A new fast drying screed called Dry4 and an anhydrite (self-levelling) screed called Flowtherm especially for use with underfloor heating are helping Northern Ireland company Larsen Building Products push into the rest of the UK with their tiling and flooring products, and render, cladding and general powder and liquid building products.

Larsen had previously concentrated on the Northern and Southern Irish markets, but with the opening of a new plant in November capable of producing 2,200 bags of product an hour – that’s 100,000 tonnes of finished material a year – they are looking for new distributors among tile outlets and builders merchants throughout the UK.

They say the efficiency and versatility of the new plant that is allowing them to look for new markets, both geographically and from new products, is helping them ride out the recession.

Both the new Dry4 and Flowtherm screeds are factory batched at the new plant in Belfast’s Harbour Industrial Estate to provide consistent, quality controlled products.

Other developments by Larsen this year have been new packaging for the Professional tiling range and the opening of a specialist Fixings department within their Merchant Division, which is one of company’s six divisions. The others are the Professional Tiling and Professional Flooring Divisions, and divisions for Admixtures, Renders and Speciality enhancing products for cement and concrete.

With the opening of the new powder production plant last November they also recruited Nick Hamper and Martin Colby as Business Development Managers. They have been concentrating on developing markets outside of Larsen’s Irish stronghold.