Building a site office, cold room or factory partition from insulated panels? How the four core types compare on fire, heat and sound, and what to ask before you order.
A sandwich panel is two thin metal skins bonded to an insulating core, and the core decides almost everything: EPS (expanded polystyrene) is the cheapest and lightest, PU and PIR foams insulate better for the thickness, and rockwool (mineral wool) is chosen where fire performance matters most. Foam cores burn and give off toxic smoke in a real fire, which is why the fire rating the building needs, not the price, should drive the choice for offices, factories, food premises and anything near an escape route. Panels are quoted per job once the core, thickness, height and approvals are known; WhatsApp us your job details for a quote.
Wikipedia’s entry on sandwich panels describes the principle: a low-density core, such as PIR, mineral wool or extruded polystyrene, with a thin skin bonded to each side. The skins take the bending loads and the core takes the shear, a little like the flanges and web of a steel beam, so a panel can be stiff and light at the same time.
In buildings they are used as prefabricated walls and roofs for factories, warehouses, site offices, clean rooms and cold rooms. Our cold room installation guide describes insulated panels that lock together with cam locks and are sealed at every joint, which is the same family of product used for partitions.
| Core | What it is | Strengths | Weak spots |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS (expanded polystyrene) | Expanded plastic beads fused into a board | Cheapest, lightest, good insulator | Combustible; melts and drips in fire |
| PU (polyurethane foam) | Rigid foam injected or laminated between skins | Better insulation for the thickness; common in cold rooms | Combustible; toxic smoke in fire |
| PIR (polyisocyanurate foam) | A tougher cousin of PU foam | Good insulation; better small-scale fire test results than PU | Still a foam; fire toxicity concerns in real fires |
| Rockwool (mineral wool) | Spun stone fibres bonded into a slab | Fire resistance; good sound absorption | Heavier; must be kept dry; skins must be well sealed |
Skins are usually coated steel. The thickness of the panel, the core density and the joint design all change how it performs, so two panels called by the same core name can behave quite differently.
Foam cores burn. Wikipedia’s entry on polyisocyanurate notes that PIR is sometimes described as fire retardant on the strength of small-scale tests that do not reflect all the hazards of a real fire, and that a study of insulating materials found most fire deaths come from inhaling toxic products, with hydrogen cyanide a significant contributor for PIR and PU foams. The same entry records that the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire found a PIR insulation product was a contributory factor in the rapid spread of that fire.
Mineral wool is the opposite case. Wikipedia’s entry notes that the fire resistance of stone wool makes it common where passive fire protection is required. For partitions near escape routes, in food premises or in any building where the approvals specify a fire rating, the rated panel system is not optional.
All four cores insulate well compared with brick or board, which is why panels are used for cold rooms and hot factory offices. Wikipedia’s polystyrene entry gives typical EPS board thermal conductivity of 0.032 to 0.038 W/(m·K) depending on density, and its mineral wool entry gives 0.030 to 0.045 W/(m·K); foam cores such as PU and PIR are generally chosen where the best insulation per thickness is wanted. The lower the number, the better the insulation.
In a hot metal-roofed factory, insulating the roof usually matters more than the partitions; our factory heat reduction guide explains the order of work.
Sandwich panels are light, and light walls let sound through more easily than heavy ones. Mineral wool cores absorb sound better than foam cores, but for a quiet meeting room or manager’s office next to a noisy production floor, the joints, the ceiling junction and the doors matter as much as the core. Gaps above a partition that stops at the false ceiling let noise straight over the top.
| Use | Common choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cold rooms and chillers | PU or PIR | Best insulation per thickness, sealed joints |
| Factory site office, guard house | EPS or PIR, rockwool near hazards | Low cost and fast; fire rating decides |
| Partitions on escape routes or fire compartments | Rockwool (rated system) | Fire resistance required by the approvals |
| Food processing and clean areas | PIR or PU with hygienic skins; rockwool where fire-rated | Washable skins, sealed joints |
| Rooftop plant rooms | Rockwool or PIR | Heat, weather and fire considerations |
Cables and pipes through a panel are a common weak point, both for fire and for pests nesting in exposed foam. Ask how service penetrations will be sealed.
For an office inside an air-conditioned building, a drywall partition with the right boards is often the better finish and can be fire-rated. Panels win on speed, insulation and washability, and in hot or damp industrial spaces where board would suffer. Brick or block is still chosen for heavy-duty or external walls. In a building with an aluminium composite façade, the cladding is also a sandwich panel; our ACP cladding guide covers that separately.
New partitions in commercial and industrial buildings can need building management consent and, for larger works, council and fire approvals. Our commercial renovation permit guide explains which approvals a commercial renovation can need. Doors in fire-rated walls must be rated too; see our fire-rated door guide.
The site does not publish a sandwich panel price, because the core, thickness, height, doors and approvals change it so much; ask for these items to be priced as separate lines.
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote: the building type, what the partition is for, the length and height, and any fire rating or approval you already know about. We reply within the hour, and the price we agree is a flat price with no hidden charges. If the partitions are part of a larger renovation, we handle whole-house refurbishment and coordinate the trades; a site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead. See our renovation page.
How we price: the only RM figure on this page is ClickBina’s RM150 site visit, waived if you go ahead. Panel partitions are quoted per job once the core, thickness and approvals are known.
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote — we reply within the hour.
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