WORK HAS BEGUN ON LRWA PRODUCT REGISTER
Following discussions in our members’ meeting and workshop earlier this year, we are preparing to start work on the new LRWA Product Register, which we are aiming to officially launch by the end of this year.
This is a new initiative that will provide contractors, distributors and specifiers with a tool enabling them to quickly and easily assess the suitability of liquid systems, based on information contained in third-party accreditations.
Accreditations provide the data that is needed to confirm that individual products will meet specified requirements and perform as expected. For the liquid waterproofing industry, agrément certificates and European Technical Approval (ETA) certificates are commonly used.
However, understanding agrément and ETA documents can be challenging and one of our biggest concerns is that people don’t read agrément certificates properly. This can lead to people making inaccurate assumptions or relying too heavily on manufacturers’ own product claims, some of which are misleading.
The LRWA Product Register aims to resolve these issues by compiling product information from agrément and ETA documents into a format that is quick and easy to read. This will ensure that anyone seeking to specify or install a liquid waterproofing solution can make an informed decision and that the product will perform as expected.
Our first step will be to visit all manufacturer members in the summer to gather information about their liquid product offerings, which will form a database of intelligence for the LRWA. This process will also be required as part of our re-audit, which is explained further in this newsletter (http://www.lrwa.org.uk/members-audit/)
CEO, Sarah Spink, said: “This is a really exciting initiative which will benefit members, contractors, distributors and building owners alike. We recognised we needed to know what suitable products are in the market and understand more about the liquid market by looking at the verified product claims outlined in their certificates and making sense of it.
“It’s a big piece of work but one that will prove extremely useful for our sector.”
Depending on their route to market, manufacturers can opt out of information being added to the publicly available LRWA Product Register, but will remain on the internal LRWA database.
