Concrete Today May 2010 - the Irish Concrete Federation

concrete today - icfai
Insulating Concrete Formwork Association of
Ireland Recently Formed
Insulating Concrete Formwork House
new organisation, the ICFAI was
A recently formed to promote the
objectives and goals of the Insulating
Concrete Formwork sector. Comprising
six companies, the ICFAI proposes to
represent the industry in all dealings with
the regulatory authorities, specifiers and
the general public. It is intended that the
formation of the new organisation will help
to consolidate the ICF market in Ireland
which has managed to establish itself in the
last five years.
Although relatively new to the Irish
market , ICF has become established as
a mainstream method of construction in
Germany, France, the USA and Canada,
following its introduction in the 1960’s.
The system is highly thermally efficient and
is suitable for residential, commercial and
public buildings.
There are four generic ICF types
including block, plank, large panel and
composites. The most common materials
used in the manufacture of ICF’s is
expanded polystyrene (EPS) or extruded
polystyrene (XPS). The thickness of
concrete varies from system to system and
in accordance with structural requirements,
but is normally in the range of 100mm
to 300mm. The most commonly used
sizes are 140/150mm and 200mm. The
thickness of the external polystyrene
can also be varied for additional thermal
performance. Thicknesses of 150mm and
200mm and U-values of 0.11 to 0.35W/m²k
are not uncommon.
Basement formed in Insulating Concrete Formwork
concrete today
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