Sustainable Insulation products in the Scottish construction industry

This document has investigated the current natural fibre and recycled (NF+RI) products available in the UK, with a particular focus on Scotland using local and regional supply chains. This information serves as a vital piece of knowledge for new product manufacturers and the Scottish construction industry when considering low embodied carbon materials for building projects. The research explored the parameters that determine existing relevant products as well as links to the relevant literature available, providing an industry and academic overview of evidence such as the different types, performance values and considerations. A particular objective set out for this document, was to unpick the existing
challenges and barriers faced by the NF+RI industry in Scotland, and to seek some dialogue in the solutions and opportunities to overcome them.
Many were aimed at a lack of policy actions and vision, others were around supply chains and the construction industry’s lack of knowledge and fear of investment. A particular outcome when discussing the uptake of such insulation in the industry was the cost barrier between synthetics and NF+RI products, as well as the lack of availability and performance values that seldom match those of available synthetic products.
The following recommendations are based mainly on the review made of current NF+RI products, the current market uptake and the future industry shift to low embodied carbon materials, as well as meeting some of the government targets on net-zero performance. To explore the shift into NF+RI products, it is important to take four important steps:

1. Have discussions with existing supply chains,
2. Forge agreements with existing manufacturing setups,
3. Introduce biowaste and embodied carbon legislation in construction:
4. Incentivise the construction industry to use NF+RI products:

Future work in this field seeks to explore some of the recommendations mentioned above in three different ways. The first is to explore the different supply chains and manufacturing facilities for the partnerships and shared capacity this industry requires. Also planned is a long-term approach through a PhD studentship with specific laboratory testing and innovation in the use and products from homegrown wood fibre and other fibres. A shorter-term second phase of this project will explore the outreach to the industry on the up-skilling and support needed to make NF+RI competitive against available synthetic products.