Gypsum industry news

US: CertainTeed has invited North American building professionals enter the ninth Saint-Gobain Gypsum International Trophy Awards, which are held every two years.

"We are always excited to review projects and recognise those that show creative and exceptional uses of CertainTeed gypsum products," said Dave Engelhardt, president of CertainTeed Gypsum. "The Saint-Gobain Gypsum International Trophy is a great way to show our appreciation and respect for the top talent among our building professional partners. Balancing the complexity of material performance specifications, meeting client needs and staying on time and on budget is a challenging feat. To further contribute to a project with an outstanding, notable design is worthy of recognition."

The competition promotes gypsum-related skills in the categories of innovation, residential, mixed use, sector specific, finishing applications and gypsum board craftsmanship and design.

CertainTeed will select the top projects completed or projected to be complete between April 2012 and February 2014 and work with principals on project presentations for the international competition. A representative from each of the chosen projects will be awarded an all-expense paid trip to Berlin, Germany to compete in the finals, meet counterparts from other countries and view projects submitted from around the world. The winning projects will also receive national and worldwide publicity, including press release and social media promotion.

US: National Gypsum has halted its plans for a West Milton power generation plant fuelled by burning tyres due to the plummeting price of natural gas and protests from local residents.

National Gypsum planned to buy steam and electricity produced from the plant, but with the price of natural gas considerably lower, using the tyre-burning power generator no longer offered cost savings. The company stated that it still firmly believes the En-Tire project is environmentally sound and would have provided much-needed jobs, but that it must also consider the objections of the White Deer community, with which it has a good working relationship.

"I'm glad to hear that," White Deer township supervisor Don Wilver said. "That speaks well of them as a partner in the community."

The Tyre Burner Team, a group that vocally and persistently protested the plant, plans to share its steps with other organisations and remains ready to re-commit to stopping the project should any such plans emerge again.

En-Tire Logistics LLC of Bedford, Texas, which would have operated the facility, plans to pursue a tyre-derived fuel plant elsewhere in Pennsylvania. The company is disappointed over the demise of the White Deer Energy Project, said CEO Willess Vincent. "We will be looking for another site for the facility and will absolutely look in Pennsylvania," he said, but would not disclose where. Vincent signed the written request sent to the state Department of Environmental Protection to shelve the air-quality permit approval the agency had granted the project in September 2013.

US: Rhino Linings Corporation has acquired the assets of Expo Industries Inc, a San Diego-based manufacturer of Expo Stucco™ interior and exterior stucco products, sealers, bonders, patch products and plaster mixes.

The acquisition expands Rhino Linings line of building products, which already include waterproofing products, spray polyurethane foam insulation, decorative concrete and epoxy flooring systems.

"Expo Stucco is a well-respected and recognised leader in the building industry," said Pierre Gagnon, president and CEO of Rhino Linings Corporation. "Since Expo Stucco blended and packaged our Concrete Solutions bag mixes, we are now able to bring product packaging in-house and expand our line of building products. We are also excited about the opportunity to expand name recognition and sales for the Expo Stucco brand."

US: A US$24m settlement has been reached between owners of Villa Lago, a collection of private residences in Boynton Beach, South Florida and Coastal Construction regarding 'defective' Chinese wallboard.

A two-tower condominium complex was constructed by RCR Holdings II LLC at Villa Lago using Chinese wallboard. Once the residents became aware of the 'defective' wallboard they formed a class action and sued RCR Holdings. However, since RCR kept equity in the property, the two sides soon joined forces against the general contractor, Coastal Construction and other defendants.

RCR Holdings maintained that Coastal Construction and the other defendants knew the wallboard was defective when it was being installed. They further alleged that Coastal's conduct fell below the duty of care owed the class. The defendants denied knowingly using defective wallboard, although a settlement was eventually reached after six mediations.

Coastal agreed to pay US$24m, which was preliminarily approved by US District Judge Eldon Fallon on 24 April 2013. The Villa Lago owners are using the funds to remove the 'defective'wallboard.

New Zealand: Fletcher Building, New Zealand's largest building company, has spent US$4m and taken almost two months to replace the roof of its Christchurch wallboard factory that contained asbestos.

The Winstone Wallboards factory in Christchurch was reopened on 21 October 2013 following its closure on 27 August 2013 after traces of asbestos were found during preparations for the roof replacement. The new roof is expected to be completed by 8 December 2013.

Staff were transferred to the distribution centre or to Auckland during the closure and remained on full pay. Dispatch operations at Christchurch were down for three days, with wallboard supplied from Fletcher's Auckland plant during that time.