News
Updates and news on what we’ve been up to
Avanti Communications approve our Graphene enhanced Top Coat.
Avanti Communications plc is a world-leading provider of agile, secure and pioneering satellite technology across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Their sites around the world are often in remote or high humidity areas, which results in rapid rusting of the satellite dish structural steelwork. The conventional approach to painting has been used for years but rarely lasts 12 months in seaside or tropical locations. Working with the specialist coating contractor Aerial Contracting, Blocksil has provided a long term solution with it’s Graphene enhanced Top Coat.
In combination with carefully chosen pre-coats, the Graphene enhanced Top Coat has a 15 year product warranty.
Goonhilly Earth Station
Blocksil is Company of the Year!
Building and Facilities News is proud to announce that Blocksil has been chosen to receive our Paint & Coatings Company of the Year award.
Company of the Year from Building and Facilities News.
Unit 50 opens for business.
Our move into a new warehouse and sales office is now complete.
Unit 50 front photo
Unit 50 is a small, modern industrial unit located in the midlands and we look forward to welcoming clients and suppliers over the coming weeks, months and years.
Note that our registered office and postal address at Cathedral House, Lichfield remains the same.
Blocksil protects Banksy
…and saves Christmas.
Blocksil donated a high performance transparent coating and our time to apply it over the Banksy mural which appeared in Birmingham in December 2019.
The coating is designed to preserve the mural and the underlying brick by both penetrating into the brick and subsequently covering the mural. Thus any future attempts to add to the Banksy will be thwarted. And the coating will provide a barrier to weathering.
Blocksil applying a protective coating
Blocksil’s Chief Technical Officer inspects the completed coating.
Blocksil Expansion
Blocksil has had an exciting 2019, with new products coming on stream, new projects and new clients.
The new clients we’ve taken on are requiring us to keep a buffer stock of their most commonly used coatings. And the new coatings we’ve got coming through for early 2020 are going to need increased laboratory space.
So when an industrial unit in the nearby town of Fazeley became available for us to rent, we jumped at the opportunity. Fazeley is within the District of Lichfield and dates back to the 12th Century, though these days is perhaps better known for Drayton Manor Theme Park.
Affording us with warehouse space, a dedicated laboratory and enough office space to set aside an area for a training / meeting room, this move is the next logical step in our development.
More information and photos will be made available when we move in ready for the start of 2020.
August 2019 and Blocksil is Paint & Coating Company of the Month.
This accolade has been awarded by Building and Facilities News, an online magazine targeting the building and facilities industries.
The full article can be read here, with the introduction reprinted below:
“At Building and Facilities News we are dedicated to finding innovators and bringing them to our readers.
As a result, we’ve found a paint and coating supplier that sits at the centre of product development. Since its establishment Blocksil has remained unwaveringly committed to the innovation and rethinking of paint and coating solutions. Subsequently, the company has become a leading figure across a host of industries. For this, Building and Facilities News is happy to announce that Blocksil is our Paint and Coating Company of the Month.
Established in 2012 by current Chief Technical Officer Chris Knowles, Lichfield based Blocksil is a leading supplier of coatings and paints. The company offers industrial and commercial coating solutions to some of the nation’s most vital infrastructure organisations. Blocksil prides itself on developing solutions that work for the customer. The kind of customer facing approach that the company has adopted allows them to offer a uniquely broad spectrum of products and has garnered Blocksil a flawless reputation among both suppliers and customers.”
Wednesday 10th July 2019 and graphene enhanced roof coating is launched at the Advanced Materials Show in Telford, UK.
Advantage Graphene launch at the AGM stand, Telford, UK
Distributed in the UK for metal roofs under the Alltimes Advantage brand name, our already high performance Top Coat MT metal roof coating has taken the next giant leap forward.
Alltimes Advantage Graphene is still the same lightweight, re-coatable roofing system that roofers have come to depend on, but the addition of graphene creates a ‘tortuous pathway’ for water molecules, oxygen and salt to pass through. Put simply, it forms a barrier that is virtually impenetrable, giving unparalleled protection for a metal roof against corrosion but without impairing the moisture curing properties.
In its purest form, graphene has a molecular structure comprising of a single layer of carbon atoms bonded in a hexagonal structure. It is 200 times stronger than steel and it is the thinnest known material in existence. It can vary in the number of atomic layers but it typically has a 1nm to 10nm thickness with 1µm to 15µm lateral diameter, resulting in aspect ratios of up to 1:1000 and surface areas up to 700m2/g. To put that into context, just 1g of graphene in this form has a total surface area of over 350m2!
The idea behind adding graphene to our roof coating came from Blocksil’s Chief Technical Officer. Subsequent collaboration with Applied Graphene Materials Ltd (Redcar, UK), who specialise in adapting particulate forms of graphene for dispersion into different materials, took us to a workable coating.
Applied Graphene Materials manufacture their graphene synthetically from sustainable sources and so achieve a very repeatable product. They do not start with graphite nor use any oxidation procedures during graphene production and therefore their graphene is almost completely free of graphitic impurities, graphene oxide or transition metals.
The Advantage Graphene system is the result of extensive product development and a rigorous testing programme. It has been successfully tested to ISO 9227:2017 neutral salt spray for 5,000 hours. This has ultimately produced a system that delivers an industry leading level of anti-corrosion performance and life expectancy for industrial and commercial roofs.
Due to its exceptional corrosion resistance performance, Advantage Graphene is being offered with an unparalleled 30 year product warranty.
Rail Live 2019 and a successful exhibition.
June 2019 and the Porterbrook Innovation Hub was a resounding success.
The Innovation Hub was a stationary train that Porterbrook had taken out of service and made over. Companies were invited to submit innovation products to Porterbrook and 25 were selected to display these products. Blocksil was one of those chosen.
Porterbrook Innovation Hub at Rail Live 2019
On our stand within the Innovation Hub train we displayed our easy clean coating CleanProtect and our thermal dissipation coating Therma-Light. Both coatings were well received with most interest being shown in Therma-Light.
Therma-Light at Rail Live 2019
May 31st 2019 and Blocksil roof coating Top Coat MT passes the fire test.
The formal reports from the UK testing house BRE have been issued (July 2019) and can be read by clicking the test name below. We’ve created a summary here.
In short, Top Coat MT will not ignite, even when preheated.
Tests carried out were BS476-3:2004 and CEN/TS 1187:2012 – Test 4 (including EN13501-5:2016 – Test 4 Classification).
Fire testing to British and EU standards
USA office and warehouse opens in Atlanta, GA. April 2019
The appointment of the hugely experienced business manager and coatings expert Marc Zirkle to manage and run Blocksil USA is a big step forward for Blocksil.
For many years Marc ran several coating plants across the Eastern USA for the Impreglon Group (latterly Aalberts) after a very successful career as a business development manager.
Marc L. Zirkle
With a degree in accounting and an MBA, Marc’s coating experience and knowledge is unrivalled.
Blocksil USA will be stocking product ready to sell direct to clients.
Lynn Young
Ably assisted by his office manager Lynn Young (herself an experienced coating specialist), Marc has already supplied Blocksil hybrid roof coatings to a major contractor working on a power station workshop roof.
The full Blocksil coatings range will be available from Blocksil USA.
Marc’s cell number is (+1) 404 368 0892 and his email is mlzirkle@blocksil-usa.net
UK Concrete Show 2019
Blocksil successfully exhibited at the UK Concrete Show on March 20th and 21st and we showed off our Power Floated Concrete Sealer.
We had a sealed screeded panel on display on which we placed beetroot & vinegar as well as engine oil. The unsealed screed was permanently stained but the sealed screed resisted the efforts of the vinegar and oil to penetrate it.
Also on display was one of our other concrete products, a transparent coating that impregnated the screed by 10mm to 15mm. This impregnation allows the concrete screed to breathe yet prevents moisture from entering the screed, thus preventing algae and dirt build up.
Concrete Show, visitors photo #1
Concrete Show, visitors photo #2
The Blocksil team
New UK roofing coating distributor appointed
Blocksil announced on March 1st 2019 the appointment of Alltimes Coatings as the UK distributor of our latest generation high performance, hybrid roof coating system.
Fully overcoatable, this system is the next generation of pitched roof, flat roof and gutter coating, moving on from the system we introduced to the UK roof coating market a couple of years ago. Both moisture tolerant and surface tolerant, the system can even be used to recoat over worn out silicone roof coatings.
The flat roof and gutter coatings are usually supplied with fibre reinforcement for added tear strength.