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INDUSTRY VIEWFINDER
Do you believe that third-party certification is essential for robust product specification on the following criteria? g Yes g No g Don’t Know
Were respondents experiencing clarity and transparency of information within product certifications, and which sources were best and worst on this front? The main offender was ‘company literature,’ (for 55% of respondents), followed by CPDs on 51%. Not far below were ‘direct conversations with suppliers’ at 41%, ‘editorial in trade magazines’ at 35%, and advertising at 29%. Better performing areas were ‘contact with certifying bodies’ (13%), and ‘contact with third-party testing bodies’ at 12%.
Systems & composite testing The ability of the industry to provide safety, performance and sustainability data on completed build-ups assemblies, replicating real-world specifications on projects rather than just individual products, remains a contentious area. Our results confirmed the importance of this issue for specifiers, with a lack of such testing in the UK currently. A compelling 88% of respondents said they believed ‘testing and certification of product systems should be made a requirement.” However, we asked a question around issues resulting from the incoming UKCA Mark for products, and a respondent said that what was needed was performance accreditation for ‘composite products’ in various build-ups, but this raised further constraints for specifiers. “It would be good to have a complete performance mark for composite products but as with wall specifications, if only that one build-up or material thickness is tested, then only it can be specified.”
Conclusion
Our survey tackled a wide variety of crucial and challenging product certification issues, and gained some fascinating insights and some surprises, while confirming expectations in other areas. As rigour in project accountability and data increases alongside tighter legislation, we find ourselves in a new era of much greater admin and rigour sitting on the desks of architects and manufacturers, but a resultant general improvement in credibility and trust. The ultimate aim is a transparent and accountable system which will work against the possibility of further tragedies occurring, and increase our chances of meeting sustainability aims. Major challenges remain – the proliferation of testing bodies with no national overseeing body, a lack of clarity in certifications, and a lack of product certification of the assemblies which are to be used on actual projects. Perhaps under the new Government, the Construction Products Regulator will be given the ‘teeth’ to really bring a sense of compulsion to testing effectively, and bring the threads together in order to give the clarity and confidence specifiers need. It needs to be near the top of the long to-do list.
For a full report on this survey, including data on availability of certified products, extra background on the new regime post- Building Safety Act and post-Brexit, and more insight into the data obtained including verbatim comments on the changes to EPDs, visit our ‘insights’ website
insights.netmagmedia.co.uk • Thanks to our survey sponsors Lamilux, Hambleside Danelaw Building Products, Soprema and Promat.
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
ADF SEPTEMBER 2024
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