The EPS machinery and plant engineering division of Hirsch Servo (Glanegg / Austria; www.hirsch-gruppe.com) has delivered an "Insulating Concrete Forms" (ICF) plant to Ireland – the ninth to be installed in Europe. Companies in the UK, Norway, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria are already working with these machines. ICF stands for a system in which EPS mouldings are used to build house walls, and then filled with concrete. The main advantages are said to be integrated insulation and cost savings through rapid installation.

Until now, Hirsch Servo has exported ICF automatic moulding machines mainly to North America, where more than 100 of them are currently in use. In the US alone, some 60,000 houses were built with this system in 2004, and growth is calculated at 25% a year. Due to mounting energy costs and various campaigns to enhance energy efficiency, the Austrian group forecasts increasing demand in Europe, too.