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Insulation manufacturer Rockwool has issued technical guidance to specifiers, architects and contractors on the use of bonded construction materials and their Euroclass reaction-to-fire rating.

The government issued a ban on combustible materials in the external walls of relevant buildings over 18m in 2018. Construction elements attached to the facade, such as upstands, balconies and terraces, fall within the scope of the ban.

Some manufacturers have adopted techniques that include the bonding of insulation materials to create a composite board as a solution for these applications. But Rockwool warned this “raises the potential for an inaccurate reaction-to-fire rating to be claimed on the finished product”.

It has responded by writing a technical bulletin to give advice on the use of these composite products, and the potential impact of these on a building’s compliance with both Approved Document B (ADB) and the combustible ban (the need to achieve Euroclass A2-s1, d0 or better).

Lisa Stephens, product manager – building envelope, at Rockwool UK, said: “Put simply, we’re seeing assumptions within the industry that bonding two Euroclass A1-rated materials together results in a composite A1 product, which certainly isn’t always the case.

“It’s important that we support the industry to understand the importance of designing, specifying and working with products that meet stringent safety ratings. We hope that adding this technical bulletin to our suite of support resources will give valuable advice to a wide range of audiences.”

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