With the increased popularity of timber panel systems in commercial design and now, the wider use on smaller domestic projects, there is a huge range of wooden slatted panels on the market to choose from.

Many of these use veneers or MDF and will often be manufactured overseas, usually in the EU or China – and whilst appropriate for private home improvement and small builds, sometimes upon closer inspection and due to the often limited or incomplete fire testing of these wood panel products, they are not actually compliant for large UK commercial projects.

A key stipulation of Approved Document B, including that all products be tested ‘fully assembled’ and in-line with their ‘field of application’, is that all assessment be carried out by ‘organisations listed as notified bodies’ in accordance with the European Construction Products Regulation or laboratories accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).’

Further to this, the Hackitt Report (the key government led review of Approved Document B and UK fire regulation after the Grenfell disaster - ‘Building a Safer Future: The Final Report’) states clearly that moving forward ‘all laboratories should be UKAS accredited’.

BCL recommend checking the details of fire testing for any acoustic timber panel product or wood cladding panels that are planned to be used on a major commercial UK project to ensure it aligns with the requirements of prevailing regulation. This is to avoid serious commercial risk towards the end of a project, as Building Control and 3^rd party Fire Assessment sign off on the final products used and installed within a building, avoiding forced change of products, delays and significant costs that are incurred if a product is deemed non-compliant, prior to hand over.

BCL undertake full systems EN13501-1 fire testing of our wood ceilings and timber wall panels for any project and provide a constantly growing library of pre-tested panel options, exclusively in UKAS laboratories only. We can also provide full classification reports, videos of specific fire burn tests and full transparency on our range of tests (including acoustic, fire and blast) – to provide the degree of assurance and traceability that is recommend for UK building products for the future.

BCL are almost complete at The Ashley Centre in Epsom! Comprising of approximately 1000sqm of 250x50mm beam casings, vertical fins and rooflight linings in our Aluminium ‘TIMBER EFFECT’, with an American Black Walnut faux wood finish.

Such large sections would not be possible in timber, mainly due to the weight but also the difficultly in keeping timber profiles straight after fire treatment. Therefore, a BCL non-combustible timber effect aluminium extrusion provided the ideal solution for the main contractor, ISG.

In order to meet several design challenges and provide increased efficiency, BCL also designed a bespoke, custom die extrusion. Because the extruded baffles are hollow, they required an endcap where the end was visible; we had these purpose made and finished to match the same fire resistant wood finish. 

With the help of our supplier, we overcame some tricky design concepts specifically the mitred corners on the upstands to existing skylights. The main challenge being keeping the mitres tight during transport and installation, without the use of unsightly surface fixings and maintaining the same consistent realistic wood effect finish. 

The team had to work nights in order to perform the work outside of shopping hours as the centre was still operational over the busy Christmas period. The program period was 14 weeks which was comfortably achieved by the team onsite.

We have had great feedback from our client ISG and the architect Leslie Jones. It is always great to receive positive feedback for hard work. We are excited to get photos of the final product with the recessed lighting on.

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Here we take a quick look at the installed BCL wood ceilings and timber wall panels that form part of Rotherhithe School, completed last year by Farrans construction. The project uses Siberian Larch slats, FR pressure impregnated and coated in FR lacquer for fire retardancy to provide Class B En13501-1 performance and delivers beautiful warmth throughout the main circulation spaces and external soffit areas of the building. 

As per all BCL acoustic timber panels, the areas were fully designed in Revit to BIM Level 4 and delivered to site with dedicated panel location references that correspond to the panel layouts & setting out drawings provided as part of the full design package included in any supply only BCL timber panel system. 

All strip lighting and services were fully designed and prefabricated into integrated service panels by BCL during manufacture stage in our ISO 9001 accredited factory, which has rigorous production & timber quality protocols to ensure not only accurate design & manufacture, but also full 'chain of custody'  FSC certification. 

BCL are delighted to have designed, manufactured and supplied these beautiful wooden slatted walls and timber slat ceilings for the end client, Farrans and look forward to the next key education project we can add value to through our fully design-flexible timber panels, that drastically reduce on site waste and installation time, to make large areas of timber walls & ceilings more efficiently deliverable, whilst meeting all key required fire & acoustic performance targets. 

For more beautiful examples of our work, check out our Projects page on our website by clicking here. 

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On the corner of Bishopsgate and Leadenhall sits the newest edition to the landscape of mega-offices within London's heart of the City – and within it, beautiful BCL wood ceilings with overlapping intersecting geometry, as its main focal point. The 50-story mixed use building will become home to the selection of corporations wishing to upscale their working environment, or gain new footing within the Metropolis and has already seen over 50% of its space occupied since its completion earlier this year.

Here we take a closer look at the project and its delivery, provided by the building’s principal engineers, Arup – whom which BCL worked with closely to coordinate all technical aspects of the timber ceilings, including acoustic performance, EN13501-1 Reaction to Fire, structural loadings etc.

The acoustic timber panels were all manufactured and tested to EN13501-1 to a classification of Class B-s2,d0 and full systems tested in UKAS accredited labs, in full accordance with Approved Document B regulation. Sweet Chestnut was selected, due to its neutral tone and beautiful aesthetics and then FR treated via pressure impregnation.

Another key value that BCL delivered, was through the 3D Revit and design BIM model coordination for Arup and the client Stanhope, allowing any clashes and design considerations to be fully modelled and resolved during design, prior to site, allowing for a smoother more efficient delivery, a cornerstone value of BCL timber panels and the increased efficiency that is realised via removing all site cutting and modification. Another major commercial project, benefiting in performance, design & efficiency through the use a prefabricated BCL panel system.

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