Wall Insulation with Kingspan's Air-Cell Permishield®

After all the imitation product was removed, Kingspan Air-Cell Permishield® 65 was installed as originally specified by the architect.

Non-compliance costs project thousands

The professional building industry knows that using non compliant, substitute products is misleading, potentially dangerous and simply not worth the risk. However even those with the most rigorous standards of practice can occasionally be misled by far less scrupulous operators.

A recent commercial warehouse project in Greenfield, Western Australia suffered extremely costly setbacks following deceptive product substitutions by an insulation manufacturer.

Kingspan's Air-Cell Permishield® 65 was specified for wall insulation throughout the project. At the building phase, an imitation product represented by its manufacturer as being 'the same as Air-Cell' was supplied and installed.

The project architect demanded documented evidence to prove the imitation product complied with BCA flammability requirements.

A certificate showing compliance was supplied but it was for a different product, not the product that had been installed.

Kingspan Insulation WA Commercial Manager, Ryan Hitzman, said the manufacturer was trying to pass it off as the same product.

"It was unethical behaviour, but more seriously it was Misleading and Deceptive Conduct under the Trade Practices Act.

"In addition, the product did not have the breathability characteristics of Kingspan Air-Cell Permishield® 65," said Mr Hitzman.

The imitation product was immediately removed from the project, costing thousands in product and labour, and several days in lost time.

An article in MB magazine June/July 2010 highlights;
Supplying goods that do not comply with a mandatory standard or misrepresenting goods are offences under the Trade Practices Act 1974, punishable on conviction by a fine on each offence of up to $1.1million for companies and $220,000 for individuals.

Clearly, such practices have extremely serious ramifications.

Kingspan Insulation WA State Manager Craig Burr confirms that Kingspan Air-Cell® products are still the only reflective insulation products in Australia to have CodeMark certification, considered to be the building industry's highest level of product certification.

"CodeMark significantly reduces risks and means an automatic tick in the approvals process.

"Clearly certification is essential. Building professionals simply can't afford to take risks where product quality and compliance are concerned."

L to R: All the non-breathable imitation product was pulled out of the Greenfield project; breathable Kingspan Air-Cell Permishield® 65 was then installed as originally specified by the architect.