Detailed Approach Proves Robust
18 September, 2006Robust Details Limited (RDL) has demonstrated its commitment to helping industry raise the acoustic standards of new homes with its decision to withdraw its E-FC-3 floating screed floor from the RDL Scheme.
RDL employs a rigorous performance monitoring programme to ensure high levels of compliance and is the only company able to report on the performance of Building Regulations on a national scale. As a result, RDL has established that whilst, where built strictly in accordance with the approved specification, Robust Detail E-FC-3 performs very well, it can be susceptible to workmanship error.
Dave Baker, Chief Executive of RDL, says; "We have set a 95 percent compliance criteria for each individual Robust Detail to ensure exceptional standards. In the case of E-FC-3 these standards have not been achieved. "We identified a potential problem at an early stage thanks to our performance monitoring programme. We found that, on a number of sites, insufficient care and attention was being given to the edge treatment of this floor. As such, we worked with builders and put in place a series of initiatives to alert their teams to this potential problem and educate them on the correct installation.
"Unfortunately, despite good performance in the majority of cases, testing and inspection proved that an unacceptable proportion of floors continued to deviate from the Robust Detail. The strength of the Robust Details Scheme lies in its ability to consistently achieve higher than regulatory standards and, under RDL's strict criteria, this detail can no longer be regarded as 'robust'. This led us to take this unprecedented decision.”
Last Autumn, RDL initiated a programme to rectify the problem including: issuing an Important Notice with all new E-FC-3 registration documents highlighting the attention required to the edge detailing; developing an animated presentation and a regional seminar programme to help instruct users in the critical features of floating screed floors. However, tests carried out by RDL show that, despite these measures, errors are still being made in the construction of this floor. Accordingly, RDL has determined that no new registrations for Robust Detail E-FC-3 will be accepted with effect from 1st November 2006.
RDL has written to all customers, advising them to take steps to ensure that RDL guidance is followed. Builders have also been given the option to re-register with another Robust Detail. This can be done providing that either on-site works have not started on the units to re-register, or that their Building Control Body is happy for such a change to be made. RDL will continue to inspect and test these floors so that builders continuing to build under existing E-FC-3 registrations can be confident that these floors will achieve the required level of performance.
The Robust Details Scheme has proved extremely successful to date. When the new Regulations were first introduced, the government set a broad target for 90 percent compliance within 10 years. RDL has surpassed this, achieving 97 percent compliance overall within just two years. Performance monitoring is an invaluable part of the strategy to ensure these standards are maintained and improved for the benefit of the industry as a whole.
RDL also seeks to provide the widest possible array of solutions to Part E of the Building Regulations to help raise the standards and ensure that the scheme is accessible to all builders across England and Wales. A number of other Robust Details are currently available to builders for pre-cast concrete plank separating floors, either using a screed with a resilient layer, or a floating floor treatment. What's more, RDL is currently assessing new pre-cast floor 'candidate' Robust Details, which subject to further satisfactory testing, should be published and available for use in 2007.
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For further press information, please contact Kristina Crowe at Phoenix plc on 01372 370825 or email kristinac@phoenixplc.com
