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The advantages of using Lignacite concrete blocks

Posted by Nick Franks

Discover how Lignacite concrete blocks can bring advantages to your next building project.

When you’re looking for materials for your next construction project, it can be hard to narrow down the choice. So why should you pick us?

To help you decide, we’ve outlined some of the key benefits of using Lignacite concrete blocks, including their insulative properties, strength and versatility.

Fire resistance

One of the benefits of using Lignacite concrete blocks is that our entire range holds an A1 fire rating, in accordance with the requirements outlined in BS EN 771-3 2011+A1 2015 (Specification for Masonry Units Part 3 Dense and Lightweight Aggregates).

This means that they are non-combustible and make absolutely no contribution to fire. As a result, they are a great material to use in walls, both interior and exterior.

Thermal insulation

Our concrete blocks have excellent thermal insulation.

In particular, our Paint Grade Lignacite blocks have low air permeability when paint is applied. This helps to keep buildings warm in the colder months, making them a great choice for major housebuilders and constructors of commercial buildings who want optimum thermal performance.

Our Fibo 850/950 block range is also known for its thermal insulation. One of its secondary aggregates is clay, which is bloated by heat to make the block more porous. This helps to trap heat and prevent it from escaping.

Sound insulation

Our blocks have excellent sound insulation, with our Lignacite blocks being especially insulative. After extensive laboratory testing, we discovered that a bare Lignacite wall had a Weighted Sound Reduction Index (Rw) of 56dB. This rose to 66dB for a wall that included a stud panel.

Compared with regular concrete blockwork, a bare Lignacite wall therefore offers an additional 2dB in sound insulation.

This has been linked to the fact that our signature Lignacite blocks include recycled wood particles, as well as sand, as part of their constituent materials. This gives the blocks a much finer texture, which helps to cut sound transference, which is ideal for meeting sound insulation standards for walls.

Strength and durability

Our concrete blocks are designed to be durable and strong; none more so than our high-strength blocks, which can be found in our Lignacrete range.

These dense concrete blocks have a high technical performance, which makes them ideal for commercial and educational buildings. Blocks of up to 30N/m2 are available for particularly demanding loadbearing designs.

When it comes to our flagship Lignacite blocks, durability and robustness are still key qualities, with a mean unit strength of 10.4N/m2 available. This means that they are an ideal choice for academic, commercial and leisure buildings, which need impact-resistant materials.

Versatility

Our blocks are fantastically versatile. For example, Lignacite blocks can be great for residential as well as commercial projects. These blocks can be found in separating walls, internal walls and the inner leaves of external cavity walls.

When it comes to our high-strength block, Lignacrete, it can be used in anything from iconic buildings and skyscrapers to hospital extensions. They are frost-resistant too. This means that you can use them both above and below ground in your next building project.

Our Ash GP block range can also be used above and below ground. Medium-dense, these blocks can be used externally and as separating walls. If that wasn’t enough, they are a great choice as an infill block for beam-and-block flooring and provide a strong background for plaster, cladding and rendering.

Our lightweight blocks are similarly versatile. Our Fibo 850/950 blocks are great for general-purpose walls (in addition to providing a base for renders and fixings), while our Lignalite range is light enough to meet 20kg manual handling guidelines.

Want to know more about our blocks’ applications? Check out our Block Application locator.

Sustainable

At Lignacite, we have set ourselves the ambitious goal of reaching net zero by 2030. This means we have already taken significant steps to reduce our carbon footprint and improve the sustainability of our blocks.

To cut the carbon footprint of our concrete blocks, we have placed a focus on our manufacturing methods. This includes improving the efficiency of our factories and implementing the use of more sustainable fuels into our processes.

For instance, 12% of our Brandon site’s electricity is now provided by solar panels. Our plant vehicles, meanwhile, have been switched to HVO fuel (hydrotreated vegetable oil), which has 90% of the carbon emissions of standard white diesel.

Newly improved monitoring systems have allowed us to identify more ways in which to reduce waste too. For example, in 2022 we sent 17,638 tonnes for recycling, up from just 7,718 in 2020.

Improved delivery efficiency, an optimised new factory and responsible sourcing of raw materials are also having a positive effect on the sustainability of our products.

You can find out more in our in-depth case study.

Contribute to BREEAM certification

One of the other advantages of using Lignacite blocks is that they can support your efforts to achieve a BREEAM certification and other green standards.

For example, to meet the energy category, you can add our blocks into your design to help reduce energy consumption. This is due to the thermal efficiency of our blocks, which can help to cut the need for artificial heating.

Our blocks also provide fabric energy storage. When used in walls and the floor, our blocks can help to absorb heat during a summer’s day to cut the need for air conditioning. At night, this heat is then released.

When it comes to health and well-being criteria, our blocks are useful in that they offer excellent sound insulation. Noise pollution is an increasing problem in burgeoning urban areas, so protecting people while they are living and working inside a building is becoming more important.

The fact that the materials for our blocks are sourced responsibly (according to BRE 6001) and include recycled constituents can also help you to meet BREEAM’s materials category.

Want to know more about how we can help you to meet your BREEAM certification? Head over to our Environmental Assessments for Buildings page.