The government has indefinitely extended CE marking, removed National Classes fire testing and mandated sprinklers in care homes in a surprise announcement this afternoon.
In a ministerial statement, building-safety minister Rushanara Ali said UK recognition of CE marking – an EU product regulation – will no longer end in June 2025.
Under previous plans, construction products would have had to be tested and certified under a new UK Conformity Assessed Mark, jettisoning the European standards.
However, the King’s Speech in July indicated Keir Starmer’s government might adopt a different approach to product marking.
Ali said the government had listened to the findings of Paul Morrell and Anneliese Day’s independent review of the construction products testing regime, released last spring.
The CE marking extension will be conditional on the government committing to “system-wide” reform of construction products regulation, taking into account recommendations from the final Grenfell Inquiry report, due on Wednesday (4 September).
Ali added that any changes to CE marking recognition would have a minimum two-year transitional period, which she said recognised “the need for industry to have sufficient certainty to support supply chains”.
She said: “Ensuring continuing supply of products is critical to delivering housebuilding targets and wider infrastructure ambitions. These products must be safe.
“Evidence to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry revealed the scale of concern about construction products – products which are vital to all our buildings and infrastructure – and the system that oversees them remains inadequate.”
The government will work with UK conformity assessment bodies, the UK Accreditation Service and the industry to strengthen the conformity assessment market, she added.
Ali also announced updates to Approved Document B (ADB), statutory fire-safety guidance accompanying building regulations.
From 2 March 2025, manufacturers will not be able to use the National Classes system to test products. Ali said this would end a dual classification system, favouring the “more rigorous” European standard.
There will be a transition period for manufacturers that currently use National Class to retest their products – six months for reaction to fire and five years for fire resistance.
Another ADB update mandates sprinklers in all new care homes. Such builds will also be expected to limit compartment sizes to 10 beds and have self-closing doors.
The new mandate will also not take effect until 2 March 2025. Projects that start before that date and have sufficiently progressed within six months will not be required to fit sprinklers.
