Centre for Window and Cladding Technology

Last updated

Centre for Window and Cladding Technology
Formation1989
Purpose Advocacy group
Lobbying
Location
Products Building materials
Construction
Website cwct.co.uk

The Centre for Window and Cladding Technology (CWCT) is a publisher of standards and guidance only (not regulations), on corrosion, intrusion, fenestration, weather and fire resistance, acoustic and impact performance, of building envelopes, facades, cladding and glazing. Founded in 1989 and based in Bath, Somerset, [1] the CWCT provides training and courses, hosts international events, conferences, seminars and is recognised by over 330 member companies within the construction industry. [2]

Contents

Guidance on Fire Performance of façade cladding

TN98 (supersedes previous technical note TN73) Guidance for the fire performance of facades (including cladding) and suggests that any buildings with compartmented floors will limit spread of fire, thus affecting the design of interface points where the compartment floors meet the façade. Therefore, both of those components must be considered together, not in isolation. Fire resisting construction discourages the use of combustible materials in cladding to minimize the spread of fire, together with insisting adequate fire barriers are employed within building cavities. The specific fire strategy for the building, will be set out by the fire engineer including the requirements for the façade cladding. The fire performance of the cladding and façade should form a key part of the early in the design process and fire strategy. [3] Clearly the fire regulations specified here fall short of any requirement to state life saving requirements of fire spread by external cladding, cladding specification is entirely dependent on type of building construction combined with fire strategy dictated by the local fire officer, all is very ambiguous and clearly needs some serious changes to effect a fire resistant building, only apparent since the Grenfell Tower fire. [4]

Documents published by the CWCT

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References

  1. "Centre for Window and Cladding Technology". cwct.co.uk. CWCT is located in the City of Bath
  2. "Centre for Window and Cladding Technology (CWCT) Home". cwct.co.uk. 2016.
  3. "TN98 Fire performance of facades - Guide to the requirements of UK Building Regulations" (PDF). CWCT. 2017.
  4. "Where have cladding fire tests failed?". BBC. 2017.
  5. "CWCT Documents". thenbs.com. 2016.