What is BBA and why is it important?

What is BBA and why is it important?

Building Surveyors and architects will almost certainly find themselves specifying products at some point in their career.  

With an ever-increasing choice of products available, which ones should be on your specification list?

This article will look at the advantages and disadvantages of specifying BBA products using the constraints of time, quality and cost.

Quality

What is BBA?

The BBA (British Board of Agrément) is the only UK organisation that offers an independent approval service for construction products, systems and installers.

They are the UK’s major authority for providing reassurance to consumers and achieve this through Agrément Certificates.

Product approval is recognised throughout the construction industry as a symbol of quality and reassurance.

To receive product certification, a product has to undergo extensive testing, both in the laboratory and live installations, to a pre-defined regime that might also include other standards.

The agrément certificate is issued for a product following successful and detailed assessment.

In addition, the manufacturer is audited to ensure they have an adequate quality management system. Repeated testing is undertaken for the duration of the certificate’s validity period.

Example

I was recently involved in gaining BBA Approval for Liquasil’s cut edge corrosion treatment and metal roof coating systems.

It was a very interesting procedure that took approximately 18 months from start to finish.

Initially, it involved putting together the documentation required to enable BBA to determine the nature of the testing regime that would be required.

It was followed with visits to the BBA premises in Watford to finalise the testing methodology and to deliver and prepare samples of the products on suitable test panels.

The testing procedure assessed certain key factors including;

·        Properties in relation to fire,

·        Protection from corrosion

·        Resistance to mechanical damage

·        Adhesion

·        Durability

Additional Testing

In addition to the BBA’s own testing, further samples had to be submitted to BRE for fire testing to current regulations.

This involved submitting the coating to direct flame and 1200°c temperatures to determine the extent of surface spread of flame.

The manufacturing process had to be assessed, with representative samples being taken from numerous production batches, to ensure that accurate quality control procedures were in place.

This is an ongoing requirement and testing takes place every six months.

Cost & Time Implications

The cost of gaining BBA Approval for a product runs into tens of thousands of pounds, though this will vary on a product-by-product basis and the complexity of the testing regime.

As you can appreciate, this cost is ultimately reflected in the price of the product being tested, though in our case, we simply absorbed this since our roof coating products are usually purchased in very large volumes, so the per litre cost for testing is negligible.

Generally, the time frames for application are exactly the same or very similar and won't adversely affect the project time.

In fact, we are often told that our BBA Approved systems are cheaper and quicker to apply than most non-tested equivalent products.

Reassurance & Protection For The Professional Specifier

When specifying products for use on construction projects, it is a wise to err on the side of caution.

Nobody wants to be sued for specifying a sub-standard product or one that isn’t fit for purpose.

We all want to protect our Professional Indemnity insurance policies against claims.

Unfortunately, because of the sheer number of competing products available, who knows what is best and who has the time to read through countless product brochures and websites?

BBA Approval is really the only true measure of fitness for purpose in the UK construction industry.

In effect, an Agrément Certificate is the specifier’s insurance policy – it demonstrates, without fear of contradiction, that you have chosen a best of breed product.

In short, if you choose a BBA Approved product, it’s not going to come back and bite you in the backside, should something go wrong later on.

How Do You Find BBA Approved Products?

As you might expect, BBA has a website at www.bbacerts.co.uk where you can easily search for tested and approved products.

Simply click on the “Certificate Search” button when arriving at the website and type in the keywords or phrase that best matches what you’re looking for.

Example:

In the screenshot example, we searched for the term “asbestos roof coating” which brings back one result, Liquasil’s asbestos roof coating system, which has had approval for three years.

Conclusion

There are lots of reasons to specify only BBA Approved products, as I have already highlighted.

The cost of BBA Approved products is not necessarily higher than a non-approved product.

Specifying non-approved products could put you and your company at risk, should something go wrong later.

Ultimately, it’s your choice, but having witnessed the testing procedures personally, I can attest to the fact that the process is very thorough and provides a lot of reassurance to me as a building surveyor.

Written by David Carter & Harry Street