FP MCCANN’S FENN-LITE™ FENCE POSTS DELIVER A HEAVYWEIGHT PERFORMANCE
FP McCann’s fencing division has firmly cemented its place as one of the UK’s leading suppliers of precast fence posts and panels.
The national precast concrete company that offers a complete civils and construction package, from below ground drainage and attenuation systems through to bespoke precast concrete structural and architectural building products, continues to deliver impressive results from its fencing division operating out of Cadeby in Leicestershire.
Key to the growth has been Fenn-Lite™, a lightweight concrete fencing system that can be singularly installed but has all the strength and durability of conventional fencing posts and panels. By using a lightweight aggregate in the manufacturing process, each finished unit is up to 45% lighter. Fencing Commercial Manager Katie McGorty comments, “With strict guidelines on manual handling the emphasis is on the manufacturer to develop products that are easy to handle and install without sacrificing any of the benefits associated with traditional fencing systems”. Katie adds, “Two further advantages of the Fenn-Lite™ range is that the lighter products are less prone to damage in transit and transport costs are reduced by as much as 45% which in turn has a positive impact on carbon emissions, an area that FP McCann is actively contributing to across its product streams”.
FP McCann is driving a number of ‘carbon zero’ initiatives including the company’s self-declared “Environmental Product Declaration”, which sets out to calculate embodied carbon in all of its standard precast concrete products including fence posts and gravel boards.
The Fenn-Lite™ range is already extensive and the plan is to ultimately replicate all the standard products in lightweight alternatives, including all standard weight posts and gravel boards. Significant investment over the years in new Coote precast concrete lines has also increased productivity by 50% and provided the flexibility to offer stockists and contractors a much broader product mix. “Additional to lowering our cost base, the added benefits of the new lines are improvements in finished product quality”, states Katie.
Recently, FP McCann has added morticed and recessed posts to the Fenn-Lite™ range, typically used in conjunction with close board timber fencing on new housing developments. These products are the first of their kind to be used in the housing sector and offer a reduction in carbon footprint.
Emma Salo, Managing Director of Hertfordshire based IPS Fencing says, “Installing the Fenn-Lite™ morticed and recessed posts on new projects has significantly increased productivity and safe manual handling. The lightweight system is ideally suited to close board fencing work as the height of house boundary fences can extend to 2 metres, requiring posts some 2.75 metres in length. Lifting and positioning of such products is a far safer and simpler process than when installing standard weight precast concrete posts.”
Future Fenn-Lite™ developments are to include a more extensive range of 5 x 5 section slotted posts including corners, but basically any standard product can be produced in a lightweight alternative. “Once a contractor in the housing sector has installed our Fenn-Lite morticed and recessed posts, they’ll wonder why they have never used them before!” Katie concludes.
