The Springboard Guidelines are accelerating the certification of insulation materials

The new Springboard Guidelines have shown just how effective they are in helping new families of insulation products to have their thermal values certified by Acermi.

When ACERMI launched its Springboard Guidelines at the end of 2013, the goal was clear: to enable emerging companies and their insulation products to have the benefit of thermal resistance certification quickly and efficiently. The traditional certification procedure does not always enable a rapid response to the needs of manufacturers or the market, because it takes around two years to develop product guidelines.

Whilst remaining fully consistent with the General Guidelines, the Springboard Guidelines adapt to meet the technical constraints of manufacturers. The process involves two in-plant audits per year, on-site sampling and laboratory testing.

The Springboard Guidelines apply to families of insulation materials that are not covered by existing ACERMI Product Guidelines. By addressing only those characteristics directly related to thermal performance (thickness, thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, emissivity, settling and aging, as required), the Springboard Guidelines make it possible to gain certification for a three-year non-renewable period. The certification procedure is limited to a maximum of four months from receipt of full technical documentation, except for products requiring tests that by their nature require a longer period of time (aging, settling, etc.) or must be submitted for a Technical Assessment or DTA. The three-year period is then used to prepare specific product guidelines as the basis for full certification.

Since they were first introduced, the Springboard Guidelines have gained further appendices covering the specialist sectors of formwork blocks, vacuum insulation products and insulating concretes.

Products submitted for thermal performance certification must previously have demonstrated their suitability for purpose. This is why the Springboard Guidelines apply only to those products covered by a Technical Assessment, Technical Application Document, DTU, Type A ATEx or even professional rules demonstrating that the product contributes to improving the thermal performance of a structure by increasing its thermal resistance by at least 0.25 m2.K/W.