British Gypsum has launched a new extreme impact resistant partition for applications where the most onerous BS5234 Severe Duty rating does not provide sufficient performance assurance.
 New GypWall EXTREME has been designed to perform beyond the most demanding impact and abrasion resistance criteria currently available. It has been developed in conjunction with specifiers and building managers in schools and hospitals, where kicking, glancing impact from trolleys and scratch damage through continued rubbing of furniture etc. are common causes of surface damage and penetration of linings.

Its launch follows the development of a new series of BS5234-style tests by British Gypsum’s respected Building Test Centre at East Leake, which replicate these three key types of damage, enabling different partition specifications to be tested above and beyond Severe Duty.

Providing a lightweight, quick-build alternative to traditional masonry constructions,
GypWall EXTREME is a standard metal stud partition with a new Glasroc Rigidur H super impact-resistant fibre-reinforced gypsum board lining.

Glasroc Rigidur H combines gypsum and recycled paper to form a dense sheet material which, when incorporated into GypWall EXTREME, offers excellent resistance to deliberate and accidental attack, superb fixing strength and high levels of sound insulation. The board has an excellent surface finish that eliminates the need for any additional surface treatment prior to decoration, and offers excellent surface hardness to resist glancing blows and the effects of daily abrasion caused by items such as chairs and bags.

The board can be used in conjunction with an under-lining of standard Gyproc WallBoard to provide a very cost-effective solution for the most damage prone areas, where, up to now, non-loadbearing masonry, or expensive double-layer fibre board linings, had been the common solution.

Initial trials of the new GypWall EXTREME system have already resulted in its adoption as a solution for extreme duty requirements at a new mental health facility in Edinburgh, and a major school development at Newark in Nottingham.

Email: Paul.Smith@bpb.com