In Europe, there are various quality frameworks to qualify building airtightness testers 1,2,3,4, including:
Country |
Competent scheme operator |
Mandatory for testers? |
References |
Belgium (Flanders) |
BCCA |
Yes | BCCA , [5] |
Czech Republic |
A.BD_CZ (Association Blower Door CZ) |
No | A.BD_CZ |
Denmark | DS certification | ? | |
Finland | VTT Technical Research Center in Finland | ? | RATECO |
France | Qualibat | Yes | Qualibat, [6] |
Germany |
FLiB (other certifications exist) | In particular programmes only | FliB, [7] |
Greece | Aerosteganotita | No | Aerosteganotita |
Ireland |
The National Standards Authority of Ireland- NSAI (95% of testers), The Irish National Accreditation Board – INAB & ATTMA (also recognised) |
Yes | NSAI, INAB (& ATTMA) |
Japan | Institute for Building Environment and Energy Conservation | Yes | – |
Netherlands |
Under development (for now SKH uses a Belgian scheme) |
No | SKH |
Sweden | Diplomerad Lufttäthetsprovare (Diploma air tightness tester) | No | ByggaL |
UK |
Air Tightness Testing & Measurement Associations (ATTMA) & The Independent Airtightness Testing Scheme (iATS) |
No | |
USA | RESNET |
In particular programmes only |
RESNET |
There are also many other countries in Europe that do not have a quality framework for airtightness testers (e.g. Spain, Poland or Estonia) but some testers choose to get a certification from one of the above listed quality frameworks. For example in Latvia it is estimated that there are approximately 8 persons qualified by the manufacturer programme Retrotec; 1 person qualified by FLiB (German Association for Airtightness) and 2 persons qualified by the Air Tightness Testing & Measurement Association (ATTMA).
References
[1] Carrié F.R, Wouters P., "AIVC TN 67: Building airtightness: a critical review of testing, reporting and quality schemes in 10 countries", AIVC, 2012
[2] Leprince V., Carrié F.R., Kapsalaki M., "Building and ductwork airtightness requirements in Europe – Comparison of 10 European countries", AIVC, 2017.
[3] Kalamees T., Hallik J., Mikola A., "AIVC VIP 45.1: Trends in building and ductwork airtightness in Estonia", AIVC, 2022.
[4] Hoek T., Poza-Casado I., Melgosa S., "AIVC VIP 45.2: Trends in building and ductwork airtightness in Spain", AIVC, 2022.
[5] De Strycker M., Van Gelder, L. Leprince V., "Quality framework for airtightness testing in the Flemish Region of Belgium – feedback after three years of experience", AIVC, 2018
[6] Leprince V., Carrié F.R., Olivier M., "The quality framework for Air-tightness measurers in France: assessment after 3 years of operation", AIVC, 2011
[7] Solcher O., "Quality system for airtightness measurement of buildings", AIVC, 2011
Posted in: Building Airtightness