Standards
British Precast keeps a keen eye on national and international standards - this ensures that customers of our members receive the best quality products which are compliant to all relevant standards. As well as specific standards, many manufacturers also comply with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
Quality in design and production means precast units are extremely structurally efficient; they have a high span/depth and EC2 makes provision for reduced partial safety factors for precast, in acknowledgement of the controlled production environment.
British Precast is represented on relevant BSI committees and provides UK delegates to the CEN committees dealing with precast concrete products. We represent the views of members and report back with current information on progress and changes to product and installation standards and test methods. Members also receive a discount on BSI standards purchased through British Precast.
Eurocodes
Structural Eurocodes (referred to as Eurocodes) are a set of ten European Standards that contain common structural rules for the design of buildings and civil engineering structures.
Eurocodes are applicable to whole structures and to individual elements of structures and cater for the use of all the major construction materials such as concrete, steel, timber, masonry and aluminium.
More information on Eurocodes is available
here.
BES 6001 - Responsible Sourcing
BES 6001, the BRE standard, has been published to enable construction product manufacturers to ensure and then prove that their products have been made with constituent materials that have been responsibly sourced. The standard describes a framework for the organisational governance, supply chain management and environmental and social aspects that must be addressed in order to ensure the responsible sourcing of construction products.
CE Marking
The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) requires that from 1st July 2013 it is mandatory for many, but not all construction products to have CE markings in order to be placed on the market anywhere in Europe.
CE marking is an indicator of a product’s compliance with applicable EU legislation and its legitimacy to be placed on the market within the European Market. CE stands for Communaute Europeenne.
CE marking communicates that a product meets a set of basic European harmonised standards, or a European Technical Assessment. Each product with CE markings has a Declaration of Performance (DoP) that is made available to purchasers and specifiers.
British Precast have developed a guidance document for members only on CE Marking. Contact us to find out about this and many other benefits of membership.
Building Regulations: Thermal Performance: Part L1A
The 2013 edition of Part L1A (new dwellings) came into force in April 2014. Key changes include a 6% reduction in CO2 emissions across the build mix, and a new ‘elemental recipe’ approach for producing compliant dwelling specifications. Our product associations the Aircrete Products Association and the Concrete Block Association have been involved in developing guidance on this regulation.