Independently assessment of smoke curtain installation.

[Tom Sutton]

I have a query regarding the quality assessment of a smoke curtain installation and I would be grateful for some assistance.  My query is this: is there a governing body that will independently assess a smoke curtain installation for compliance with BS7346 Part 3?  

In addition to product characteristics such as thermal performance and surface spread of flame requirements (to BS476), compliance with BS734-3 requires gaps between curtains and adjacent structure/walls to be maintained to less than 60mm.  Therefore, even if the curtain itself comes from a reputable source with a BS7346-3 certificate, does the installer also need to be self-certifying regarding the actual installation or is there an independent body who carry out assessments of installations?

I received the above enquiry recently and I am aware there is third party certification but do not know if there is any governing body who would conduct an independently assessment of a smoke curtain installation or any other fire safety installation.

[John Webb]

My former colleagues in BRE have considerable experience in running 'hot smoke' tests if you actually want to try out the workings of a smoke curtain installation - try www.bre.co.uk - and possibly the LPCB certification now also run by BRE might be able to assist? Warrington et al may also be worth approaching.

[Dragonmaster]

TRy contacting the British Board of Agrement (via google). They certificate 'one off' or non-standard instalations and may be able to assist.

[Tom Sutton]

Thanks for your help BBA http://www.bbacerts.co.uk/ seems to be the answer but I am still waiting for a response from my enquirer.

I see there was an article in the Fire Risk Management about third party accreditation but reading previous threads on this forum there doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm for it.

[wee brian]

BBA are more about products that on site stuff. I dont think they have any fire engineers working for them.