SPECIFIER NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 21 – OCTOBER 2022
When specifying a construction project, what does it mean to choose suitable or appropriate materials?
How do you satisfy yourself that something is fit for purpose? And when a material or product is used on site, how do you know it has been installed correctly?
An area of building regulations sometimes overlooked is that dealing with materials and workmanship, so this month’s newsletter examines it in more detail.
Do you view fitness for purpose and good workmanship the same as the regulations? Do the regulations achieve what they set out to do? Get in touch and let us know what you think.
Focus on materials and workmanship
What is regulation 7 of the Building Regulations?
Regulation 7 of the Building Regulations 2010 sets out the legislative requirement for materials and workmanship as part of building work. As originally written, the regulation only featured one paragraph. However, changes made to the regulation in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire brought it to much greater prominence.
Arguably, the aspect of the Building Regulations that most people are familiar with is the Approved Documents. Regulation 7 is unique among the numbered regulations in having its own corresponding Approved Document, called Approved Document 7.
What does regulation 7 say about materials?
Regulation 7 says, “Building work shall be carried out with adequate and proper materials.” It lists the following criteria for materials to be considered adequate and proper.
i) “Are appropriate for the circumstances in which they are used.”
ii) “Are adequately mixed or prepared.”
iii) “Are applied, used or fixed so as adequately to perform the functions for which they are designed.”
Regulation 7 also says, “Building work shall be carried out in a workmanlike manner.”
Like the other Approved Documents, Approved Document 7 supports the formal regulation by giving guidance on how to meet it. A definition of ‘materials’ is given as including “manufactured products such as components, fittings, items of equipment and systems; naturally occurring materials such as stone, timber and thatch; and backfilling for excavations in connection with building work.”
It then lists ways in which the fitness of materials can be established. For example, construction products that have a harmonised standard can be affixed with the CE mark (or UKCA mark). However, conformance with a harmonised standard ‘only’ shows the product has been manufactured to a common technical standard.
Many specifiers like to see independent certification, such as a BBA certificate, that also helps to demonstrate a product’s fitness for purpose. Where no harmonised standard exists for a product, independent certification may be the only way a manufacturer can demonstrate its product’s suitability.
What does regulation 7 say about workmanship?
Approved Document 7 contains a similar list for determining the adequacy of workmanship, as follows, including standards.
National and international standards often detail ways in which materials and components should be used or installed. For example, sections 5 and 6 of BS 6229:2018 cover materials and workmanship for flat roofs.
If a certain level of workmanship was required to achieve a particular test result, that will be detailed in the product test report and any supporting third-party certification will detail how the same level of installation can be achieved.
Continue reading for more detail about how regulation 7 defines the fitness of materials and the adequacy of workmanship, and to learn about how the regulation has changed since 2018.
Polyfoam resource
Independent third-party certification acts as peace of mind for designers and specifiers. It gives confidence that materials and products are fit for purpose and contribute to meeting regulation 7.
Polyfoam XPS’s ground floor and flat roof products were recently recertified by the BBA, meaning that our Floorboard and Roofboard ranges have been reassessed against the most recent Building Regulation updates.
Visit the technical support section of the Polyfoam XPS website to download the up-to-date certificates.
What’s caught our eye this month
The Regs: While we wait for government to act on embodied carbon, what can architects do? – Via Architects Journal
Developers will lose customers if they fail to retrofit buildings – Via Building Design
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