Suppliers and fabricators of timber fire resistant glazed screens in the UK are in danger of being left out in the cold while committees ponder the myriad issues surrounding testing and scope of approval within European harmonisation and CE marking. But one thing is clear: many companies risk going out of business if they do not meet the changes head on.
Architects and interior designers use timber or steel glazed screens both aesthetically and functionally in shopping centres, airports, offices and in any other developments where light and partitioning are important. The installed value of FR glazed assemblies in the UK is estimated at £180m and British manufacturers account for the lion’s share.
To protect their corner, frame fabricators will have to adopt a significant change in mindset regarding testing. Until now, they have had to undertake very little testing on their own account, relying heavily on test evidence supplied – and paid for – by the glazing manufacturers. In future, frame and glazing manufacturers will have to work more closely together as both will have to provide test evidence – inevitably with additional cost.
It does not help their cause that the precise arena for change has yet to be defined. And given the fragmented state of the UK construction industry it is not at all clear where responsibility for the various stages and components of screen construction should lie. The main contractor might decide to design the screen, or simply commission an architect to do so. A joinery company might build the frame in situ or provide it pre-assembled for another company to install, possibly with a glazier following on. So who should take responsibility for the fire resistance performance under the new rules?
Further confusion has arisen now that CE marking has become an issue. Partitions – including glazed screens – are mandated products within the Construction Products Directive, so it will be possible to CE mark them. And if products can be made available with CE marking and all the ‘feel good’ factors that implies, specifiers are likely to want it.
How will glazed screen fabricators then cope, when the golden rule of CE marking is that one company takes responsibility for the performance of the product? When the new rules and processes are finalised, it is more than likely that the company that builds the glazed screen will have to undertake the testing. This is a significant change to current practice in the UK.
Suppliers outside the UK, of course, will not be fazed by the new rules, whatever form they take. The major fabricators across Europe will continue to sell here. Frame manufacturers abroad already work closely with glazing manufacturers, so the new test methodology will be familiar to them – and CE marking can only help their cause. The UK industry will be at much more of a disadvantage than it is now.
Fabricators in the UK must pay attention to the rules being produced, before it is too late to change them. And they will have to change their mindset before the rules are finalised. If they don’t, they’ll be out of the game.
