How does CE Marking affect balcony design?

CE Marking Key Points

• Read BS EN 1090
• Typically buildings require EXC 2 compliance
• Balconies and balustrades are included
• Mandatory compliance started 01/07/2014

What is CE Marking?

CE marking is the European Economic Area (EEA) mandatory mark to indicate a product meets harmonised (BS EN) Standards. It shows that manufacturers check products comply with standards and allows free movement within the EEA. The letters “CE” are the abbreviation of the French phrase “Conformité Européene” which literally means “European Conformity”

How does CE Marking affect balconies?

On 1st July 2014, it became mandatory in the UK to comply with BS EN 1090 (Steel and aluminium structures). It is now a legal requirement to CE mark such products.

This indicates compliance with the Construction Product Regulation (CPR) and that they have come from organisations with Factory Production Control (FPC) Qualifications and a Welding Quality Management System (WQMS) where appropriate. Typically, this requires organisations to have suitable systems for enabling traceability, have independently tested weld procedures in place, along with an appointed Responsible Weld Coordinator (RWC) suitable trained and qualified.

For the majority of buildings constructed in the UK, Execution Class two (EXC2) will be the appropriate requirement. Where no Execution Class is specified, Clause 4.1.2 of BS EN 1090-2 states that EXC2 shall apply. The Execution Class is the sole responsibility of the Structural Engineer. However, EN 1090 states “the engineer should avoid over-specification of the Execution Class wherever possible to avoid unnecessary costs being introduced. However EN 1090 states ‘the engineer should avoid over-specification…traceability requirement of EXC2’.

There was originally much confusion as to whether BS EN 1090 included balustrades and privacy screens. The CEN issued document N738 on 29/5/2015 which confirms balustrades and privacy screens do fall within BS EN 1090 when forming an edge guarding or are an integral part of a structure.

However, the Trading Standards advice (the authority which enforces compliance) has differed from this, suggesting that it does not deem balconies to fall within the scope of BS EN 1090.

We use a broad supply chain of carefully chosen companies certified to varying classes specified in BS EN1090. This ensures all relevant CE marking requirements can be fulfilled.