CE marking of manufactured stone masonry units and cast stone products

There had been some confusion over the need to ‘CE mark’ products referred to historically as ‘Cast Stone Units’, and whether there was overlap between BS 1217 (Cast Stone – Specification) and BS EN 771‐5:2011 (Specification for masonry units, Part 5: Manufactured stone masonry units).  

NOTE: The terms ‘Manufactured Stone’ and ‘Cast Stone’ are now synonymous following the publication of BS EN 771-5 which embraces masonry units previously covered by BS 1217 (Cast stone) and BS 6457 (Reconstructed stone masonry units).

The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) came into force in July 2013 and clearly states the requirement for all construction products covered by a harmonised European Standard (AKA harmonised Euronorm – or hEN) to be CE marked.

The Scope and requirements detailed in each standard gives the following delineations between products. Manufactured stone masonry (or ‘Cast Stone’) units with any dimension greater than 650mm should be manufactured to BS 1217 and cannot be CE marked. Units equal to or less than 650mm in all dimensions are manufactured to BS EN 771‐5 and therefore must be CE marked, unless the following condition is present:

Units of dimensions which are all 650mm or less, may still be covered by BS 1217, if they contain ‘Reinforcement’ or ‘Fixings’, (provided these are as detailed by BS 1217). BS 1217 specifies the materials for use in reinforcement (and the necessary cover to reinforcement that must be present for each).  

BS 1217 does not specifically refer to fibre reinforcement, and the text in that standard refers to reinforcement of the ‘bar’ type only. Instructions regarding the use of reinforcement, e.g. cover depth, are of the type applicable to ‘bar’ reinforcement, and not to fibres. It is our view that the use of fibre reinforcing materials does not comply with the reinforcing clause (Clause 5) in BS 1217, and so cannot be used to claim compliance to that standard. This is particularly relevant if this claim is being used as an attempt to derive an exclusion from the coverage of BS EN 771‐5 and the resulting CE marking requirements therein.

Manufactured Stone Masonry products (aka Cast Stone) of less than 650mm in any dimension, that do not contain ‘bar’ reinforcement or other fixings, should therefore be CE marked as supplied to BE EN 771‐5 in accordance with the Construction Products Regulations.

Ambiguity between British Standards and ENs has already been clarified for similar products, such as BS 5642‐1 (Sills) and BS 5642‐2 (Copings), both of which standards now state that ‘Cast stone units not containing reinforcement or fixings and not exceeding 650mm in any coordinating dimension are covered by BS EN 771‐5’ and we would expect a similar statement to appear to the next revision of BS 1217. Units supplied for use as lintels should be manufactured to the harmonised standard BS EN 845‐2:2003 (Lintels) and CE marked.

Table 1: Manufactured stone masonry (or ‘Cast Stone’) units and CE Marking