Construction Under Pressure

The Saint-Gobain purpose sums it up perfectly: Making the world a better home.

For most people, home is closely linked to a building or environment where they feel comfortable and safe. In most regions of the world, there is growing demand for homes, which puts pressure on the construction industry.

Not only are more homes needed, but they also have to meet the safety and comfort needs of their occupants. However, safety is not only crucial once the building is finished; it is becoming increasingly important during the construction process, and the industry needs to find solutions to build more quickly and safely for their workers.

One solution is to reduce the need for manual and on-site work. Alongside automation, robots and cobots are helping to speed up construction and improve safety, which also boosts efficiency and lowers costs. But how can tapes and foams help?

Richard, where do you see the strongest link between safety and productivity in construction projects today?

In construction, value often derives from solutions that are easy to apply, protect against moisture and vibration, and reduce labour time. This is one reason why technically engineered tape and foam solutions are continuing to gain ground in building envelope and component applications.

With the rapid shift towards automated, off-site construction, adhesive tapes are assuming a pivotal role alongside robotics and digital workflows. In high-throughput environments such as modular assembly and prefabrication, pressure-sensitive tapes, including acrylic foam, polyurethane (PU) foam, and PVC tapes, are increasingly replacing mechanical fasteners and liquid adhesives to unlock new levels of efficiency and safety.

Acrylic foam tapes, widely used for structural bonding of panels, trims, and façade elements, provide immediate handling strength and even stress distribution, making them ideal for robotic application and continuous production lines.

Meanwhile, polyurethane foam tapes deliver vital gap-filling, vibration damping, and thermal break properties in wall systems, ensuring a consistent fit—an essential requirement for automated assembly.

And PVC tapes also play a key role in bundling, insulation, surface protection, and sealing applications, where speed, flexibility and durability are crucial.

Another example is the use of extruded foam profiles, such as PVC, TPE and butyl-coated foam profiles, which are increasingly manufactured and integrated into building components like window spacers, façade gaskets, sealing profiles, and structural insulation elements within automated, off-site production lines. These profiles are made in continuous, highly controlled extrusion processes and then robotically cut, placed, and bonded into assemblies using foam and acrylic tape systems.

The combination of pre-formed foam geometries and pressure-sensitive tapes enables manufacturers to eliminate secondary machining, simplify alignment, and maintain precise tolerances at high production speeds. By cutting out curing times, reducing the need for drilling or welding, and streamlining application processes, these material systems align directly with the core benefits of automation: faster cycle times, improved worker safety, and greater build consistency.

As construction continues to move towards automated and robotic manufacturing, the integration of technically engineered tape systems and extruded foam components is proving to be a vital enabler of both productivity gains and safer working environments.

The need for new solutions is stressful but has always been the strongest driver for innovation. That’s no different in construction. With construction under pressure, new processes, solutions and materials are being developed. New shapes and forms, building technologies and ways of thinking go hand in hand with the challenges the construction industry faces.

We see that more sustainable building materials are gaining broader use, from bamboo and reclaimed wood to recycled concrete and lightweight steel solutions. This accelerates variation in substrates and surface conditions across projects.

While this is highly interesting, this variation makes it hard to standardise. It also increases the chance that a solution works on paper but fails on site because the interface was not designed for actual substrate conditions. In construction, customers rarely rely on one material class. They combine tapes, sealants, membranes, and hybrid systems depending on the joint, the surface, and the region.

However, engineered tapes and foams can add value when they simplify the solution landscape. A good example is when one component provides both sealing and damping, or sealing and fire-related performance, allowing teams to reduce SKUs and lessen variability in installation quality.

Richard: Which new construction material trend do you see today?

Materials are no longer designed solely for performance; they are increasingly technically developed for machine handling, tolerance variability, and rapid bonding, often replacing traditional mechanical fastening with tape-based solutions.

In this context, acrylic foam tapes, polyurethane foams, and extruded profiles play a critical role by enabling tool-free joining, simplifying automation, and supporting continuous, high-speed production. As a result, construction materials are evolving into assembly-ready systems optimised for factory environments rather than traditional construction sites.

Modular or prefabricated construction changes how structures are built and can significantly reduce build time. It also improves workplace safety and can lessen the number of materials required to erect a building.

Modular and prefab construction shift the quality burden to the factory interface and the on-site assembly interface. Airtightness and long-term sealing performance become vital because small gaps lead to energy loss, moisture ingress, and additional rework. At the same time, regional regulations and substrate differences make it difficult to present a single, consistent value proposition.

Innovative tapes and foams can support modular building where fast, clean application and repeatability are crucial. They can enhance air and water tightness, aid bonding, and enable automation-friendly processes, such as continuous application for complex shapes in certain systems.

Richard: If you could standardise only one interface in modular projects to improve performance and installation quality, which one would you choose and why?

The one interface in modular construction that demands standardisation to achieve meaningful improvements in performance and productivity is the panel-to-panel or module-to-module joint. This connection point is the source of many of the industry’s most persistent challenges, directly impacting air and water tightness, thermal efficiency, acoustic performance, and long-term durability.

Whilst factory-built modules themselves are usually produced with high precision and quality control, installation variability at the joints—often relying on field-applied sealants and mechanical fixings—introduces risk, rework, and inconsistency.

Standardising this interface as an engineered system, using pre-compressed foam profiles for tolerance management and acrylic foam tapes for simultaneous bonding and sealing, offers a clear way forward. This approach enables uniform compression, removes cure times, reduces dependency on skilled site labour, and supports quicker, more repeatable installation processes.

Affordability is a major factor, especially in the housing sector, and the recent Iran conflict has brought affordability to the forefront of many governments’ agendas worldwide. There is currently a structural housing shortage, and millions of additional homes are required. This results in a strong demand, particularly for lower-cost buildings.

When budgets and timelines are tight, people avoid anything that slows down installation or generates additional work. That is why solutions that install quickly, reduce post-treatment, and minimise damage during removal or replacement are becoming increasingly valuable. At the same time, buyers and building owners expect long-term performance. So “fast” must still mean durable.

In this scenario, innovative multi-functional tape solutions could be the answer. In building and construction applications, tape and foam solutions are often chosen because they support rapid assembly and deliver consistent results. When properly designed, they can provide sealing and bonding without cure time, reduce labour, and help teams meet schedule targets.

Richard, where do you see the biggest gap between “installed fast, easy and cheap” and “performs for years” in construction today, and how could innovative tapes help?

The greatest gap in construction today between “installed fast, easy, and cheap” and “performs for years” is evident at the building envelope interfaces, especially air/water sealing around joints, windows, façades, and penetrations.

These areas are often installed under schedule pressure, using field-applied sealants, flashings, or mechanical methods that are highly dependent on workmanship and environmental conditions. While these approaches may be quick and low-cost initially, they often lead to long-term problems. These issues include air leaks, water ingress, thermal bridging, and premature wear. This makes the building envelope the primary cause of performance callbacks and results in greater lifecycle costs.

Innovative pressure-sensitive tapes, particularly acrylic foam tapes, advanced sealing tapes, and expertly engineered foam systems, can fundamentally bridge the gap. Unlike traditional sealants, tapes offer pre-engineered, controlled bond lines and immediate performance, removing the need for cure time and reducing installation variability.

There are cities. And megacities. But there are projections that by 2030, there will even be gigacities with around 130 million people. And there will be smart cities.

A smart city is an urban model that utilises technology, human capital, and governance to improve sustainability, efficiency, and social inclusion, which are considered objectives for the cities of the future (source: Wikipedia). Smart cities focus on refining resource use, such as better management of water infrastructure through data, enhanced energy planning that integrates renewables, and stronger real-time communication among stakeholders and systems.

This presents fresh opportunities but also challenges since, for example, small issues in water systems can escalate if not dealt with promptly. Energy systems also require balance, as renewables are intermittent and cities need power available day and night. 

For modern infrastructure and building systems, tapes and foams can support protection, sealing, insulation, and durability in harsh environments. They perform as reliable protection in water systems, electric shielding, (renewable) energy production, energy storage, transport and thousands of other applications in both smart and conventional cities. These are often the quiet enablers that reduce service interruptions, simplify maintenance, and improve system reliability.

Richard, in smart city projects, where do you see the greatest need for innovative tapes, and how can material choices enhance reliability and performance?

In smart city projects, the greatest demand for innovative tape solutions exists in integrating sensors, sealing building envelopes, and supporting renewable energy and mobility systems, where long-term reliability needs to match rapid deployment.

Applications such as IoT (Internet of Things) device mounting, façade sealing, and EV or solar infrastructure call for materials that can withstand environmental exposure, vibration, and thermal cycling without failure.

Advanced solutions such as acrylic foam tapes and expertly engineered sealing tapes provide strong adhesion and absorb stress. They also deliver consistent sealing in many environments across a range of substrates. This reduces reliance on mechanical fasteners, which can corrode or loosen over time.

By using UV-stable adhesives, closed-cell foam, and pre-engineered bonding systems, teams can improve durability. They can reduce maintenance requirements and speed up construction, supporting faster, scalable building that meets smart city demands.

If your construction projects are under pressure to progress more quickly while enhancing long-term performance, comfort and safety, our team can assist you in reviewing the requirements and identifying tape and foam solutions that minimise complexity and improve the reliability of the buildings of the future.