialized projects. Extensia™ concrete now provides a third solution along side these two more traditional options giving a variety of benefits.
Since its launch in the UK last year, Extensia™ has been successfully adopted on a variety of projects including a number of large warehouse projects. Among these is the new Waste Transfer Station in Fareham, which, due to the size and type of the heavy plant in operation there, required a floor slab that had to be very durable, with as few joints as possible and with high abrasive and impact resistance. The original specification was changed to Extensia™ and a floor area of 1850m2 at a depth of 200m was poured over a two day period.
According to Dean Marlow, site manager for Raymond Brown Construction Ltd: “The whole process went like clockwork. The finish is excellent with no plastic cracking so often associated with industrial floor slabs and the compressive and flexural strength results are well in excess of what we expected. Not only have we achieved a floor that looks good and meets our requirements in every respect, with a saving in cost, but it is also environmentally sustainable, which these days has to be a major consideration.”
Experts in industrial flooring since the mid 1800’s, Stuarts are the market leader in in-situ concrete flooring and the largest independent UK contractor in the sector. With offices in the Midlands, Yorkshire and Scotland, the privately owned company delivers two million square metres of precision concrete floor every year through their nationwide team of 165 operatives, 9 laser screed machines and associated plant.
Continually investing in new innovations is the key to success for Stuarts, whose full range of services includes Extensia low shrinkage concrete, steel fibre flooring, upper floor concrete, screed, underfloor heating and cooling. | |
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