Fires on or near roofs can threaten an entire home or commercial premises. However, a third-party certificated roofing system can assist in managing this fire risk, says independent third party approvals body BRE Global.
The imminent introduction of TS 1187, the European test standard for roof systems, will change the external fire performance classification of roofing systems. While for UK regulatory purposes, the test method will follow the principles of BS 476-3: 2004, it will classify roofing systems and products based on their fire penetration performance only.
However, the UK insurance industry has expressed a preference for a classification system that takes account of flame spread as well as fire penetration in order to limit the extent of fire damage. As a result, the LPCB scheme for approval and classification of roofing systems, LPS 1505: Requirements for the LPCB approval and listing of external fire performance for roofing products, will take into account both spread of flame and penetration.
“LPS 1505 will continue to provide classifications, based on BS 476-3, which UK insurers and specifiers are familiar with and which meets their property protection requirements,” said LPCB’s Certification Scheme Manager for Passive Fire Protection, Tony Baker.
LPS 1505 requires initial type testing and ongoing audit testing of the product supported by factory production control audits to establish consistent quality of production.
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