Product · Fire Safety
Product · InnDex 72 · Evidence provided · High specification risk
Non-combustible cementitious boards for passive fire protection of structural steel and CLT.
Engineered cementitious composite boards (such as Promat PROMAXON and Knauf Aquapanel Fire) encapsulate structural steel columns, beams, and CLT floors to achieve R60–R120 fire ratings under BS EN 1363. They directly address post-Grenfell regulatory demand for proven non-combustible passive fire protection in mixed-use residential construction. Boards incorporate recycled industrial by-products (fly ash, GGBS) and are third-party certified, embedding into UK compliance workflows.
Cementitious composite boards — Promat PROMAXON and Knauf Aquapanel Fire being the principal examples — wrap structural steel and CLT to deliver R60–R120 fire ratings under BS EN 1363, with third-party BRE Global certification that maps directly onto post-Grenfell regulatory expectation for non-combustible passive protection in UK residential mixed-use. The one documented deployment here puts them in the provided tier: real product, real testing, real compliance pathway. Their material case is genuinely better than gypsum on embodied carbon, partly because fly ash and GGBS substitute for virgin calcium silicate, and their applicability spans steel and mass-timber structure. The trade-off a specifier must sit with is physical: the boards add meaningful thickness and load — reducing net usable area and increasing foundation demand — and installation requires skilled trades coordinating tight edge detailing around penetrations, with brittle boards vulnerable to damage before they are sealed in. Cost sits above gypsum alternatives, and the economic case rests on regulatory mandate rather than performance upside — on a price-sensitive scheme that case can be difficult to make if the compliance case is not already settled. Long-term data in retrofit conditions is thin, and thermal bridging through steel encapsulation is a real but secondary concern that the envelope design needs to account for.
BS EN 1363 third-party testing and BRE Global certification are verifiable; Promat and Knauf are established manufacturers with documented product datasheets. Fire Industry Association technical library inclusion confirms professional adoption in UK mixed-use residential. No evidence of independent whole-life cost analysis or comparative embodied carbon LCA across competing systems. Performance claims (R60–R120) are test-certified but installation quality and on-site variation risk not addressed in source. Claimed GGBS/fly ash content requires verification against actual product specs—marketing often overstates recycled content.
#passive_fire_protection #non-combustible #structural_encapsulation #embodied_carbon_reduction #bs_en_1363 #grenfell_compliance #steel_protection #clt_protection