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INDUSTRY VIEWFINDER
What certifications do you look for when evaluating products’ environmental sustainability?
industry where there is a nearly unfathomably complex network of product testing, and a “huge disconnect” between designers, contractors and clients on the one hand, and the people who set standards and test products. Pinpointing a series of major flaws led the authors to a wide-ranging set of recommendations to address systemic problems across the industry.
The post-Brexit landscape
There has been consternation in the industry around the 2023 Government U-turn that saw most other sectors exempted from requirements to UKCA Mark their products following the UK’s exit from the EU. They were allowed to continue using the CE Mark until June 2025, however this didn’t include construction products. The situation urgently requires further clarification, as currently the deadline for mandatory UKCA compliance for all products sold into the construction industry in the UK is 31 December 2024. Suppliers choosing to UCKA mark pre-emptively are having to absorb or pass on the administrative and development cost of auditing their product range to ensure it is tested to current UK (not EU) standards, meaning it needs to be tested in the UK. The increased focus on safety and accountability post-Grenfell has made the deadline an even more acute issue. The Construction Products Association has warned that certain key product areas are facing major challenges on testing capacity including glass, sealants and radiators. The situation may have led to a degree of cynicism in construction about investing in testing and readying products for the change, until absolute clarity is achieved; which potentially requires more legislation.
We asked our architect audience what they saw as outstanding
UKCA Mark issues, and verbatim comments included “whether it will come into force is probably the biggest question.” We asked whether a ‘mark’ for a single product rather than a composite or build-up was truly helpful in any case. A commenter said that the EU directives “have always focused on safety testing rather than full type testing,” alluding to the wider problem of not bringing a holistic focus to product certification which we delved deeper into later in the study.
Safety, performance & sustainability
Safety first We gauged how respondents were sourcing specific certification on safety of construction products in particular. The results showed 27% of respondents said they were sourcing the information directly from manufacturers, and only 26% said they were seeking third-party certification. Interestingly, 17% of architects surveyed said that they were conducting their own research to determine safety performance, and 8% were still using Desktop Studies on safety of products (which don’t include specific fire tests). In another question 85% of respondents agreed with the proposition that ‘non-verified Desktop Studies on product safety performance should be prohibited.’ In January 2021, the Government announced that a new National Construction Products Regulator would be created within the Office for Product Safety and Standards, with powers to remove
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
ADF SEPTEMBER 2024
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