The Golden Thread? That is Up to Someone Else to Check Compliance

Sadly, it is a mantra that we still hear from manufacturer’s representatives and construction industry distributors on an almost weekly basis, which suggests to us that the construction products sector still has a lot to learn from recent scandals.

 Deliberately not mentioning or not including factors that may exclude a product due to it’s unsuitability is still a practice widely employed in manufacturer’s literature. A good example of this is a Certified Minimum Service Life, often assessed by organisations such as the BBA, which, if disclosed, would mean that it would not be accepted by building warranty providers or the Client. The requirement is more often than not a minimum of 60 years, and if the certification does not achieve this a client may have to remove  and replace the products before the building can be handed over.

Fields of Application are also an area open to over-selling. Those of us in the industry who have products that require an assessment and certification for Reaction to Fire have gone through  the process of having testing carried out at a UKAS accredited test facility to a range of colours, densities and format of product to ensure that all of the options that we offer remain covered by the testing and certification. Often a manufacturer will test one finish of their products and use that certification to cover a range of alternatives, often openly saying that ‘it makes no difference’ when it clearly sits outside of the as-tested product.

A change in thickness is often dismissed as inconsequential, but the increase in the dead-load of a product can have a disproportionate effect on a façade’s performance, such as the suitability of fixings, wind loadings, hard and soft body impact, to name just three.

We took the decision many years ago that we would be totally transparent with our literature plus making all of our certification available, and if our product is not suitable then we will tell you.

We believe that everyone in the supply chain is responsible for ensuring that the products we supply of manufacture are safe and fit for purpose, and that we take responsibility for ensuring that the Golden Thread is maintained.

Our highly recommended CPD Presentation: Reducing the Weight in Brickwork is available both in-person, on-line, as well as the option of coming to The EH Smith Design Studio in Clerkenwell where we can present in an exciting materials studio.