Light Science Technologies Holdings PLC (AIM:LST) earlier this week said its Injectaclad product has passed new testing to confirm a 50-year lifespan, meeting ASTM F1980 standards.
The company told investors that this milestone doubles the previous 25-year rating and provides long-term assurance for building safety stakeholders.
The company said the result gives Injectaclad a competitive edge, with some rival products offering only 15 to 20 years of durability.
Chief executive Simon Deacon joined the Proactive to talk about it in more detail.
Proactive: Joining me is Light Science Technology CEO Simon Deacon. Simon, very good to speak with you. What does it mean for LST that Injectaclad achieved these testing results?
Simon Deacon: Morning, Stephen. It's really, a huge milestone for Injectaclad. There was 25 years life on the product before, but it's gone through rigorous testing. And this is achieved, a 50 year standard. And this is to ASTM F1980 standard.
And that's really important, for fire offices, architects, and other people who might approve, for our product to go in the building. This really gives it the longevity everybody's looking for in our product.
Against our competitors who some have only got a lifetime product of 15 years or 20 years. 50 years is quite a standard. And, is really in life with some of the lifetime of the, of the buildings and other materials which are in the building.
So it's really good news for us.
Proactive: Simon what differentiates Injectaclad from other solutions?
Simon Deacon: It really the fact that we, it is easier to install than taking a facade down. It's a real cost effective solution. And with having this 50 years, lifetime, product now, it is really important.
You know, it really supports and helps fire offices, building owners, make decisions.
Architects make the right decisions on what product to put in. So I think we really stand out on having a unique offering.
Proactive: How scalable is the offering. And what's your view on growth potential?
Simon Deacon: It's really scalable Stephen. If you read it recently in the Sunday Times, they had an article where they believe that the industry is worth around circa 16 billion here in the UK alone.
We believe that's nearer 50 billion, and it’s going to take 15 or 20 years to overcome the fire safety and remedial work which needs doing in tall buildings, buildings over 18m.
There's over 11,000 buildings, and buildings between 11m and 18m of 33,000 buildings which need remedial work. So we're we're seeing opportunities across the country.
Proactive: How do government targets around fire safety regulation align with LST’s and Injectaclad’s goals?
Simon Deacon: Yeah. The government has obviously put the building act in and the Fire Safety Act in place. They are also approving through certain bodies, what fire safety goes into these buildings over 18m.
Now, that's been slower than predicted. But we're also seeing an uplift in quoted pipeline.
So for us, it's really in line. You know, we see a sort of a hockey stick type growth in this industry because as these jobs do get passed a material for for going into these material, these buildings go in, then I think it's really important, you know, that we'll see quite large growth over the next, you know, 18 months, two years, three years as we go forward.
As mentioned earlier, there's 15 years easily work here in the UK alone. So I think we're going to be extremely busy.
Proactive: And Simon, your plans for the PFP division going forward?
Simon Deacon: Plans are, to continue expanding. We have three pumps currently, in operation. We expect to acquire more pumps. And also look at making sure we put this early warning system in.
As a technology company, I think it's really important to get this early warning system in.
So prototypes will be being built, designed and developed and tested. And then we'll market that in the industry as well. And that safeguards people within buildings, you know, if they're 18, 19, 20m up on the top floor.
There's an early warning system if a fire starts within a cavity.
Proactive: Simon, congratulations on those testing results.