Thermally Broken Lintel gets BBA Approval

Catnic’s patented Thermally Broken Lintel (TBL) range has achieved British Board of Agrément (BBA) Approval, verifying its market leading thermal performance. The independent testing and certification also confirms the lintels’ structural and fire performance as well as durability of at least 60 years.

Catnic has the most complete BBA coverage of any thermally broken lintel range, including standard duty, heavy & extra heavy duty. The lintels included in the BBA Approval are suitable for cavities between 90 and 165 mm and are available in lengths of 750 to 4800 mm.

Catnic TBLs provide a full thermal break to significantly reduce the thermal bridging between the inside and outside of the building. The Catnic TBL range achieves Building Research Establishment (BRE) certified energy transmittance psi values of just 0.02 to 0.05 W/mK, surpassing the requirements of SAP 2012 Appendix Q. Replacing a standard Catnic lintel with a TBL can reduce the heat lost through window head details by as much as 96%.

Featuring a unique composite design, Catnic TBLs are the only lintels on the market to provide a complete thermal break between the inner and outer leaf of a cavity wall. The lintels are manufactured from powder coated galvanised steel bonded to a high-density insulating core. In addition, they can be installed in exactly the same way as a traditional lintel, with the same safe working loads as the equivalent Catnic cavity wall lintel. As such there is no need to redesign the structure or reassess the structural loads.

All Catnic lintels are manufactured in line with Catnic’s ISO 9001 quality management system and are CE Marked to EN 845 Part 2. Helping specifiers to meet sustainability criteria, Catnic TBLs are approved to BES 6001, the responsible sourcing standard and ISO 14001 for environmental management. Catnic TBLs also comply with both Local Authority Building Control (LABC) and National House-Building Council (NHBC) requirements.

Richard Price, Technical Director at Catnic said: “Catnic has always recognised the value that independent testing and certification has for customers, being the first steel lintel manufacturer to achieve both BBA approval and the British Standards Kitemark to BS 5977.

The BBA Approval of our complete range of TBLs ensures customers have all the information needed, and the assurance that they are indeed making a robust specification.”