Change is coming
By Jeremy Dunn, technical committee member of The Rooflight Association.
The EU Construction Products Regulation (CPR) 2024 introduced significant changes that aim to enhance sustainability, transparency, and efficiency in the construction sector. Stakeholders across the industry must now adapt to these new requirements to ensure compliance.
The changes impact everyone in the construction industry but currently only apply to UK businesses that wish to access the European market. We are waiting to see if the UK Government mirrors the EU CPR-2024 in changes to UK Designated Standards, as it has done before.
Guidance for stakeholders
The new EU CPR-2024 entered into force on 7January, this year. Since then, Construction Products Europe has published CPR guidance for stakeholders.
One noteworthy change is the replacement of mandates with standardisation requests. While the process is underway, it will take years to work through all the relevant construction products. Concrete and steel are the first to be tackled. Doors and windows are fourth on the list. The industry has worked hard to ensure that rooflights are included in this section and The Rooflight Association has been influential in this decision.
What do the changes mean for rooflights? Until the standardisation request for rooflights is published and new standards are developed to the new harmonised Technical Specification (hTS) the new CPR will not apply and is unlikely to do so before 2028.
In the meantime, we – in my capacity as a RA and BSI representative for CEN, the European Organisation for Standardisation, have taken a proactive approach and are doing what we can to get ahead and ensure UK businesses remain compliant and competitive.
We are making progress with the test methods and are currently waiting for a new draft standard on the thermal calculations from TC89. We are not changing the existing test methods; we are adding to them – with additional characteristics and product types.
The test method in the current standards, BS EN 1873 and BS EN 14963, only covers plastic rooflights, for example. The new one will include glass rooflights, walk-on rooflights and roof hatches. We’re also including slip resistance and rain noise (acoustic properties), for example. We will also try and include something on ventilation.
Under EU CPR-2024 it will be mandatory to declare environmental characteristics in the Declaration of Performance (DoP). We’re getting ahead and have produced a complementary Product Category Rule (c-PCR) for the environmental characteristics of rooflights. This has been sent for enquiry (prEN18189) – the first step in a sequential process.
What does this mean for you? While the transition period will be long, we are encouraging manufacturers, contractors, specifiers and installers to stay informed.
Under the Building Safety Act 2022 demonstrating competency is now a legal requirement. Individuals and companies must demonstrate competency through qualifications, experience, and professional development (CPDs).
The DoP plays a key role in ensuring product competency and traceability. Under the new CPR every product characteristic must be declared, including environmental performance. A competent professional will ensure that the DoP contains the right information and is complete.
The future
This is a steep learning curve for everyone involved in the traditional construction industry. While it may not yet apply to products marketed and sold in the UK, we need to be vigilant – stay informed and be knowledgeable about the products we make, select, sell, and install.
While the HSE and Building Safety Regulator are proving effective at policing the construction industry, we all have a duty of care – and for me, this means having the courage and confidence to say no to a product if it doesn’t meet the necessary requirements.
