BBA HAPAS Certification has been granted to Weholite plastic pipes of 900mm diameter or above.
Surface drainage solutions for UK roads have been super-sized by the first BBA HAPAS Certification of plastic pipe attenuation systems of 900mm diameter or above.
Following close collaboration between Highways England, the British Board of Agrément and the British Plastics Federation, Asset International has achieved the BBA’s HAPAS Certification for its large diameter Weholite pipes up to 3,500mm in diameter.
The certification is an industry first and paves the way for developers and contractors to benefit from the large capacity, lighter weight and easier site handling of the large diameter plastic Weholite systems.
The BBA HAPAS Certification represents the culmination of several years’ in-depth technical work, as BBA Project Manager Calai Vidjeane explained: “Previously plastic pipes with an internal diameter of more than 900mm intended for installation beneath a road had been classified as ‘structures’ rather than pipes, limiting their scope of application. Asset International wanted to address this by achieving BBA HAPAS approval for these larger systems but it had never been done before – there is no official technical standard for their use in highway applications.
“We therefore had to formulate and agree an assessment/test methodology with Highways England in order for the products to be fully evaluated. It was a challenging and technically demanding project that has created new opportunities for Weholite,” added Calai.
Her comments were echoed by Asset International Technical Director Vasilios Samaras, who said HAPAS approval opened a ‘huge market’ in under-road attenuation solutions. “HAPAS is very well respected in the industry and this gives confidence to our clients and status to our products,” he said. “It was a complex process with a number of parties involved. We were very impressed with the BBA, which moved the process forward quickly.”
Weholite attenuation products are intended for highway carrier drainage and drainage structures (open ended and offline/online attenuation structures for surface and fluvial water). The BBA HAPAS Certificate (18/H283) applies to 1000mm to 3,500mm diameter pipes plus fittings.
