‘Reported Growth at Qualicoat AGM’

Qualicoat UK & Ireland recently held their AGM at the National Metalforming Centre in Birmingham, and despite a fairly flat construction sector, members were generally upbeat about future prospects in architectural coatings.

Applicator membership continues to rise within the association. Currently there is one new approved member who has passed all the relevant third party testing at Exova, and has now been put forward to Qualicoat Zurich for membership approval. A further two are actively going through the independent testing required to become an approved Qualicoat applicator. All the major manufacturers of powders and pre-treatment systems are currently members of Qualicoat UK & Ireland and all can be found on the associations website.

Mo Panam of Barley Chalu was re-elected for a further year as Chairman of the association. During his acceptance speech, Mo explained that there was much work to do in the UK to catch up with the rest of Europe. In some countries carrying a Qualicoat licence is mandatory, whilst in many others it is seen as a minimum standard for their industry.

With the addition of more resilient and more durable powders which, once applied, can significantly extend the life of architectural powder coatings on our modern buildings. Known as Class 1 and 2 powders, they are seeing a marked increase in specification in the UK.

Qualicoat UK & Ireland take architectural powder coating quality very seriously and during the AGM three potential testing houses offered presentations for third party testing of Qualicoat licence holders in the UK and Ireland for when the current agreement with Exova expires at the end of the year. It was agreed that IfO of Germany would take over the testing of UK powder manufacturers, but Exova would be reappointed to continue the testing of applicators. IfO of Germany work with other Qualicoat associations in other countries and have extensive knowledge on the Qualicoat standards.

The next meeting of the association is to take place in Dublin on the 21st of September.

Current news and information on architectural powder coating is frequently updated on the Qualicoat UK and Ireland website at www.qualicoatuki.org. Printed literature and telephone support is available from Qualicoat UK & Ireland’s Head Office in Birmingham on 0121 601 6746.