GP TITANTECH membranes are the first products of their kind to combine water resistance with protection against hazardous gases, VOC vapors, hydrocarbons and other chemicals that may be present in contaminated land, providing an innovative and durable solution to problems faced on sites worldwide.

For developers of brownfield and contaminated land the GP TITANTECH family of products – TITANFLEX, TITANTANK and TITANBOND – represent a major step forward in safeguarding projects against gaseous and chemical contamination. JUTA UK invested heavily in testing the system, ensuring the products are fit for purpose and designed to last for the lifetime of the structure. Integral to this process was BBA Certification.

The membranes’ uniqueness required the BBA to develop a new Certification assessment protocol, as Jack Georgiou, BBA Project Manager - Construction Products, explained: “We routinely certificate traditional barrier membranes but GP TITANTECH is a highly innovative and unique group of products, and the first we have assessed that prevent moisture ingress and protect against CIRIA’s full set of VOC ‘challenge chemicals’ both for vapour transmission and chemical resistance as listed in C748.

“We therefore evaluated it against all relevant criteria for standard barrier membranes, including impact resistance, tensile strength, elongation, resistance to loading, air tightness, joint strength etc, and then considered its performance in resisting underground gases and chemicals. The assessment included a range and mix of other chemicals that may be found in contaminated land,” said Mr Georgiou. “We worked closely with Juta UK, which was required to provide a substantial amount of product and test data, to develop an assessment protocol suitably robust and pertinent to fully evaluate what is the first BBA-Certificated product that combines waterproofing and gas proofing in one product.”

JUTA UK also utilised BBA Test Services to evaluate the products against EN13967, flexible sheets for waterproofing.

The GP TITANTECH range has quickly established itself in the market, recently marking its 100th UK installation. JUTA UK Technical Director Patrick Flood said: “We carried out exhaustive research, development and testing and knew the membranes delivered exactly what was required by the market but we needed third party verification of our data to provide confidence to end users – and that is what the BBA certificate gives us. The BBA is an established and independent way of bringing new products to market and is renowned for third party accreditations and independent scrutiny of product quality. It proved a fantastic, knowledgeable partner to work with in delivering the world’s first independent certification of this hi-tech geosynthetic material.

“Take-up has been fantastic because there hasn’t been such a comprehensive set of test data for protective systems to enable engineers to model vapour assessments appropriately – previously they often relied on theoretical models rather than proven fact,” added Mr Flood. “We are the first to demonstrate our system actually works in the built environment.

GP TITANTECH membranes are BBA Certified for use in a range of situations and provide protection against hydrocarbon and VOC vapours as well as common ground gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and radon. The membranes offer exceptional robustness and long-term durability and are already proving their efficacy on challenging projects, including one of the most contaminated residential development sites in the UK.