CWCT CE Marking

Guidance for specifiers > Curtain Walling

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Fitness for purpose

The presence of a CE Mark on a product does not imply fitness for purpose. CE Marking does not take away from the Specifier the responsibility to specify appropriate products capable of deleivering the required performance.

CE marking of some performance characteristics is on the basis of classes of performance, for instance watertightness. The Specifier should state which class of performance is required.

CE marking of other performance characteristics, for instance U-value, is on the basis of a declared value. The Specifier should state what value is required.

Guidance on CE marking of performance may be found using the 'performance' section above.

Scope

EN 13830 defines curtain walling as a kit intended to be used as a building envelope to provide weather resistance, safety in use and environmental control. EN 13830 applies to walls with an overall slope that lies between vertical and 150 of vertical

CE marking applies to a 'curtain walling kit'. This is defined as the set of all components required to complete the assembly of the curtain wall at site. For pre-assembled forms of construction a kit comprises the pre-assembled units, glazing, brackets and seals. For site assembled walls a kit comprises all framing members, glazing, spandrel panels, insulation, brackets and seals. Note that CE marking applies whether the kit comprises parts of a system intended for use on many different buildings or custom parts produced for use on a single building.


What performance is CE marked?

When a Specifier uses a wholely performance based specification then the CE Mark should declare performance equal to or exceeding the requested performance.

When a Specifier selects or details elements of the curtain wall or window the CE Mark will declare the performance of the wall as built, these may not be the values anticipated by the specifier.


Important ommissions

There are aspects of performance that are not covered by CE Marking. In particular:

  • The selection of glass to have acceptable post-failure performance and provide containment.
  • Movement acommodation
  • Access devices and anchors
  • Performance of shading devices.


    • Windows in curtain walling

    Windows in curtain walling are CE marked in accordance with EN 14351-1. The remainder of the curtain wall and the window / wall interface are CE marked as curtain walling in accordance with EN 13830. This recognises that the fixed parts of the wall will have higher air, water and wind performance than opening windows. Note that other performance such a thermal transmission is consider for the whole wall including windows.

    The architectural secification will have requirements for the wall as a whole to cover air, water and wind performance.

  • The overall air permeability is established by adding the air permeability through the windows and through the fixed part of the wall. The Specialist Contractor may be requested to give a separate declaration of the overall air permeability.
  • The overall water leakage will be determined by the lowest performance of any window or the fixed part of the wall.

  • The overall wind resistancewill be determined by the lowest performance of any window or the fixed part of the wall.