News

Introducing The Metalpad – Wallbarn’s Fire Rated Pedestal For Decking and Paving

February 17th, 2019

Previously viewed as specialist products, non-combustible pedestals and pads are now going to be essential to ensure compliance with fire regulations affecting the construction industry which have become significantly more stringent.

At Wallbarn, we are pro-actively reacting to the changes in fire safety regulations to ensure compliance with our products.

Based upon our ASP design to help distribute weight effectively, we are currently developing a steel adjustable pedestal which will be a Class A1 product.

The Class A fire rated pedestals have been designed to meet the requirements of every terrace and balcony specification which requires the installation of fire-rated products.

Our Class A1 fire rated pedestals have been created to offer a fully adjustable stainless steel solution offering longevity, durability and strength.

Key Advantages Include:

Suitable for paving slabs and timber decking
Superior quality
Suspended system
Fully adjustable
High quality
Rigorously tested
Durable and designed with longevity in mind

Offering a similar base to our universal pedestal, we will provide different headpieces for both decking and paving to ensure maximum versatility.

Using stainless steel to ensure extreme temperature tolerance, we are developing this bespoke product from scratch and it will be subject to extensive independent testing to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

After the tragic events at Grenfell, new legislation was introduced on 21^st December 2018 which specifically relates to the fire requirements of external balconies in England and Wales. and one of the keys to this is the need for non-combustible decking pedestals in some construction projects.

What Has Changed?

For the first time, balconies are now counted as part of the external wall and classified as a “specified attachment”. For building works which commenced after 20^th February 2019, the following now applies:

The construction of either:

new buildings which are:

over 18m, and
in which people sleep; or

for the refurbishment of existing buildings where:

changing the cladding would result in lower safety (i.e. recladding over concrete), or
the building is changing in use

then the new legislation indicates that all components of the wall must be individually tested as non-combustible (European Classification A2-s1, d0 (limited combustibility material) or A1).

Significantly there is no longer the ability to test a complete wall (or therefore balcony) system using BS8414.