BBA launches certification scheme for reinforcing steel

The British Board of Agrément has announced a ‘natural progression’ to its industry-leading certification services with news of a new Reinforcing Steel Scheme designed to offer a straightforward and robust route to demonstrating industry compliance.

The Watford-based organisation has worked closely with the rebar sector and wider supply chain to ensure the scheme is straightforward yet robust, providing assurance that reinforcing steel products manufactured within its scope meet the relevant standards.

“Our scheme covers production at steel mills, cold rolling and processing and assures the supply chain of a high quality, consistent product verified by a third party auditing process control,” said Bill Hewlett, BBA Technical Director.

“The BBA has been listening to, talking with and questioning a wide range of stakeholders within the construction industry for many months to better understand their needs and develop solutions that match their requirements. The Reinforcing Steel Scheme is an example of this and will offer our existing clients and new customers a high-quality service that brings choice to the sector and meets the needs of major construction projects.”

The scheme assesses manufacturing, process control and management systems to industry defined standards, backed by continual benchmarking through material testing; the BBA samples products and witnesses in-house testing to determine compliance. Samples are also submitted to 3rd party UKAS accredited labs for confirmation on material compliance.

“This is an exciting development for us,” added Bill. “The BBA has more than 50 years’ experience in Agrément Certification, management systems audits/inspections and product testing, with huge depth of knowledge and skills within the organisation. It is a natural progression for us to apply this breadth of experience to the rebar market to assist in upholding industry best practice and a professional supply chain whilst working with product manufacturers to support their innovation.”