Supply chain perspectives

Summary
¦ EC5 is a design code.
¦ Timber designers working to EC5 need a product’s characteristic values.
¦ CE marking is the easiest way to demonstrate compliance with the CPD.
¦ Many timber products are already covered by harmonised product standards or through European Product Approval Guidelines.

A key aim of the Eurocodes has been a common understanding regarding the design of structures among construction professionals. This in turn was to create common design criteria and methods of meeting the necessary regulatory requirements. But the Eurocodes are also part of the drive to harmonise technical specifications and to eliminate technical obstacles to trade between EU member states, which opens up opportunities for timber suppliers prepared to do their homework.

Although Eurocode 5 (EC5) is very much a design code, suppliers should be aware that timber designers working to it need a product’s characteristic values for their calculations. Manufacturers and suppliers, therefore, need to understand what characteristic values

are relevant for their product(s) and use approved or codified methods of testing to obtain them. A product certification scheme helps manufacturers and suppliers to obtain these values.

EC5, the timber standard, consists of three parts:
• Part 1-1: General – common rules and rules for buildings
• Part 1-2: General – structural fire design
• Part 2: Bridges

Each part has its own National Annex. All three parts have already been published, along with all the National Annexes, most of the supporting standards and most of the harmonised product standards. There is little reason, therefore, for either designers or product suppliers to hold back from embracing EC5 wholeheartedly, apart from unfamiliarity.

Construction Products Directive

The Construction Products Directive (CPD) classifies a construction product as a product “which is to be incorporated in a permanent manner in construction works”. The CPD requires EU member states to “take all necessary measures” to ensure that such products are sold “only if the product is fit for its intended purpose”. The CPD is incorporated in UK law by the Construction Products Regulations 1991 (Amended 1994), which adopts the Essential Requirements (ER) from the CPD.

Construction products, when they become part of a building, must conform to the Essential Requirements: mechanical resistance and stability; safety in the case of fire; hygiene, health and environment; safety in use; protection against noise; and energy economy and heat retention.

All products will be required to demonstrate that they have the necessary characteristics to achieve at least one, many, or all of these ERs, depending on their end use and this is the responsibility of the manufacturer/supplier. Although CE marking is not a legal obligation for construction products in the UK, demonstrating compliance with the CPD is and can most easily be done through CE marking for markets throughout Europe. An alternative is third-party certification under a national quality assurance scheme such as BM TRADA Q-Mark. The Q-Mark schemes, in fact, require a higher level of proof of conformity than CE marking.

Although CE marking is not obligatory, things are expected to change – albeit slowly – and CE marking is likely to be incorporated into the regulations by 2013. We would suggest that manufacturers who want to steal a march on the competition look into CE marking ahead of time, without losing sight of the fact that it is not an optional quality mark. What it does do is to demonstrate both compliance with the CPD, and a product’s fitness for purpose.

The award of a CE mark requires a specific level of input by a notified body, which may operate within and outside Europe to assess products for CE marking for use in Europe. In the UK, notified bodies for construction products include BM TRADA Certification, BRE and BBA. Notified bodies are not enforcement agencies, and it remains the manufacturer’s responsibility to affix the CE mark to the product correctly. By the same token, it is the buyer’s responsibility to check that CE-marked products are what they say.

European Product Approval Guidelines

A range of construction products and materials is already covered by harmonised product standards or through European Product Approval Guidelines (ETAGs), enabling them to be CE marked easily. These include structural timber and related products (glulam, LVL, I-joists and other engineered wood products), wood-based panels (plywood, OSB, particleboards, fibreboards), fasteners and connectors, trussed rafters and timber frame building kits.

Notified bodies can also help certify new products that are not yet covered by harmonised standards or ETAGs, a further opportunity for manufacturers to identify niche markets. In our view, suppliers and manufacturers should not delay learning about the essential requirements relevant for their products under EC5, to stay ahead when EC5 is used in earnest.