A brand-new website portal has been launched to promote building safety and thermal efficiency.
The free-to-use Recognised Construction Details Portal will help architects, builders, designers and energy assessors to comply with building and fire regulations.
The portal has been developed by the Building Alliance in partnership with the Aircrete Products Association, the Brick Development Association (BDA) and the Concrete Block Association, with technical support from Studio Partington Architects. It will be officially launched on Monday July 17 2023.
Patrick Lewis, Technical Manager at the BDA, explained: “The horrific Grenfell Tower fire tragedy graphically illustrated how important it is to have stringent fire and safely regulations in place. It is also vital that key players in the construction industry are aware of all the changes and updates to these regulations. Our new portal does exactly that, as well as explaining the enhanced fabric performance of building materials.
“More specifically, the portal looks at the introduction of Part L 2021 and the changes to Part B of the Building Regulations with a suite of independently assessed and certified thermal junction detail and information.”
Mike Leonard, CEO of the Building Alliance said. “We are confident that this ground-breaking and informative portal will prove invaluable to energy assessors, architects, builders and regulators and will be of greatest value to the SME businesses who do not have access to the technical resources enjoyed by larger companies.
“With climate change and building safety dominating a busy period of change for the construction industry, the introduction of the new Fire Detailing Guide for buildings under 11m will prove vital information to designers, constructors, building control and other professionals.
“With the fantastic support of architects Studio Partington, and with advice from energy assessors, great care has been taken to ensure that the thermal and fire details do not clash with Robust Details which covers acoustics. Buildability is also a key issue, so the help of members of the Association of Brickwork Contractors ensures the details work in practice.”
Building Alliance Community Interest Company works with leading manufacturers and other professionals, to ensure the best possible regulatory and trading conditions to deliver a high quality, sustainable and resilient built environment.
Meanwhile the new portal has been praised by other building industry stakeholders.
“We are really pleased to see the finished version of this ground-breaking website and we are sure that designers and Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) assessors alike will find it a valuable tool in providing cost effective, sustainable solutions for masonry construction. The ease at which designers can get to psi values with practical construction details and checklist for the detail will be a great asset in closing the design v construction gap,” said Cliff Fudge, the chair of the Aircrete Products Association (APA) Technical Committee.
Eve Livett, the CEO of the Association of Brickwork Contractors, commented: “We are delighted to have been involved with the development of the Fire Detailing Guide. Input from ABC Brickwork Contractors strengthens the practicality of the details, which is imperative to a productive programme and the overall safety of a building. It is great to see designers, specifiers and builders all working together at this stage to support a robust Golden Thread of information, which is crucial for the supply chain and the Construction Industry.”
Owen Gallagher, Group Production Controller of Plasmor Ltd, added: “After 18 months of hard work, we are excited to be offering to the Masonry Industry a comprehensive collection of Thermal Bridging Details to enhance the technical performance of masonry-built dwellings on our route towards the Future Homes Standard of 2025.
“We are delivering a comprehensive suite of details on insulation and blockwork to promote the future of masonry construction. The future is exciting as this is a great resource to be utilised by many: Developers, architects, SAP Assessors, energy consultants, building engineers and building control”.
The Recognised Construction Details Portal can be found at:
www.recognisedconstructiondetails.co.uk