Lucideon, the international provider of materials development, testing and assurance, and formerly known as Ceram, has developed the third edition, Special Publication (SP) 148 of the Technical Report and Design Guidance for the Use of Wienerberger Porotherm Blocks in the UK.
Porotherm* masonry has a long history of successful use in mainland Europe and was launched into the UK market in 2008. Although Porotherm blocks comply with the relevant product standard BS EN 771-1 and carry the CE mark, guidance on their use was limited. In March 2010, the British Standard Code of Practice, BS 5628 was withdrawn and superseded by EN 1996, Eurocode 6. BS 5628 did not provide guidance on the use of Porotherm masonry.
In order to meet the requirements of the Building Regulations, Lucideon developed the first edition of the Technical Report and Guide, SP 147. The first edition demonstrated that Porotherm masonry can be designed to incorporate an equivalent level of design safety to BS 5628. Although BS 5628 was withdrawn in 2010, designs to it will continue to be produced and the relevant guidance, although not available in this edition of the guide, is available from Wienerberger.
The third edition, SP 148 includes the means of demonstrating compliance with the Building Regulations using Eurocode 6, the National Annexes to it and the Published Document, PD 6697, which includes the guidance that was previously in BS 5628, which complements that in Eurocode 6. Although Porotherm masonry is within the scope of Eurocode 6, the detail is limited; attempting to cover in detail, all of the various national traditions throughout Europe would have been a vast task. Consequently, there was a need for supplementary guidance and additional design data, hence the publication of SP 148.
SP 148 includes new test data on products and their suitability for use in Porotherm masonry is confirmed. As compliance with the Building Regulations is by design, independent certification is not relevant. Some of the components may be certified by e.g. BBA or BRE. The Technical Report and Guide has been drafted in a similar way to a Code of Practice and much of the terminology should be familiar. Where values are given for use in the design, the supporting test data is summarised in the many annexes. The complete Lucideon reports are available from Wienerberger.
*Porotherm is a Wienerberger Group brand.
Download the free Technical Report and Guide at: www.lucideon.com/construction.