Fibre Reinforced Facade Encyclopedia: Testing and standards
An accredited testing body is a laboratory that an independent accreditation authority has assessed as technically competent to run named test methods, and whose reports building authorities will therefore accept. In Australia that authority is NATA, the National Association of Testing Authorities, which accredits laboratories against ISO/IEC 17025; the equivalents are UKAS in the United Kingdom, IAS, A2LA and NVLAP in the United States and the SCC in Canada.
Accreditation is method by method, not laboratory by laboratory. A laboratory can be accredited for AS 1530.3 and not for AS 1530.1. The question to ask is never is this laboratory accredited, it is is this method inside this facility’s scope of accreditation.
At a glance
| Property | Typical value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Australian accreditation body | NATA | Signatory to the ILAC mutual recognition arrangement |
| Accreditation standard | ISO/IEC 17025 | Competence, impartiality and consistent operation of laboratories |
| NCC term | Accredited Testing Laboratory | Defined in NCC 2022 Schedule 1; check the edition adopted in your jurisdiction |
| Mutual recognition | ILAC MRA | Lets a report from a recognised overseas laboratory be used in Australia |
| Overseas equivalents | UKAS (UK), IAS, A2LA and NVLAP (US), SCC (Canada) | Each accredits to ISO/IEC 17025 |
| What the mark means | The named method sat inside scope on the test date | The endorsement is printed on each report page |
| Report validity | Indefinite for the specimens tested | Superseded standard editions still limit its usefulness |
| Test cost order | Bench tests thousands of dollars; full-scale facade tests six figures | Budget and lead time drive test strategy |
What accreditation actually assesses
ISO/IEC 17025 assessment covers far more than equipment. Assessors examine the calibration of thermocouples, load cells and gas analysers, the competence records of operators and approved signatories, the conditioning of specimens, the handling of deviations, participation in proficiency testing between laboratories, and the traceability of every measurement back to a national standard. A laboratory that passes is granted a scope of accreditation: a published list of the exact methods it may run under the accreditation mark.
That scope is the operative document. It is public, it is searchable on the accreditation body’s register, and it is the fastest way to test a supplier’s claim. If a fire report cites a method that is not in the issuing facility’s scope, the report is not an accredited result no matter what letterhead it carries.
Reading a fire test report
- Client and product: the report belongs to the party who commissioned it and describes one product. A report naming a different manufacturer is not yours to rely on.
- Method and edition: AS 1530.1-1994 is not AS 1530.1 as amended; EN 13501-1:2018 is not the 2007 version. The NCC calls up specific editions.
- Specimen description: thickness, density, core, facings, coatings, adhesives, joints and fixings. Every one of these can change the result.
- Conditioning and date: the date matters when a formulation has since changed.
- Result and any limitations: most reports carry an explicit statement that the result applies only to the specimen as tested.
- Accreditation endorsement, report number and approved signatory.
Test report, assessment report and certificate
Three documents circulate in facade submissions and they carry very different weight. A test report is a factual record from a laboratory. An assessment report, sometimes called an opinion or a regulatory assessment, extends tested evidence by reasoning to a configuration that was not tested; it is issued by a laboratory or a fire safety engineer and its value depends entirely on how small the extrapolation is. A certificate from a product certification scheme such as CodeMark asserts continuing conformity and is backed by factory surveillance, which is the subject of the third party certification entry.
The NCC recognises several of these forms under evidence of suitability in Part A5. A specifier reviewing a submission should know which one is in front of them, because only the first is a measurement.
Which laboratories test facade products
Fire testing capacity is concentrated. Combustibility and early fire hazard work in Australia is done by a small number of NATA accredited facilities, and full-scale facade tests to AS 5113 or BS 8414 are run at an even smaller number of rigs worldwide, which is why lead times are measured in months and why manufacturers test once and specify carefully around the tested build-up.
ShapeShift’s own evidence names the laboratory in every case. ShapeShell-RC has an AS/NZS 1530.1 result of Not Deemed Combustible from Ignis Labs. ShapeShell-RT holds an AS 5637 Group 1 classification from AWTA Product Testing, passed the full-scale BS 8414 and AS 5113 facade test at BRE Global, and is classified B-s2,d0 under EN 13501-1 by Intertek Testing Services. ShapeShell-RT is a fibre reinforced polymer and is not non-combustible; naming the laboratory and the standard is what lets a certifier check the claim rather than take it.
Checking a claim
Search the accreditation register for the facility, open its scope, and confirm the method. Then ask the manufacturer for the report number and the full report. If a claim cannot survive those two steps, treat it as unsupported and raise it as a submission comment. This is routine work, it takes minutes, and it is the single most effective check available to a specifier on fire performance.
Standards and references
- ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories
- NCC 2022 Volume One Part A5 and the Schedule 1 definition of Accredited Testing Laboratory (check the edition adopted in your jurisdiction)
- ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement
- NATA accreditation criteria and public register of accredited facilities
- AS 1530.1, AS 1530.3, AS 5113 and AS 5637.1 as commonly accredited fire test methods
Related terms
Questions specifiers ask
What does NATA accreditation mean?
It means NATA has assessed the laboratory as competent to run specific test methods under ISO/IEC 17025. Accreditation is granted method by method, so the method must appear in the facility’s published scope.
Can an overseas fire test report be used in Australia?
Often yes, where the laboratory is accredited by a body in the ILAC mutual recognition arrangement and the report is to the standard the NCC calls up. A report to a different standard is not converted by mutual recognition.
Is a laboratory report the same as a certificate?
No. A report records a measured result for the specimens tested. A certificate asserts continuing conformity of production and is issued by a certification body under an accredited scheme.
What if a product has an assessment rather than a test?
Read how far the assessment extrapolates from the tested specimen. A small change in coating thickness may be reasonable; a change in core material is not, and should be tested.
Who tested the ShapeShell products?
Ignis Labs for the AS/NZS 1530.1 result on ShapeShell-RC, AWTA Product Testing for the AS 5637 Group 1 classification on ShapeShell-RT, BRE Global for the BS 8414 and AS 5113 facade test, and Intertek Testing Services for the EN 13501-1 classification.
Every ShapeShell fire claim is published with its standard, its result and the laboratory that issued it, so it can be checked before submission. See ShapeShell fire test data
Reviewed by Richard Halvorsen, General Manager, ShapeShift Technologies. Last updated September 2026.