🏗️ Insulated Metal Panels Are Having a Moment - Here's Why IMPs Are Everywhere in 2026
From data centers to cold storage to tightening energy codes, insulated metal panels are becoming the go-to envelope solution for modern construction. Here's what's driving the surge.
If you've walked a commercial or industrial jobsite recently, chances are you've seen them going up: insulated metal panels. What was once considered a niche product for coolers and freezers has become one of the fastest-growing building envelope solutions in North America — and 2026 is shaping up to be a landmark year.
The global IMP market is projected to grow from $15.01 billion in 2025 to $17.13 billion by 2030, driven by tightening energy codes, the data center construction boom, cold chain expansion, and a construction labor market that's demanding faster, leaner building methods.
Here's what's fueling the IMP wave — and why it matters for contractors, specifiers, and building owners.
What Makes IMPs Different
For those newer to the product, insulated metal panels are composite wall and roof panels consisting of two metal skins bonded to an insulating foam core — typically polyisocyanurate (PIR/PUR), polystyrene, or mineral wool. They combine exterior cladding, thermal insulation, air barrier, and vapor barrier into a single factory-engineered component.
The result is a building envelope that goes up in one pass instead of multiple trades layering sheathing, insulation, weather barriers, and cladding sequentially. That speed advantage — combined with consistent R-values, zero thermal bridging, and tight air sealing — is what's making IMPs increasingly hard to ignore.
The Data Center Connection: IMPs Meet the AI Boom
The $88+ billion data center construction pipeline is creating massive demand for building envelope systems that can be installed fast and perform at the highest thermal and environmental standards. IMPs are emerging as a natural fit.
Kingspan has been vocal about the role IMPs play in data center construction, noting that the panels' continuous air and vapor barrier prevents unwanted air leaks — critical in facilities where precise temperature control directly impacts server performance and energy costs. Metl-Span (a Nucor company) has similarly positioned its foam core and fire-resistant panel lines for data center applications, emphasizing thermal insulation, rapid installation, and hygienic surface properties.
The parallels to cold storage — another IMP stronghold — are striking. As Green Span Profiles has noted, data centers and cold storage facilities share the same core needs: ease of installation, energy efficiency, thermal performance, air and vapor control, and durability. IMPs already revolutionized cold storage construction; the data center boom may be the next chapter.
When QScale built its Q01 Campus, a high-density AI computing facility near Québec City, the project team originally planned to use other building enclosure materials — then switched to Norbec's NOREX IMP solution for its speed, thermal performance, and architectural quality.
Manufacturers Are Scaling Up
The major IMP manufacturers are investing heavily to meet demand.
Kingspan — the global market leader with 273 manufacturing facilities worldwide — fired up a new production facility in Mattoon, Illinois in 2025. The plant produces the company's K-Roc mineral fiber insulated panels — the K-Roc HF Series — which deliver up to a three-hour fire rating in ceiling applications and two hours in walls. The Mattoon facility adds a second strategic North American location alongside Kingspan's Langley, BC plant, and the company isn't slowing down: it has committed $1 billion over five years to expanding its U.S. roofing and panel footprint, including new mega-site campuses in Maryland and Oklahoma coming online in 2026.
Nucor Corporation — the second-largest IMP player in the U.S. — operates its insulated panel group through the CENTRIA and Metl-Span brands, with approximately 97,000 tons of IMP production capacity. Nucor acquired Cornerstone Building Brands' IMP business for roughly $1 billion in 2021, and has since integrated TrueCore into its panel portfolio. Metl-Span recently achieved Clean Air GOLD certification for its panels and introduced ThermalSafe panels with three-hour ceiling fire test ratings.
Other players to watch: ArcelorMittal (rebranded its construction division as ArcelorMittal Building Solutions in September 2025), All Weather Insulated Panels (AWIP) with three continuous-line manufacturing facilities across the U.S., Green Span Profiles, and FALK — all competing on product innovation, fire ratings, coatings technology, and delivery speed.
Tightening Energy Codes Are Pushing Adoption
If market demand is one side of the IMP growth story, building codes are the other.
The 2024 IECC is expected to improve commercial building energy efficiency by approximately 10% compared to its 2021 predecessor. A major update: the allowable air leakage rate for building envelopes has been tightened to 0.25 cfm/ft² — demanding better-performing assemblies across the board.
Both the IECC and ASHRAE 90.1 increasingly favor assemblies that reduce thermal bridging through continuous insulation, and they now evaluate wall and roof assemblies as integrated systems, not collections of individual parts. This plays directly to IMPs' strengths: factory-controlled R-values, continuous insulation with no gaps or compression, and integrated air/vapor barriers that simplify code compliance.
The 2024 IBC also updates fire performance provisions for exterior walls with foam plastic insulation, reinforcing NFPA 285 as the primary test standard. For specifiers, this means assembly-level documentation matters more than ever — and manufacturers with robust fire test data (like Kingspan's K-Roc mineral fiber line and Metl-Span's ThermalSafe) are well-positioned.
Cold Storage and Food Processing: The Original IMP Stronghold
While data centers grab headlines, the cold storage market remains a bedrock of IMP demand — and it's growing fast.
The U.S. cold storage market reached $33.46 billion in 2022 and is projected to hit $74.12 billion by 2032 — a CAGR of over 8%. The metal cold storage insulated panels segment alone is approaching $4.65 billion and growing at roughly 6% annually.
What's driving it? E-commerce grocery delivery, pharmaceutical cold chain expansion, and the simple fact that the average cold storage facility in top U.S. markets is 37 years old. Aging facilities with inefficient refrigeration systems are being replaced with modern IMP-clad warehouses that offer dramatically better energy performance and operational hygiene.
IMPs remain the default envelope for controlled environment construction — from small walk-in coolers to massive distribution facilities — with panel thicknesses from 3" to 6" tailored to specific temperature zones and R-value requirements.
The Labor Angle: Why IMPs Win When Crews Are Short
Here's the connection that ties everything together: the construction labor crisis.
Traditional multi-component wall assemblies require sequencing multiple trades — framing, sheathing, insulation, weather barriers, cladding — each with its own crew and schedule. IMPs compress that into a single-pass installation, often by a single crew.
In a market where 92% of contractors report difficulty finding workers, that speed advantage translates directly to shorter schedules, fewer trades on-site, and lower labor costs. It's one reason the growing adoption of prefabricated and modular construction is consistently cited as a key IMP market driver.
MBCI's IMP Certified Installer Course reflects the industry's push to professionalize IMP installation as a trade specialty — an investment in the workforce that also helps ensure quality as adoption scales.
What to Watch in 2026 and Beyond
The IMP market is entering a new phase. Here's what to keep on your radar:
Fire-rated panels gaining ground. Mineral wool core panels — like Kingspan's K-Roc HF Series — are meeting demand for higher fire ratings without sacrificing thermal performance. Expect more specifiers to require assembly-level fire test documentation as the 2024 IBC rolls out.
Architectural aesthetics expanding. IMPs aren't just for warehouses anymore. Manufacturers are offering wider profiles, custom finishes, and concealed fastening systems that make panels viable for retail, education, healthcare, and office projects.
Retrofit and renovation. With aging building stock across the U.S., IMPs are finding new opportunities in renovation work — especially as building owners look to improve energy performance without full teardowns. The Metal Construction Association's IMP Barrier Back-Up system supports secondary rainscreen facades over an IMP substrate, opening the door to more design-forward applications.
METALCON 2026. The industry's premier metal construction event is heading to Orlando, October 7–9, with IMP education, live installation demos, and the full manufacturer lineup on display. If you're specifying, installing, or selling IMPs, it's the place to be.
The Bottom Line
Insulated metal panels sit at the intersection of everything construction is grappling with right now: tighter energy codes, faster timelines, fewer workers, and surging demand in data centers and cold storage. The product's core value proposition — one panel, one pass, superior performance — has never been more relevant.
Whether you're a GC looking to compress schedules, a specifier navigating the 2024 code cycle, or a building owner evaluating lifecycle costs, IMPs deserve a serious look.
Are you using IMPs on your projects? What's been your experience? Drop a comment — I'd love to hear what you're seeing in the field.
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