ACP Cladding / Codemark Certificate Withdrawals

Recently, some CodeMark Certifications for a number of widely-used ACP cladding products were withdrawn following an audit by JAS-ANZ. 

For further information on the withdrawal and why it came about, as well as the specific products affected, please see the links to the press releases at the end of this alert.  

How does this affect Hutchies?

Authorities/clients/consultants have already expressed confusion over the validity of the CodeMark Certificates on both past and current projects. 

In some cases, fire brigades have been resistant to CodeMark Certificates, so Hutchies has already been insisting on including ACP usage in a project Fire Engineering Report (FER) for some time.

The withdrawal of these CodeMark Certifications essentially makes it mandatory to do this now.

What do I need to do from here?

Please ensure your façade submissions to the Quality Team includes the FER without reference to the Codemark Certificates. 

Façade submissions to the Quality Team are mandatory for ALL projects, without exception.

Please ensure a fire engineer reviews and produces the FER for the use of ACP products. 

This needs to be backed by the Building Surveyor/Certifier and approved by the fire brigade as necessary. Performance solutions on life safety includes external walls and is a legislated requirement as noted in the Quality Handbook Topic 21.

What about existing projects which were covered by the withdrawn CodeMark Certifications?

CertMark International has advised that any projects completed prior to the withdrawal of the current certificates are still covered by the withdrawn certificate. More information on this is contained in the CertMark press release.

However, despite this, some authorities appear to be resisting acceptance of the CodeMark Certificate on projects commenced prior to the withdrawal that do not have final certification/occupancy certificates in place.

Please clarify with your consultants on any current projects to be certain there are no issues down the track at completion. It may be necessary to have the fire engineer amend the FER to avoid reliance on any CodeMark Certificate.

Don’t delay. 

Ensure this check is completed immediately and ensure the determination is provided unconditionally by the Building Surveyor/Certifier. Unconditionally means not subject to other conditions such as fire brigade acceptance. 

We need to be certain this will not delay completion on any current projects!