System Manual

A system manual should be provided and the information contained should be in English. The system manual should give a full description of the system or element and define its scope of application.

Care must be taken to ensure that the Construction meets relevant Building Regulations, NHBC Standards, British Standards, Eurocodes and (or) statutory requirements on a site-by-site basis.

The system manual should consider and demonstrate how the performance of the following critical aspects are verified in reference to the relevant parts of NHBC Technical Standards:

Strength and stability:

• Structural performance should be identified against appropriate, relevant and recognised standards by the system and (or) element manufacturer's chartered civil or structural engineer.

• Please provide details of the structural design philosophy: structural design calculations to quantify dead and imposed loading, diaphragm action of ceiling and floor, diaphragm action and racking resistance of wall panels, wind loading and other actions, to evaluate and verify structural capacity and compliance with disproportionate collapse requirements.

• Please provide a clear definition of the role and responsibility of the manufacturer’s chartered civil or structural engineer who is accountable for the structural design. This includes interfaces of the system or element to site-specific items that are the responsibility of the project engineer such as connections to foundations, wall panel, wall plate etc.

• Example calculations of building systems or elements carried out by the manufacturer’s chartered civil or structural engineer should be provided in the appendix of the manual.

Condensation risk:

• Thermal properties and measures to prevent condensation.

• Vapour permeability of external walls and roofs.

• Compliance with NHBC standards part 6 and BS 5250 Control of condensation in buildings.

• Analysis in accordance with BS EN 13788 (Glaser method) using boundary conditions of > 60% internal RH at 21°C and external temperature of -2°C.

• Any remaining conditions should be derived from statistical data e.g. BS 5250 Code of practice for control of condensation in buildings.

• Condensation risk assessments based on hygrothermalanalysis in accordance with BS EN 15026 can also be considered.

Durability:

• Durability and longevity of materials, protection of individual components i.e. galvanising zinc protection of LGS, high or low vacuum preservative treatment of solid timber in order to achieve the required 60 year lifespan of the structure.

• Individual components and assemblies not integral to the structure may have a lesser durability and need planned maintenance, repair or replacement during that period.

• Detailed designs in order to manage moisture ingress and vapour movement including the use of suitable dpcs, dpms, vcls, breather membranes and flashings to ensure suitable performance.

Interfaces:

• Full details of how joints and junctions are formed.

• Full details of any interfaces between modular units and other components in the building that may not be under the control of the modular manufacturer.

• The responsibility for design and coordination should be clearly identified along with ownership at installation.

• Off-site & on-site interfaces including foundations and services.

• Installation tolerances including line & level.

• Resistance to moisture including the interface between the superstructure and the foundation.

• Resistance to gas (including radon where appropriate) and how precautions interface with other parts of the building.

• Type of cladding and how it is supported.

• Type of generic façade systems entirely placed on-site using conventional techniques, completely or partially attached in the factory.

• Interfaces with window and door openings (head, cill, jamb details)

• Differential movement between the cladding and the modular structure should be taken into account. For self-supporting cladding, any components attached to the modular structure that protrude into or past the external cladding (window cill, vent, overflow pipe) appropriate gaps and/or sealed movement joint/s to allow for the calculated movement should be detailed.

• Service interfaces: installation of electrical, plumbing and heating services in modular buildings installed in the factory with final connections made on-site, including details of; service layout, ducts (including access) within the modules, distribution of services between modules, drainage and other external services

Building Regulation compliance:

• Confirmation that the system is compliant with the appropriate Building Regulations or standards.

• Note: this framework does not provide agreement to compliance with Building Regulations, however details of compliance should be provided in the system manual.

Quality management system:

• Production process and quality control procedures.

• Quality management system in accordance with the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001: 2008.

• Method statement of on-site assembly and QA including permitted tolerances.

• Details of the auditing and certification of the QMS.