Chillipenguin Stoves June 2021

Chilli Penguin Stoves Case Study

Chilli Penguin Stoves design and manufacture a wide range of multi-fuel stoves, log stores, canal boat flue systems and accessories within the UK.

We have been a supplier for Chilli Penguin Stoves for almost 8 years, providing coated and painted stove glass for their manufacturing process.

Our specialist coated and painted stove glass has been helpful within the manufacturing of wood burning and multi-fuel stoves. We have worked hard to provide a quality alternative for Chilli Penguin Stoves from their previous supplier whilst also being “easy to work with and responsive” . 

The painted stove improves the overall aesthetic look of the products, and is also long-lasting, durable and heat resistant. This means the end client knows their product is going to maintain its colour well, with little maintenance required. Chilli Penguin Stoves offer a range of six colours for clients to choose from, so that their customers can make personal decisions which best suit them and their design needs. 

During our 8 year collaboration, we are pleased that Chilli Penguin Stoves have reported back on the quality of our products and have felt happy with our level of customer service. Steve Harman, Chilli Penguin Stoves company owner, has also added that we are “a valuable member of our supply chain who understands our business and has never let us down”

If you’re interested in our range of painted and coated stove glass products,  please contact sales@ceramicglass.co.uk or check out our products on www.ceramicglass.co.uk.

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Arada Stoves Case Study

As one of the original UK stove manufacturers, Arada can trace its origins back to 1966 when Lyme Bay Engineering was founded on the Dorset coast. Now based in rural Devon, its in-house research and development, engineering and manufacturing operation allows for the worldwide distribution of wood burning, multi fuel and electric stoves, fires and boilers to complement any home, anywhere. 

Our relationship with Arada Stoves spans over 30 years – with our NeoCeram high performance ceramic glass being used across its wood and solid fuel stoves. 

NeoCeram is a high performance technical ceramic glass that looks exactly the same as any other typical glass material. However, unlike other glass, NeoCeram is a superior material that can endure high heat intensity.

Clear and neutral in look – NeoCeram is intended for application as a protection front and side glass for high comfort “living flame” applications.

Industry trends have seen consumers gravitate towards more expansive views of the flame picture, so by incorporating NeoCeram into its products, Arada has been able to meet the needs of its customers and open the business up to new markets across the globe.

Looking back on the last three decades, Arada has praised our team for our commitment to delivering the high-quality customer service which we have become known for, commenting, “Managing Director Michael Bye and his incredible team have historically delivered excellent service to Arada which is why we have remained a loyal customer to them for over 30 years. Our relationship is built upon mutual trust and an understanding of each other’s business requirements.”

To discuss your NeoCeram applications, please contact sales@ceramicglass.co.uk or check out our products at www.ceramicglass.co.uk

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Clock Woodburners Case Study

Clock Woodburners is an award-winning designer and manufacturer of efficient, effective and stylish stoves. Designed and built in the UK, its beautifully engineered stoves are available in a choice of wood fuel or gas.

We have worked with Clock Woodburners for over 7 years, supplying our NeoCeram high performance ceramic glass for use across its range of wood burning stoves.

NeoCeram is a high performance technical ceramic glass that looks exactly the same as any other typical glass material. However, unlike other glass, NeoCeram is a superior material that can endure high heat intensity.

Clear and neutral in look – NeoCeram is intended for application as a protection front and side glass for high comfort “living flame” applications. NeoCeram has been tested millions of times around the world in a range of stoves and enclosed fireplaces since its development and introduction over 50 years ago, making it the leading product in the market.

By incorporating NeoCeram into its products, Clock Woodburners has been able to exceed fire safety regulations ensuring its products can endure high heat intensity for long periods of time whilst being immune to thermal stress and shock – providing its customers with the safest possible stoves.

Throughout our 7-year partnership, Clock Woodburners has described our customer service, and the quality of our products, as fantastic, adding that, “Ceramic Glass have been 1st class from service to delivery, the products are always of high quality.” They also shared that Michael, our Managing Director, “ has always been very supportive in everything we have done.”

To discuss your NeoCeram applications, please contact sales@ceramicglass.co.uk or check out our products on www.ceramicglass.co.uk

Ascot Doors Case Study

Ascot Doors is one of the UK’s largest manufacturers and installers of made-to-measure, high performance, steel doors and shutters for retail, industrial and commercial businesses.

For over 16 years we have been a trusted supplier to Ascot Doors – with our 9mm FireLite-SL fire resistant glass used across its range of fire rated doors.

FireLite is a clear ceramic glass which has been specifically developed to provide robust fire resistance. FireLite has undergone extensive testing – outlasting 4 hours of fire exposure – and is unrivalled thanks to its exceptionally high temperature resistance and stability, while also being able to withstand both thermal stress and shock from sprinkler arrays.

With the increasing understanding that 30 and 60 minute fire resistant ratings are not resilient enough to allow the safe evacuation of people and the preservation of property, many companies such as Ascot Doors are adopting more robust fire-resistance methods. By incorporating FireLite into its products, Ascot has ensured that its doors pass stringent fire safety regulations and testing – providing clients and communities with the safest possible products.

Throughout our 16-year partnership, Ascot has described the quality of our products and customer service as excellent, with Graham Robinson, Ascot’s Purchasing Director, adding that we are, “very friendly and helpful with any queries, a superb all round service.”

To discuss your FireLite applications, please contact sales@ceramicglass.co.uk

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Ceramic Glass supplies the NHS with FireLite for critical care infrastructure in the battle against COVID-19

Ceramic Glass Ltd is playing a direct part in the fight against Covid-19, in support of the NHS. As part of our commitment to them, we are working on critical projects within the medical sector and supplying two NHS trusts, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Cardiff & Vale University Local Health Board of NHS Wales, with our FireLite ceramic glass. Specifically developed to provide robust and stable fire-resistance, FireLite is being used in steel fire doors inside of negative pressure isolation units to protect both patients and key infrastructure.

At what is a difficult time for many, the safety and wellbeing of our staff, customers and suppliers remains our highest priority. Following the latest guidance from the government and Public Health England, our workforce is now working remotely where possible and staying at home in order to help the NHS and protect both themselves and their families.

Despite having a reduced workforce, our production continues. Those still in the factory are working hard and ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of every customer – especially those in the healthcare sector – while adhering to strict social distancing guidelines.

Should we see a further influx of orders from this sector, then those requests will take priority due to the nature of the current situation. We should stress, however, that our materials are available and our supply chains remain robust so we will aim to fulfil every order where we can and keep in contact with our customers should the situation change.

We hope that all our customers, suppliers and distributors remain safe and well at this time and we look forward to the future when a sense of normality can resume. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor and follow the latest guidance from both the government and Public Health England and keep in regular contact with our customers.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team via phone or email should you have any enquiries.

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Fire safety: best done “Right First Time”

The growing cladding fiasco reminds us of a key principle that fire safety is best done “Right First Time” because trying to correct mistakes later on can be horrendously costly.

The Grenfell Fire catastrophe still casts a deep and dark shadow over fire safety. Residents of high-rise blocks continue to express profound dissatisfaction, more than two years after the fire, that they are living in questionably unsafe apartments and that they are faced by life-changing costs as they are left to shoulder the heavy burden of improvements that they can’t possibly be responsible for.

It is estimated that 196,000 people could still be living in dangerous buildings after the combustible cladding problem was first tragically exposed by the Grenfell fire. Using industry sources, the Sunday Times has reported that their investigation suggests 82,000 flats are potentially affected, and that the repair bill could be of the order of £1.4 bn in total (86% for private residences). That’s at least 6 times the £200 m Government has allocated to help with safety improvements for private  residences. The research is reported to cover residential blocks of all heights with questionable rainscreen cladding systems but excluding those built or refurbished before 2013.

No one, it seems, can really be sure on the full extent of the combustible cladding fiasco. And no one can really get a grasp of the upfront costs and the full lifetime costs accruing on residents from the psychological impacts and long-term loss of property values.

Leaseholders find themselves in a horrible trap, with responsibility and accountability landing at their doors when they can’t possibly be held in any way responsible for the original decisions concerning compliance with building regulations and key fire safety principles.

The Government’s new consultation this summer on the regulatory system talks a great deal at its heart of assigning responsibility and accountability through the design, build and regulatory process from start to finish in the occupation and management of the building. Presumably on that basis the issue of who should be held accountable and who should foot the bill for correcting errors in future will be different if this regulatory structural reform comes through into new legislation. But right now there is a massive problem that no one apparently seems able to solve.

Refurbishment costs for affected apartment blocks are variously estimated in the order of around £5m to even £9m depending on the block and what is necessary. Individual flat owners are reported to face personal bills of £70,000 to £80,000 as a share of the replacement and refurbishment costs. There are also costs on a continuous basis for round-the-clock fire warden inspections of around £16,500 per month per flat. Such costs are intolerable. And completely unreasonable. Residents are justified in thinking that responsibilities outlined in the Government regulatory consultation could quite reasonably be assumed to apply already in the normal course of providing building designs and constructions (just as safety is implicitly part of supplying a whole range of consumer products).

Fire safety crucially depends on three key principles for provisions built-into the fabric of the building.

Firstly, compartmentation to prevent fire and smoke spread to other parts of the building. The aim has to be to restrict the chance of fire spread, to localise the fire and make the job of suppression (for example by sprinklers) and extinguishing by the fire and rescue service as effective – safe, easy and quick – as possible. Secondly, comes fire separation to allow occupants to be alerted and to escape safely before conditions become untenable, physically isolated from fire. Thirdly, the fabric and structure of the building needs to be resilient and robust so that it can continue to stand up and resist aggressive fire spread both inside and outside by limiting destruction, burning and flaming. The best way to achieve those aims is by getting levels of fire protection right from the beginning.

Where lives are at stake then surely people and property should come first? Cost-cutting should be seen as false economy, because trying to modify and correct constructions at a later date is far more costly and dangerous in the long run. Function should come before cost. “Right First Time” for fire safety should accordingly be a key dominating principle that needs far more attention than has apparently been the case so far. Hopefully Government through its reforms will recognise that.

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COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Company Policy

With the impact of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak being felt by businesses around the world, we want to make all stakeholders aware that we are taking our responsibilities seriously in relation to this significant global challenge.

Ensuring business continuity in light of events like pandemics is something we have been working towards over the last few years. When the first cases of Covid-19 were identified in the UK, we began to monitor and review the situation and put in place specific measures to manage the resulting risks.

We are taking the following specific actions:

* Wherever possible, we are engaging in electronic communication methods rather than face-to-
face meetings, in order to avoid any physical contact such as handshakes.
* We are following all government guidelines with respect to international travel and domestic
containment measures.
* We are undergoing regular cleaning of our offices.

We do not currently foresee any impact on the continuity of our service, but should the situation change we will notify you immediately. Although we believe the actions we have put in place are appropriate for the current levels of risk, they remain open to review.

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New Government guidance just in time for start of Grenfell Phase 2

New consolidated guidance from the Government’s Expert Panel made its timely appearance just before Phase 2 of the Grenfell Inquiry opened on 27 January with initial statements.

The guidance is for building owners of high-rise residential blocks, though its principles apply more widely. It stresses that resident safety should always be an urgent concern.

The focus is on cladding systems and the risks of fire spread over external walls. But owners are also reminded to assess all fire safety risks. They are advised (in effect directed?) to take steps to understand the building construction and its likely behaviour in fire.

Grenfell Phase 2, as well, is expected to focus in a forensic legal way on responsibilities.

That concerns decisions taken along the budgeting, design, specification, supply,construction and building management chain for the main products and product systems that Phase 1 concluded were major contributors to the violence of the fire.

Attention in Government guidance is also drawn to the risks of fire spread via windows, mentioning the surrounds, given that windows are an important element in any façade (and a factor in fire spread to the interior on floors above the initial fire break out).

It should be understood that normal window glazing does not have significant resistance against fire, including standard double glazing.

Glass products that are not specifically fire resistant readily fall apart in fire; and there is clearly a distinct risk of fire transfer both from the inside to the façade and from a burning façade back into the building through a window opening created when glass falls out.

Special fire-resistant glass and glazing systems are necessary to limit the risks of fire spread through windows – though UK practice does not make best use of f-r glazing in that way to limit the chances of fire spread by break out and then break back in from a burning façade.

Yet fire-resistant glazing is well-established for various internal applications, for many decades. It’s a common product, readily available and easily sourced. Fire-resistant glass used in the façade does not need to be particularly sophisticated: just integrity fire resistance performance would be enough to maintain effective containment.

For example, ceramic glass at only 5mm thick is immune to thermal stress. It can happily survive in fire conditions (uniquely) at such a thickness even when impacted with a firefighter cold hose stream, typically demonstrated after 4 hours’ exposure in a full-on standard fire test, sprayed on the hot face. That is a particularly significant benefit.

Glazing solutions are already available to reduce the severe risks of fire spread from inside to outside and from outside back inside. They just need to be specified and implemented.

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The Queen’s Speech signals stronger building fire safety

Rarely has such intent been expressed in a Queen’s Speech to bring into law measures to tighten fire safety.

Two bills have been announced:

The first, on building safety, addresses mainly lessons from the 2017 Grenfell fire with commitment to implement the recommendations from the Hackitt Review. The bill sets out to strengthen the whole regulatory regime – which presumably can be taken to include enforcement – for buildings and products. Part is also to give residents a stronger voice. Emphasis will be on responsibility and accountability. Making sure that the right people who make mistakes are brought to book is there and specifically noted.

Where products and building resilience are concerned then levels of performance will be emphasized.

That could, one can imagine, require a re-consideration towards longer resistance times given the uncertainty of fire and the extreme intensities of modern fires, as so
catastrophically shown by Grenfell. This may also mean wider use of barrier materials that are less vulnerable than others to thermal stress and high temperatures characteristic of modern fires.

The second bill, on fire safety, signals intent to implement the recommendations from the Moore Bick Grenfell enquiry. It aims to make sure that another Grenfell never happens again. And it will update the Fire Safety Order (2005).

That’s to include, for example, risk assessments of the façade concerning potential to affect everybody in common.

It’s possible to see that parts of fire safety building design will have to be reviewed, and they may in part mean improved levels of resilience and better assurance that constructions can adequately resist fire.

Much safer buildings will require better protection for occupiers to get out without risks to their lives, with much more time to do so, especially if circumstances determine they become trapped and more vulnerable due to heat and smoke.

More access may be necessary to more resilient sanctuaries than normally provided. Extended protected times to contain fire spread and protect against flames may well be critical. And construction will need to be robust enough to allow that to happen.

This Parliament will be a major one for fire safety in 2020 as the Grenfell enquiry picks up again on 27 January.

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Is fire safety management and fire risk assessment still not working well enough?

Fire safety could not have been more in the public spotlight than has been the case through 2017 to 2019. Arguably Government has not shown a greater level of attention on fire safety since the Great Fire of London in 1666 left 85% of the capital’s population homeless. And authorities could not be more under pressure from growing community awareness of the severe threats that fire poses if more care is not given to fire prevention and protection in practice.

We’ve seen the Expert Panel set up by Government to provide focus on immediate issues as they arise. There has been a Government-sponsored test programme on cladding testing which has led to a major review of BS standards covering facade test methods and procedures. Initial reaction led to combustibility questions which in turn resulted in a blanket requirement for residential blocks over 18 m to only have classified non-combustible materials on external walls. There has also been a major test programme followed through first on plastic-based composite doors, resulting in their removal from the market and major soul searching by the sector.

That was followed by extensive testing of timber fire doors from 25 manufacturers, which proved successful in all respects with good pass results in all cases, several tests indicating very significant safety margins in extended levels of timber fire door performance. We are told that attention has shifted to other types of cladding now under consideration. There has been the major review of fire safety carried out by Dame Judith Hackitt initiated by the Government as an immediate response to concerns arising from preliminary considerations of the Grenfell fire, initiated and completed before the Moore Blick Inquiry had hardly got off the ground.

Now in June 2019 there are major consultations from Government on what amounts to a root-and-branch reform of the regulatory system, following from the Government’s clear statement that they accept all the recommendations from Hackitt, and of the way the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 works in practice. The proposals are extensive; and they require a major cultural re-adjustment towards fire safety as Hackitt concluded necessary at an early stage of the review. Is all this activity producing results? Is the level of attention given to fire safety in practice yet as good as it needs to be given the potential threat from fire? Is there still a belief that in some way “the system will provide” and provisions for protection against fire really don’t need special consideration? Is sufficient notice really being taken in practice to counter the threats of fire?

Especially, are the principles of built-in fire safety protection in the fabric of a building using compartmentation, fire separation and active fire suppression as fully understood as they should be? 2019 has so far seen four major fires in different types of buildings which have all hit the headlines because of the circumstances and extensive destruction in all cases. The Ocado warehouse fire, the Beechmere Retirement Home, the Willenhall hotel and the Samuel Garside residential block fires all suggest that fire can break out in any situation and that buildings remain highly vulnerable to fire unless special measures are taken to limit fire growth, spread and development.

Nobody was injured or killed, miraculously. But chance could so easily have determined otherwise. The buildings were either completely destroyed or substantially damaged. The writing is there on the wall for all to read. We do not want another shock like Grenfell or Lakanal House.

The Hackitt report suggested that the fire safety system for buildings in the UK is broken. Despite all the activity initiated by Government and the warnings from numerous fire safety organisations and individuals, significant improvements will not arise – and the system will remain broken – until conscious positive steps are made in the way buildings are designed, constructed and maintained for protection against fire.

Special measures are necessary. Buildings are not naturally resilient and robust against fire. Particular built-in fire-resistant barriers are needed throughout a building and especially in key critical locations. And not to provide adequate provisions against fire spread can only be a false economy, risking not only major losses but sooner or later, at some point, serious threats to innocent lives.

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Ceramic Glass Ltd
Unit 10 Falcon Business Park
Meadow Lane
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE11 1HL

VAT Registration: 426 5323 63
Registered in England and Wales No. 1636569
Registered address: Little Horwood Manor, Milton Keynes, MK17 0PU

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