BSI launches installer verification scheme for Approved Document Q

BSI, the business improvement company has launched a new verification scheme to help non-manufacturer installers of windows and doors demonstrate compliance with Approved Document Q. This new scheme provides installers with independent verification that they fulfil this aspect of The Building Regulations by assessing their organisation’s capability to supply and install products that meet PAS 24: Enhanced security performance requirements for doorsets and windows in the UK. This is one of the routes to compliance referenced within Approved Document Q for England and Wales covering security in dwellings.

Installers of easily accessible windows and doors are required to provide evidence of compliance of Approved Document Q by installing products that have been manufactured to a design shown by test, to meet the security requirements of PAS 24. This is applicable to new dwellings, and existing buildings which have had a ‘material change of use’ and become dwellings where they were previously not.

This must be demonstrated via certification or test reports to those who require it, such as Local Authority Building Control, contractors, developers and NHBC. These reports are often owned by a third party and as a result, are not in the installer’s company name which can create delays in installation. By assessing an organisation’s capability to provide compliant products instead, this verification scheme enables the installer to achieve a certificate in their company name, verified by BSI that can be handed to those that require compliance evidence.

Andy Butterfield, Product Certification Director of Built Environment at BSI said: “The fenestration market has changed significantly in recent years – the installation market in particular has seen rapid growth. It’s vital that installers can prove that the windows and doorsets they are fitting, where required, meet the requirements of Approved Document Q to help ensure the security of homes. It can be hugely challenging for installers to demonstrate compliance using test and certification data sourced from their supply chain, if they haven’t manufactured the product. We’ve developed this scheme with those installers in mind.”

In order to achieve the verification certification for Doors & Windows (ADQ-VC), organisations are required to be independently assessed at BSI’s Centre of Excellence in Hemel Hempstead against ‘PAS 24: Enhanced security performance requirements for doorsets and windows in the UK. Doorsets and windows intended to offer a level of security suitable for dwellings and other buildings exposed to comparable risk.’ Tel: 0345 0765 606