2012 Olympics | materials feature
On the deck
Think of the materials used in any building, and the main two will invariably be steel and concrete. This is no different for London’s newly built Olympic stadium, but some other materials are also in there, helping to improve the much-vaunted ‘sustainability’ of the London 2012 games. An example is the wood plastic composite (WPC) decking panels that are used in the O2 VIP platform. The Ecodek panels are supplied by Vannplastic, which is based near Chester in the UK. The panels are a careful blend of recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE), wood fibres and appropri- ate additives. The decking, in common with all WPCs, is more weather-resistant than wood, so will not rot or warp in the rain. (This is likely to be a bonus in the UK’s rainy climate.) “Our product is 55% recycled HDPE,” said Alex
Collins, technical director at the company. The HDPE is sourced mainly from recycled milk
bottles. Collins is very particular about the quality of this main ingredient, saying that he pays around 75% of the price of virgin material – to ensure that he gets the material he wants. Wood fibres – derived from post-industrial beech
www.pipeandprofile.com
Wood plastic composites (WPCs) have been used to create a viewing
platform at London’s new Olympic stadium. Lou Reade reports
hardwood from a sawmill in northern France – account for about 40% of the mix. The rest is the pigments, UV stabilisers and the coupling agents that help to bind everything together. “Lots of companies skimp on the additives, but we
invest a lot in them,” said Collins. The contract arose when he was contacted by the
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), which wanted to use composite decking. At this stage, there were plenty of other potential contractors for the work. “The formulation we use is quite standard – and it
took about a month to produce the boards for the contract,” he said. In fact, it was a pretty standard contract except for
May/June 2012 | PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION 33 HDPE, which
comprises 55% of the final product, is
derived mainly from recycled milk bottles
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