Standards

MPA Precast keeps a keen eye on national and international standards - this ensures that customers of our members receive the best quality products which are compliant to all relevant standards. As well as specific standards, many manufacturers also comply with ISO 9001, and ISO 14001 and ISO 45001/ OHSAS 18001.

Quality in design and production means precast units are extremely structurally efficient; they have a high span/depth and EC2 makes provision for reduced partial safety factors for precast, in acknowledgement of the controlled production environment.

MPA Precast is represented on relevant BSI committees and provides UK delegates to the CEN committees dealing with precast concrete products. We represent the views of members and report back with current information on progress and changes to product and installation standards and test methods. Members also receive a discount on BSI standards purchased through British Precast.

Eurocodes

Structural Eurocodes (referred to as Eurocodes) are a set of ten European Standards that contain common structural rules for the design of buildings and civil engineering structures.
 
Eurocodes are applicable to whole structures and to individual elements of structures and cater for the use of all the major construction materials such as concrete, steel, timber, masonry and aluminium.
 
More information on Eurocodes is available here.

Sustainability of Construction works standards (TC350)

CEN has published a number of standards on methods to assess the sustainability performance of construction products, buildings and infrastructure assets. The TC350 suite of standards includes EN 15804, the main core rule standard on environmental product declarations (EPDs), EN 15978, the main calculation method standard for the environmental impact of buildings and structures, EN 16309, the buildings’ social performance calculation standard, and a number of other standards.

The concrete industry has recently published EN 15767, which is the core rule standard for developing EPDs for concrete products (in line with EN 15804).

BES 6001 - Responsible Sourcing

BES 6001, the BRE standard, has been published to enable construction product manufacturers to ensure and then prove that their products have been made with constituent materials that have been responsibly sourced. The standard describes a framework for the organisational governance, supply chain management and environmental and social aspects that must be addressed in order to ensure the responsible sourcing of construction products.

UKCA Marking (previously CE marking)

CE marking remains the European Construction Product marking system in the EU, but as part of the UK leaving the EU, this is being replaced by the ‘UKCA’ mark. UKCA (United Kingdom Conformity Assessment) will be required for some products (mostly those currently being required to have CE marking) being placed onto the market in Great Britain.

The UKCA mark will not be recognised by the EU and products that are currently required to have CE marking will still require this marking if they are to be exported to the EU. Care should also be taken if manufacturers placing goods onto the market in Northern Ireland, where different rules will apply and UKCA marking alone will not fulfil.

The UKCA mark came into force on the 1st January 2021 (with existing CE marking be accepted as an alternative) until the end of the year. From 1st January 2022, only products using UKCA marking will be recognised and accepted in the UK.

The latest general government guidance on whether, and how to UKCA mark, can be found here and advice specific to the Construction Industry is provided here.

Building Regulations: Thermal Performance: Part L1A

The 2013 edition of Part L1A (new dwellings) came into force in April 2014. Key changes include a 6% reduction in CO2 emissions across the build mix, and a new ‘elemental recipe’ approach for producing compliant dwelling specifications. Our product associations the Aircrete Products Association and the Concrete Block Association have been involved in developing guidance on this regulation.