Beckers’ FutureLab: our commitment in motion

Beckers FutureLab is a global R&D hub built to drive the development of the next generations of coil coatings. It brings together chemists, engineers and partners with a mission to accelerate the transition toward higher performance and more sustainable paint solutions. 

Context 

Located in Liverpool, UK, FutureLab is a large-scale demonstration of Beckers technologies. Since it’s opening in 2024, it has doubled long-term development capacities, enhancing our ability to make more sustainable coatings. 

The building itself is coated with our current generation of technologies, which makes it a working demonstration of Beckers products over time. Every coating on it was produced by Beckers UK. 

Products used 

Beckers’ three-layer Beckry®Duro Plus has been used for the complete building exterior due to the durability of the coating system. It was chosen for its aesthetics along with RUV5 and RC5+ results. 

The roof in Anthracite RAL 7016 also contains Beckry®Therm technology which increased the TSR from 9 to 22%, as well as Bio-based crosslinker technology in both the color and clear coats which gives 7% Bio content in the total system as confirmed by C14 testing. 

The Grey Aluminum RAL 9007 also contains Bio-based crosslinker technology in both the color and clear coats. 

The Blue Metallic and Gold are also Beckry®Duro Plus and the Gold has been produced in a profile that is folded rather than traditional roll forming. 

Advantages 

The Beckry®Duro Plus products give high performance and longevity to the FutureLab building. Adding Beckry®Therm technology on the roof, which combines with Beckry®Duro Plus, improves durability and limits extreme temperatures into the building.

The building beyond the coatings 

As well as the coatings used on the building, FutureLab has several other features that improve thermal performance, the use of renewable energy and support CO2 reduction. 

The building is constructed using a built-up construction, with an inner sheet, a spacer system (to create a cavity) and then an outer sheet. The use of a spacer allows for high grade insulation material to be used in the cavity improving the thermal performance of the building. 

The building also has a bank of solar panels installed on the roof that are used to power the building, reducing the need to draw power from the national grid. 

The heating system of the building has also been designed with sustainability in mind. As warm air is extracted from the building, it is fed into a heat exchanger and used to pre-heat colder air that is brought in to replace it. This reduces the amount of heating required for the incoming air. 

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