Building Product Appraisals

The Building Act requires all building work, including all building products, to comply with the ‘performance requirements’ of the New Zealand Building Code(NZBC).

BEAL provides an independent means of verifying compliance of a building product or system, with each relevant clause of the New Zealand Building Code, as well as general quality requirements.

For example, in order to demonstrate that a roof membrane complies with the NZBC, the manufacturer (or its New Zealand representative) must be able to verify compliance against such clauses as B2 for Durability, and E2 for External Moisture (weathertightness) and so on. It may also be useful (for marketing purposes) to verify compliance with other clauses such as F2 which covers Hazardous Materials in order to show that the product is not hazardous to users.

The idea of evaluating a building product is one endorsed by Governments in Great Brittan, France, the Nordic countries, many European countries, and provided by non-government organisations such as the ICC Evaluation Service (of the USA), BRANZ and BEAL (in New Zealand). An appraisal is a process by which a) the performance of the materials and the assembly of materials are evaluated (tested) and b) the ongoing management of risks associated with the use of the materials and assembly of materials is defined and monitored or audited.

On the one hand the performance of the materials is investigated, while on the other hand the means by which the manufacturer (or importer/distributor) monitors and manages the potential for things to go wrong, is assessed. The evaluation of the performance of the design of an assembly of materials is also part of the appraisal process.

For more detailed information about the appraisal process click on the link here.