As a child growing up in the sixties we didn't watch much TV but there was BBC's Play School (look it up if you're under 45!) and a part of each programme was to "go through" one of the three windows (arch, circle and square) and hear a story or watch a short film about the "real world". My favourite episodes were when the film was about visiting a factory and earlier this week I recaptured that excited childhood feeling when we visited the factory in Merseyside where our SIPs (Structural Integrated Panels) are being manufactured.
The SBS factory in Knowsley fabricates a range of panels of different sizes and thicknesses for multiple types of buildings, from residential houses to bespoke pods for an Antarctic research station. The sister company SIPCo, also housed in the factory, takes the panels and shapes them to fit the customer's design.
The SIP is basically a sandwich of high density foam between two sheets of OSB (Oriented Strand Board). What we hadn't realised was quite how dense the foam is and the fact that it is fabricated on site.
The process starts with two identical, perfectly squared off OSBs which are placed in a large jig which holds the boards securely in place, under pressure. The sandwich is then injected with two chemicals - the injection time is precisely calculated for the size of SIP (our injection, for a 4.9m x 1.22m x 225mm thick panel, was 59 seconds). These chemicals react vigorously with an exothermic (heat generating) reaction. We were told that in the centre of the panel, the temperature would reach 150 degrees celsius. The reaction produces the foam, which if it wasn't properly sealed in would expand relentlessly across the factory floor!
The final stage is the curing of the foam, which takes around two hours for a panel of this size.
Our thanks go to Chris, Peter, Les and the skill fabricators who showed as around, answered our questions and made us feel very welcome.
Photos showing our panels under construction and the finished product
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