The 24th Isolation Conference was a success

The 24th edition of the prestigious Insulation Conference, organised by A.W.A.L., a long-standing professional partner of the fair, took place on the very first day of the Roofs Prague trade fair.
The completely packed lecture hall on Thursday, 9 February 2023 was a testament to the appealing and highly topical theme of Self-Sufficiency through Roofs. The expertise of the content at the chairman’s table was guaranteed by Assoc. Ing. Šárka Šilarová, CSc., from the Czech Technical University in Prague, Ing. Lubomír Keim, CSc., as chairman of TNK 65 – Building Insulation, Ing. Jan Plachý, PhD., from VŠTE České Budějovice and Ing. Ivan Misar, PhD., and Ing. Marcel Pelech from the organizing Expert and Project Office A.W.A.L., s.r.o.
The morning session was devoted to vegetated roofs, which in terms of the topic discussed help, among other things, to retain water or reduce the ambient temperature, which means less demand for cooling. The audience was introduced to this issue by Ing. Lubomír Keim, CSc., with his contribution on the topic of related legislation. More specifically, Ing. Jitka Dostalová and explained to the attendees how green roofs can contribute to self-sufficiency. The next contribution was a precursor to the afternoon block of lectures dedicated to photovoltaics on roofs. Ing. Pavel Dostal discussed the synergy of green roofs and photovoltaics. Statistics of the benefits of vegetation were presented by Ing. Peter Juráš, PhD., based on experimental measurements. In contrast, Ing. Roman Vomlel dealt with purely practical matters, namely the implementation of expansion joints in vegetated roofs. There was also information on the reliability of waterproofing in vegetation roofs in the presentation of Ing. Petr Kapička. The morning block was closed by a lecture on unique Stered panels, which can be used to build an energy-active green roof with photovoltaics. The audience was introduced to it by Ing. Pavel Schudich.

After the lunch break, the topic of photovoltaics on roofs was on the agenda. This phenomenon is experiencing a huge boom and in the resulting hysteria, investors and implementation companies have little perception of the demands of roof structures where PV power plants are installed. The content of the conference focused on this problem and its solution. The introduction to the issue belonged to Blerand Osmani, who was followed by Petr Matoušek to talk about photovoltaics on heritage buildings. On the other hand, Ing. Jan Vychytil discussed safe and stable foundation for PV systems. Josef Frodl explained how to anchor PV systems to the coating waterproofing. Ing. Lukáš Smolík, when he reminded the importance of the correct placement of catchment systems on the roof with PV systems. The next two presentations by representatives of the thermal insulation segment (Rockwool and Puren) reminded the condition of fireproofing of roofs with installed PV. The last contribution to the topic of photovoltaics was a lecture by Ing. arch. Aleš Vobejdyn on the topic of safe anchoring of systems to subtle metal roofing.

The final presentation of the Guildmaster Ivan Dvořák, who presented the new flag of the KPT Guild of the Czech Republic and the story of its creation, was an enrichment of the professional programme.

During the day there was also the traditional space for ceremonies, during which the Order of the Golden Torch was presented to Ing. Alena Georgiadis and the results of the international student competition on the topic of roofs – the Antonín Fajkoš Memorial.

Finally, many thanks to the companies that supported the conference and without whose contribution the organisation of such an event would not have been possible. These were the companies AXTER CZ, s.r.o., FRODL GROUP, s.r.o., MDM Slovakia, s.r.o., ROCKWOOL, a.s., TOPWET, s.r.o., LINDAB Sales CZ, s.r.o., PITTSBURGH CORNING ČR, s.r.o., PUREN, s.r.o., and PREFA Aluminiumproduke, s.r.o.

Media partners were the titles and websites Izolace.cz, Střechy-Fasády-Izolace, Konstrukce, TZB-info.cz, ESB, Materiály pro stavbu, ASB and Stavebnictví & Interiér.

The conference includes an electronic proceedings of the lectures, available on the website Izolace.cz (for non-conference participants on request).

The IZOLACE conference has long since earned a firm position among educational activities dealing with building envelopes. The expert and project office A.W.A.L., s.r.o. came up with the idea of using its expertise almost a quarter of a century ago and has been holding the conference regularly ever since. Over time, however, the narrow focus of the conference has broadened into a comprehensive spectrum of topics around building envelopes as we know them today. The name IZOLACE is thus just a nostalgic reminder of the topic that was the initial impetus for the establishment of a respected tradition.