Steve has been with their Australian arm for 15 years, serving New Zealand for the last 4. “I started off with on-site penetrations and solutions for builders, plumbers and passive fire installers. Now, I also work with architects, fire engineers and building surveyors, mainly at a specification level. My current role is as State Manager for Victoria and Tasmania, and Country Manager for New Zealand.”
A leading supplier of fire protection solutions, Promat designs, tests and manufactures products dedicated to passive fire protection, thermal temperature insulation, humidity resistance and acoustic correction. “We produce fire protective boards made from calcium silicate, intumescent paints, mortars, fire glazing, fire stopping and a wide variety of products for high performance insulation in industry, transport in energetics,” Steve says. “We specialise in a number of areas including structural steel protection, partitions, ceilings, ducts and penetrations.”
Last month, the capabilities of their PROMATECT-H® boards were put to the ultimate test to see if they could provide adequate fire protection after an earthquake. “We know that the Promax® technology in our PROMATECT-H® boards is able to protect a full-scale, load-bearing steel structure against fire; as part of the EQUFIRE Project, these boards were also put through a unique series of seismic tests which simulated real earthquakes. Tests for fire exposure after an earthquake were carried out on two steel columns without fire protection and three columns with different fire protection solutions: a conventional and earthquake-proof boards system and a gypsum-based, wet-mix, spray-applied, fire-resistive material. In terms of fire protection, no critical damage was observed that would undermine the fire resistance of the columns. These were really spectacular results that came out of Italy and Germany; we’re now gathering further information for the NZ market.”
Looking ahead, Steve is excited to explore opportunities in the Modular and Cross Laminated Timber markets. “We’re already doing a lot of work in that space and I can see that as a real growth area for us moving forward.” His advice for others in the industry is to do some homework around fire protection before investing in solutions. “Promat has been around for a long time, especially in Europe and the UK, so I’m confident most in the industry know about our systems. But there’s still a lot of conflicting evidence and non-tested solutions in the industry. My advice would be to read test reports and assessments before you buy.”
Steve has teamed up with Notion and Teulo to join three other industry leaders at this month’s NOTION_flo Fire Protection and Sealants event, where he will bring his specialist knowledge to architects and designers looking for fire-resistant solutions for both commercial and residential settings. “In particular, I’ll be talking about structural steel protection, mainly looking at our PROMATECT® boards & CAFCO® sprays,” he says.
To learn more about Promat, visit https://www.promat.com.au/ and check out the Promat Collar Selector App in your app store.
