On 2nd September this year, the Government announced changes to Approved Document B for England (Fire Safety) which impacts on the national Standard classification system (the BS 476 series of Standards) currently used by some product sectors in England. The BS 476 series of Standards relating to reaction to fire and external fire exposure for roofs parts of this system will be removed from Approved Document B on 2nd March 2025 and the resistance to fire parts will be removed on 2nd September 2029.
What does this mean in effect to manufacturers?
This means that the BS 476 series of Standards will no longer form an acceptable means of satisfying the statutory Regulatory requirements in England from these dates. The only option will then be the alternative European system based on the EN 13501 series of Standards. Any product or system which only has fire data relating to the national classification system (BS 476) will no longer be compliant with English Building Regulations.
Where the first round of changes has consequences for any Certificates provided by the BBA, we have taken immediate action to contact the Certificate holders to enable them to provide alternative classification to the EN 13501 system. Where they are not able to do this by 2nd March 2025 the Certificate will be revised so that the relevant restrictions on the permissible areas of use, as defined by Approved Document B for England, will be applied.
Any manufacturer who has questions regarding the fire data contained within their BBA Certificate should contact the BBA now here:
What does this mean for designers, specifiers and users?
Anyone selecting a product for use should, as a matter of course, always check the validity of a Certificate by visiting the MyBBA platform here. Designers, specifiers and product users should be mindful that it is, of course, a legal responsibility to comply with the requirements of the national Building Regulations and must therefore ensure that the correct Standards are in place for the project they are working on.
You can find out all the details regarding these changes on the Government website here:
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On 2nd September this year, the Government announced changes to Approved Document B for England (Fire Safety) which impacts on the national Standard classification system (the BS 476 series of Standards) currently used by some product sectors in England. The BS 476 series of Standards relating to reaction to fire and external fire exposure for roofs parts of this system will be removed from Approved Document B on 2nd March 2025 and the resistance to fire parts will be removed on 2nd September 2029.
What does this mean in effect to manufacturers?
This means that the BS 476 series of Standards will no longer form an acceptable means of satisfying the statutory Regulatory requirements in England from these dates. The only option will then be the alternative European system based on the EN 13501 series of Standards. Any product or system which only has fire data relating to the national classification system (BS 476) will no longer be compliant with English Building Regulations.
Where the first round of changes has consequences for any Certificates provided by the BBA, we have taken immediate action to contact the Certificate holders to enable them to provide alternative classification to the EN 13501 system. Where they are not able to do this by 2nd March 2025 the Certificate will be revised so that the relevant restrictions on the permissible areas of use, as defined by Approved Document B for England, will be applied.
Any manufacturer who has questions regarding the fire data contained within their BBA Certificate should contact the BBA now here:
What does this mean for designers, specifiers and users?
Anyone selecting a product for use should, as a matter of course, always check the validity of a Certificate by visiting the MyBBA platform here. Designers, specifiers and product users should be mindful that it is, of course, a legal responsibility to comply with the requirements of the national Building Regulations and must therefore ensure that the correct Standards are in place for the project they are working on.
You can find out all the details regarding these changes on the Government website here:
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