30 | Country Focus: France
CLT FOR ALL
Piveteaubois says its latest product launch strengthens CLT’s credentials as a quick-build, user-friendly construction material. Mike Jeffree reports
Hexakit is billed as democratising cross- laminated timber (CLT), produced in a format of the material to meet the needs of all types and sizes of contractor, trader and distributor. It’s made by French softwood sawmiller and timber products manufacturer Piveteaubois based on its Hexapli CLT. It had its public debut at France’s Artibat show, but got its first major international airing at the Carrefour International du Bois in Nantes. Hexakit comprises standardised CLT panels. They’re all 1.2m wide and come in variants from 120mm to 160mm thick and 4.5m to 13m long, giving per panel surface areas from 18m2
to 31.2m2 .
“Hexakit is above all a quick-build, easy-to-use flooring and weatherproofing roof solution,” said Piveteaubois timber construction market director Gwénolé Lees. “It takes a third of the installation time of an OSB and joist floor and will appeal to contractors struggling to find qualified skilled labour.”
He maintained that it should help engineered wood products achieve greater penetration in construction.
“It provides a thin flooring solution for all types of construction, not just timber frame or engineered timber, but masonry and steel-frame too,” said Mr Lees. “It’s designed to meet the needs of industrial offsite construction and more broadly, as a solid wood product to replace concrete and help decarbonise building.”
Hexakit comprises pine, with a spruce visible face. It uses the same Lamwood lamination method developed by Piveteaubois with Hexapli and panel lengths are optimised for use in floor or roof applications with two or three support points. The company worked closely with a construction company design office to tailor the product precisely to industry needs. “We also consulted a distributor to optimise pallet weights for transport from factory to construction site and to ensure they were in-line with on-site handling capacity,” said Mr Lees.
Piveteaubois worked hand-in-glove on Hexakit’s development with fittings and fixtures producer Simpson Strong-Tie in France. The latter can also supply a screw and ring system for lifting panels on all types of site, even, says Piveteaubois, the most difficult to access. It adds that other
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installation hardware can also be used with the product.
Hexakit, said Mr Lees, is also cost competitive.
“It matches or beats the cost of laying a traditional joist floor,” he said. “The initial price of materials will be higher, but there’s a saving on installation costs. Also Hexakit ceilings can be left expressed, with no need for plasterboard and accompanying fixings. So the materials invoice is only part of the picture. What we’re supplying is an efficient, comprehensive construction solution.” While Hexakit is expected to be used most widely for flooring and roofing systems, it is also suited to whole building construction, used for walls and structural roof terraces in residential and commercial developments. Piveteaubois recommends builders and designers use the CLT Designer software system in conjunction with the product (www.
cltdesigner.at/en) as this “incorporates all the characteristics of Hexapli”, but other systems, such as MD Bat, Acord-Bat and Dlubal can also be used.
Mr Lees also believes Hexakit won’t just appeal to professional contractors. “The ease of installation makes it attractive for self- builders too,” he said.
Another Hexakit sales hook, maintains Piveteaubois, is that it can deliver it with
its other products in a one-stop building materials package; with solid or finger-jointed components for the structural frame, glulam beams and columns, flooring, cladding and decking. Like Hexapli, Hexakit is also delivered ready-protected against weathering, moisture absorption and dirt with Piveteaubois Parka, a colourless, water-based primer. The new product, says Piveteaubois, will also maximise capacity of its purpose- built Hexapli factory in Saint Florence, near Nantes. In fact, investment is in the pipeline not just to increase output from this site, but also to set up a second production plant.
Mr Lees reports a very positive initial market response to Hexakit.
UK and Ireland export sales manager Elisabeth Piveteau-Boley also sees prospects for the product north of the English Channel.
“There’s no reason why Hexakit’s benefits would not travel, particularly given that the offsite construction sector in the UK and Ireland is actually more developed than in France,” she said. “We believe modular building companies will see possibilities for developing new construction models with it, while it will appeal to CLT contractors for use on smaller projects.” ■
Above: Piveteaubois’s CLT factory
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