THE
TRANSPOSITION OF EUROCLASSES
Throughout the EU, existing national classifications for the performance
of building products in fire do not automatically equate with those
arising from the new Euroclasses, so products cannot typically
assume a Euroclass unless they have been suitably tested or documented
as 'classified without further testing'.
To enable the use of the Euroclass system in support of national
Building Regulations, the government regulators of each member
state have agreed to make 'a progressive transposition' to include
Euroclasses within published guidance or requirements. The Euroclass
transposition may vary from one EU member state to another, according
to national needs, but all EU countries will use the same Euroclass
classification system.
The transposition documents
are/will be expressed in terms of the new EU Classification systems
for Reaction to Fire and for
Resistance to Fire, as supported by published European Product
Standards, classification and fire test methods. Currently, Scotland
has already declared new Technical Standards incorporating Euroclasses.
England & Wales have published selected Amendments to Approved
Document B - further Amendments are likely because transpositions
for the whole range of building products are only possible when
the relevant Product Standard has been published.
Some of these Product Standards are still being finalised. However,
the Product Standard for Mineral Wool Insulation was one of the
first to be published and it has been possible to include the Euroclass
in CE Marking for Mineral Wool Insulation products since March
1st 2002. Further, these products must have CE Marking labels from
1 March 2003 if intended for cross-border sales, and into or out
of the UK.
The 'transpositions' for various countries are indicated below.
Transpositions for
England & Wales
Transpositions for Scotland
Transpositions for Republic of Ireland
Transpositions for Northern Ireland
Transpositions for England & Wales
The Euroclass system permits wider and more comprehensive differentiation
of products for their fire performance than the 'old' British Standard
system. This makes it a welcome tool for specifiers.
Amendments 2002 to Approved Document B (Fire Safety) 2000 edition,
were published in December 2002 - and applicable from 1 March 2003.
The text is only concerned with transposition issues and does not
amend the intended guidance.
The full document is available on www.safety.odpm.gov.uk/bregs/brads.htm
or from the Stationery Office at mailto:orders@theso.co.uk by e-mail.
It is envisaged that further amendments - for product use not yet
covered - will be published when it becomes viable to do so and
the amended guidance will subsequently be included in reprints
of Approved Document B.
REACTION TO FIRE
In broad terms, the transpositions for Reaction to
Fire can be summarised as:
| British
Standard |
Transposition to Euroclasses
|
|
Non- combustible
|
A1,
or
considered as A1 'without the need for further
testing' as defined in Commission
Decision 96/603/EC dated 4th October
1996.
|
|
Limited combustibility
|
A2 - s3,d2 or better
|
|
Class 0
|
B - s3,d2 or better
|
|
Class 1
|
C - s3,d2 or better
|
|
Class 3
|
D - s3,d2 or better
|
Notes.
- When a Reaction
to Fire classification includes 's3,d2' this means that there
is no limit set for smoke production and/or flaming droplets/particles.
- References to 'ratings' provided
by manufacturers and trade associations should be carefully
checked to ensure that the product is suitable, adequate and
applicable for the construction to be used. Small differences
in detail, such as thickness, substrate, colour, form, fixings,
adhesives etc may significantly affect the 'rating' or classification.
RESISTANCE TO FIRE
In the case of Resistance to Fire, the transposition process is
primarily concerned with the introduction of the REI format of
classification. The specific provisions of test for fire resistance
periods remain effectively unchanged, even though the European
fire test methods are considered more onerous for some elements
of construction.
The Amendment document contains Notes to Tables to explain various
apparent differences between the 'old' and 'new' systems - for
example, in regard to Cavity Barriers the requirement becomes EI
30, but note 11 clarifies that an insulation value of 15 minutes
will be deemed to satisfy in this instance. New commentary is also
given on the minimum size of steel elements that are deemed to
satisfy the minimum period of 15 minutes fire resistance to EN
fire test methods.
Transpositions forScotland
Scottish Technical Standards D & E were amended in
September 2001 for application from 1 March 2002. The changes included
transposition to Euroclasses. The full documents should be read
for all conditions to be taken into account.
The Scottish process demanded that the changes were made before
all the finalised EN documents were available. Therefore, the Euroclass
categories used for Reaction to Fire may need to be updated
to include reference to Smoke and Flaming Droplets/particles in
any subsequent review. However, the lack of reference to these
properties is not considered a barrier to trade by the Scottish
Office, as there are currently no requirements set for them in Scotland.
Nevertheless Scottish manufacturers would need to include information
for production of smoke and flaming droplets/particles in their
CE Marking if the products are to be sold in other EU countries.
REACTION TO FIRE
Scotland has introduced
the concept of 'risk' to the application of Reaction to Fire classifications
for construction products, as indicated in the following table.
| Performance risk |
British Standard
|
Transposition
to Euroclasses
|
|
Non-combustible
|
Non- combustible
|
A1 or A2
|
|
Low
|
Class 0
|
B
|
|
Medium
|
Class 1
|
C
|
|
High
|
Class 2 or 3
|
D
|
|
Very high
|
A material which does not meet the criteria for high risk
|
NOTE:
A sandwich panel used for internal walls or linings in a
building of purpose groups 1 or 2 must be fully filled with a core
that consists of non-combustible material [paragraph D7.3].
RESISTANCE TO FIRE
Scotland has also introduced the concept of 'duration' to periods
for Resistance to Fire, as well as the European REI classification
format.
| Duration |
Fire resistance
period as R, E, EI, or REI where
relevant
|
|
Short
|
30 minutes
|
|
Medium
|
60 minutes
|
|
Long
|
120 minutes
|
Transpositions for Republic of Ireland
No details have yet been published
Transpositions for Northern Ireland
No details have yet been published
|