Joinery standards update from the technical team at BWF

As mentioned in BWF President David Pattenden's look back at 2013, our technical steer last year was very much dominated by the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), which dictated that from 1 July 2013 it would be mandatory for manufacturers to apply CE marking to any of their products which are covered by a harmonised European standard (hEN) or European Technical Assessment (ETA). Currently CE marking is mandatory for windows and external doorsets.

2014 looks set to be a busy year for standards work, with the harmonised standard for windows and external doorsets performance (EN 14351-1) set to be reviewed.  EN 14351-2 for internal pedestrian doorsets will continue to be drafted in 2014 with the publication date unconfirmed. This will start the process for CE marking of internal pedestrian doorsets.  We are also working on the proposed harmonised standard for fire door performance, prEN16034, which could be published as early as the Summer but we still do not know what the transition period will be. A longer transition period will of course mean a longer time period before CE Marking becomes mandatory for the product.

For staircases, the 5 year review should begin on EN 15644:2009 – Traditionally designed prefabricated stairs made of solid wood. Specifications and requirements. In addition to this EN 14076 – Timber Stairs – Terminology is due to be published at the end of March 2014 and prEN 16481 (calculation methods) is due for formal vote in the first quarter of the year.

BWF is actively participating and keeping a watching brief on over 30 UK and European standard committees and we will inform you of developments and give you plenty of time to feed your views in so that we can represent you effectively through our activities.